Gov. in Nevada to campaign for GOP candidate
Martinez also speaking to bail bond industry convention
SANTA FE — Gov. Susana Martinez was in Nevada on Thursday to campaign for a GOP gubernatorial candidate and speak at an American Bail Agent Coalition conference.
The Republican governor, who will leave office at the end of this year when her second term ends, left New Mexico on Wednesday and is scheduled to return today, a spokesman said.
Martinez has largely stayed out of New Mexico’s gubernatorial race, which pits Republican Steve Pearce against Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham.
But she was scheduled to attend campaign events for fellow Republican Adam Laxalt on Thursday in Las Vegas, including a campaign volunteer appreciation rally and phone bank kickoff.
Laxalt is the son of former Sen. Pete Domenici, who revealed in 2013 that he had secretly fathered Laxalt out of wedlock in the 1970s. He is currently Nevada’s attorney general, and is running for governor this year against Democrat Steve Sisolak.
Meanwhile, Martinez’s travel costs for her Nevada trip are being covered by the American Bail Coalition, a New Jerseybased group that advocates for the growth and sustainability of the bail bond industry.
Although the governor initially supported a 2016 constitutional amendment dealing with pretrial detention, she has since called on New Mexico legislators to repeal and replace the amendment and new court rules that she says allow dangerous criminals to be released back onto the streets.