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Incumbent Martin Heinrich (D) and Nella Domenici (R) are running in the general election for the United States Senate in New Mexico on November 5, 2024 with Heinrich showing a 12 point lead in the polls.
The two candidates met up for a public debate with a well prepared Heinrich making his case for reelection. Nella Domenici attacked Martin Heinrich as an “extreme, radical progressive” during their debate in Albuquerque and Heinrich fired back, dismissing Domenici as a multimillionaire who’s out of touch with New Mexico’s needs.
Heinrich is serving his second six-year term in the Senate after previously serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and as a member of the Albuquerque City Council. Domenici, daughter of the late Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), is a businesswoman making her first run for elective office.
The hour-long debate saw moderators grill the candidates with questions touching on a wide range of issues, including public safety, immigration, crime, and energy. On abortion, Heinrich said the recent Supreme Court decision to allow states to ban abortion put the nation in “chaos” while Domenici said the issue could be addressed by preventing unplanned pregnancies.
But it was abortion rights and border security — issues Heinrich and Domenici have made cornerstones of their campaigns, respectively — that triggered the most spirited exchanges.
Asked whether she would support a bill that would guarantee abortion rights nationally, Domenici reiterated she wouldn’t support a federal ban on abortion.
“I will aggressively focus on unintended pregnancies, preventing births from occurring, preventing pregnancies from occurring,” she said.
Heinrich called her response a “nonanswer.”
“I can’t tell you what is in my opponent’s mind, but I can tell you what the practical impact of electing her to the United States Senate is,” he said. “If she is elected to the Senate from New Mexico, Republicans will hold the majority, and the first vote that she will take is a vote for Senate majority leader, and every one of those candidates vying to be Republican majority leader have committed publicly and forcefully to a national abortion ban.”
Domenici accused Heinrich of making “the most sexist comment” ever by a U.S. senator.
“For Martin Heinrich to think that I’m a weak woman who will take orders from a man and not stick to my own values, that’s a sexist, insulting, demeaning remark, and all of the women who hear that in this state should be upset,” she said. “I know thousands of them are because I’ve heard it loud and clearly from them.”
Near the end of the debate, Heinrich put Domenici on the spot, asking whether or not she would support Donald Trump for president in 2024 — a question she has dodged.
“I will be voting for our nominee,” she said. “The last four years under his leadership were much, much better than the recent four years” under Biden.
With three weeks to go before the election Heinrich has a significant lead per the polld. Early voting has begun. Get your vote in!
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