Candidates for NM’s 3CD get testy during debate
Candidates indulge in back-and-forth, similar to TrumpBiden debate
SANTA FE — It wasn’t Trump-Biden, but Wednesday’s debate between Republican Alexis M. Johnson and Democrat Teresa Leger Fernandez — candidates for the open seat in New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District — was tinged with some of the same elements of last month’s presidential debate.
Things never went off the rails during the KOATTV/Albuquerque Journal debate, but moderator Doug Fernandez (no relation to the candidate) of KOAT twice stepped in to get the candidates back on track, reminding them not to speak over each other. Both times, the interruptions had been instigated by Johnson, the underdog attempting to win a seat long held by Democrats.
The CD3 seat is open because after 12 years, U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., is seeking the U.S. Senate seat now held by the retiring Tom Udall.
A Journal Poll last month showed Leger Fernandez was the favorite among 50% of likely voters surveyed. Johnson had 35% support, and 15% were undecided or didn’t know.
In one instance, the moderator allowed Leger Fernandez extra time to finish her response after Johnson interrupted.
“This is not a Q and A. Please stop the back and forth,” Fernandez said after Johnson interjected to ask what Leger Fernandez meant in using the term “Latino.”
“‘Latino’ is a national term. But here in New Mexico, we say ‘Hispanic.’
Please listen to the voice of the New Mexican,” Johnson, who throughout the hourlong broadcast painted herself as the candidate who listens to constituents, and Leger Fernandez as having the ear of “coastal elites” that funded her campaign, said sternly.
Johnson played antagonist at times, once interrupting to say Leger Fernandez takes a stand on issues only when she’s “getting paid.”
The comment came while Leger Fernandez, a Santa Fe attorney originally from Las Vegas, was defending her record as an advocate for cultural preservation. Her response came during a portion of the debate when candidates were allowed to ask their opponent questions. Johnson asked Leger Fernandez why she had done nothing to stand up for Hispanic heritage in New Mexico amid the backdrop of statues of historic figures being removed and vandalized.
Leger Fernandez said that she has spent her career as an advocate for the preservation of all cultures, noting she was appointed by President Barack Obama to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and had served on the board of the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund. She said Johnson’s question “doesn’t make sense.”
“Anybody can go look me up,” Leger Fernandez said. “That’s who I am.”
Johnson framed her opponent as too progressive, having the endorsement of U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., whom she accused of wanting to defund police.
“My opponent advocates for a scarier New Mexico. She’s not here to listen to all New Mexicans,” Johnson said.
Things again got testy between the two when Leger Fernandez called Johnson out for referring to herself as an “environmental engineer.”
“But what she really is (is) an engineer for petroleum companies,” she said, adding that Johnson’s husband’s family owns an oil and gas company.
Johnson didn’t interrupt then, but immediately asked the moderator to allow a rebuttal when Leger Fernandez finished.
Without receiving permission, Johnson said her husband’s family business — Midland, Texas-based EnXL — is actually a water recycling company, “and that is an engineering business.”
“If you’re going to talk about me and my family, I would hope that you would get your correct information,” Johnson said.
Then, the moderator allowed Leger Fernandez additional time to complete her response.
Questions relating to the COVID-19 pandemic took up the first part of the debate, including one about whether the federal or state government should have the authority to mandate mask wearing, business lockdowns and school closures.
Johnson, who was cited for not wearing a mask while campaigning on the Plaza in Santa Fe, said it was unfair that some restaurants in lowrisk areas of New Mexico had to close. She said she believed in the Constitution and in state’s rights. “What’s not delegated in our U.S. Constitution should be sent out to those states,” she said.
Leger Fernandez responded to the same question by contrasting the responses of President Donald Trump and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to the pandemic. She said the governor took swift action and listened to science to protect New Mexicans. By contrast, Trump has failed in responding to the pandemic, she said, resulting in the deaths of more than 200,000 Americans.
“And a lot of that is because we haven’t had national leadership,” she said.
Later in the debate, Leger Fernandez criticized Johnson for defending Trump’s pandemic response and what she said was the hypocrisy of the Republican Party.
“My big issue is we should focus on what we need to and not on the Supreme Court nominee,” she said.
Asked about her support of Trump, Johnson said her allegiance is to New Mexicans first.
“I made it clear in the primary debates that I work for New Mexicans; I don’t work for a president,” she said.
Johnson said she made history by winning the Republican primary without support of party “insiders.”