12-27-2023 8:50am

Republican Party Certified Five Candidates for New Mexico Primary

Chris Edwards Editor

The New Mexico Republican Party certified Republican candidates include former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.

In a meeting with New Mexico Republican Party leaders it was confirmed Donald Trump is among a slate of presidential candidates New Mexico’s major political parties certified Friday to appear on the state’s June 4 primary ballots, amid uncertainty about whether any state can bar the former president from contention under anti-insurrection provisions of the U.S. Constitution.

Trump is among five contenders remaining for the GOP nomination who a presidential primary nominating committee certified for New Mexico’s primary ballot.

The Republican Party reserved the option to withdraw candidates from the primary until mid-February if any drop out of national contention after the New Hampshire primaries or the Iowa caucuses. It is expected that the field may narrow further and Vegas oddsmakers are betting the campaign will come down to Haley versus Trump as the campaign continues.

New Mexico Supreme Court Chief Justice C. Shannon Bacon oversaw the committee meeting with one or more representatives from each party, including the Libertarian Party of New Mexico that earned major party status in 2016. Lars Mapstead was presented as the sole contender for the Libertarian presidential nomination.

Party-certified presidential candidates will be vetted in February by the New Mexico secretary of state’s office to ensure they meet administrative requirements to run for the office. New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, a Democrat, said she won’t exclude candidates that meet administrative requirements, unless the courts decide otherwise.

A lawsuit with little chance of success has been filed by little known presidential candidate John Anthony Castro challenging Trump’s eligibility to appear on the ballot in New Mexico and Arizona in federal court based on anti-insurrection provisions of the 14th Amendment

The Arizona lawsuit was dismissed earlier this month and a ruling is pending in New Mexico. Donald Trump lost the New Mexico vote in 2016 and again in 2020 by a wider margin to Joe Biden. New Mexico is considered safely Democratic in the general election.

For the primary June 4th, in New Mexico Trump is favored with deep support in Otero County and the deep red pockets of Southern New Mexico. However there is momentum in support of Nikki Haley as a viable alternative to Trump by New Mexico voters who are pushing a Retake Republicanism campaign to oust Trump as the front runner.

The Retake Republicanism campaign members have been called “Rinos and are often attacked” by the likes of Otero County Representative to the New Mexico house John Block and other fringe activists. The Retake Republicanism movement expects a strong showing in New Mexico for Nikki Haley as the election evolves into the Spring.

New Mexico Republican leader Steve Pearce is firmly in the Trump camp and also considered fringe by many moderate Republicans. Pearce, the GOP chairman, said Trump should be allowed to compete for the nomination in New Mexico regardless of litigation, arguing that the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol was not an insurrection.

“Even if (Trump) gets convicted of something in all of these cases, that doesn’t prohibit him from running and serving,” Pearce said after Friday’s meeting. “Everybody should be treated fairly under the law, and I don’t think that’s occurring.”

According to Alex Curtas, a spokesperson to Secretary of State Toulouse Oliver, “As long as a candidate meets all the administrative requirements to be placed on the ballot in 2024, they would not be excluded from the ballot unless a court with jurisdiction made a legal finding and ordered that person to be excluded.”

On the Democratic side of the isle the Democratic Party-certified candidates in New Mexico include not only President Joe Biden but also Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips and self-help author Marianne Williamson.