Plans for ads indicate Trump sees opening in NM
With just six weeks left until Election Day, Donald Trump is planning to hit the airwaves in New Mexico.
The Republican presidential nominee is planning for a $140 million advertising blitz in the election’s home stretch that will reportedly include ads in 13 states, including new target states of New Mexico, Wisconsin and Maine.
It’s unclear how much of that money will be spent in New Mexico. The Trump campaign had not yet signed contracts with three large Albuquerque-based television stations as of Monday, and the campaign’s New Mexico state director, Todd Johnson, said no state allocation has been announced.
However, the ad buy could signify belief within the Trump campaign that New Mexico — and its five electoral votes — could be in play in the Nov. 8 general election, despite the fact President Barack Obama, a Democrat, won the state handily in both 2008 and 2012.
In a statement, the Democratic Party of New Mexico called Trump’s ad buy a “desperate attempt” to gain traction with New Mexicans, while also pointing out Republican Gov. Susana Martinez has declined to formally endorse Trump.
Trump’s Democratic general election opponent, Hillary Clinton, has already aired TV ads in New Mexico during the 2016 primary election cycle and could launch additional campaign spots of her own in the coming weeks.
The Trump ad blitz will include $100 million in television airtime and $40 million in digital ads, according to ABC News.
Straight party out
For the third consecutive general election, New Mexicans will not have the option to vote a straight party ticket.
Former Secretary of State Dianna Duran, a Republican, decided in 2012 to drop the option, which had been a fixture on the ballot for decades, because there was no provision in state law explicitly authorizing it.
Subsequent attempts to enact such legislation have failed, and Bureau of Elections Director Kari Fresquez recently told the Journal there will be no straight party ticket option on this year’s general election ballot.
Straight-party voting allows voters to support a political party’s entire slate of candidates by checking a designated box on the ballot. Straight-party votes had accounted for 41 percent of ballots cast statewide in New Mexico’s 2010 general election.
While it’s unclear whether doing away with the option has helped Democrats or Republicans more here, a recent attempt by another state to get rid of straight-party voting was recently shot down.
The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for straight-party voting to continue in Michigan earlier this month by invalidating a proposed law that would have banned the practice.