Five Candidates, One Fractured Party: New Mexico GOP to Pick New Chair Amid Lawsuits and Boycott Threats

LAS CRUCES, N.M. — New Mexico Republicans converge on Las Cruces Saturday to elect a new state party chair, capping a months-long internal war that has produced two lawsuits, a state Supreme Court ruling, a failed earlier ouster attempt, and now competing factions that can’t agree on where — or whether — Saturday’s vote should even happen.

The State Central Committee meeting, called by 1st Vice Chair Mike Nelson, is meant to replace ousted chairwoman Amy Barela less than five months before a general election in which Republicans face long odds in every statewide race. Instead, it has become a proxy fight over who controls the party’s direction — and whether Barela, the woman a judge forced out of the job, can engineer her way back into it.

How Barela lost the chairmanship

Barela’s troubles trace to a party bylaw, Uniform State Rule 1-4-4, which requires a state officer to immediately vacate their post if they file to run against a fellow Republican. Barela did exactly that, seeking reelection to her Otero County Commission seat against challenger Jonathan Emery while continuing to serve as state chair.

That decision triggered an earlier, failed attempt by dissident committee members to remove her in Belen in April, which collapsed when organizers couldn’t muster the roughly 360 members needed for a quorum. Two formal lawsuits followed in late April and early May, filed by Republican candidates including gubernatorial hopeful Duke Rodriguez, lieutenant governor candidate Aubrey Dunn, and Emery himself. They argued Barela’s dual role gave her an unfair advantage and that the party had improperly signaled favoritism in other contested primaries.

Thirteenth Judicial District Court Judge Cindy Mercer agreed, ruling in late May that Barela had to step down, writing that her position as chair gave her “a higher profile” than her primary opponent. The Republican Party of New Mexico appealed, arguing the courts had no business intervening in an internal party matter and that the order infringed on free-speech rights. The state Supreme Court unanimously rejected that appeal on June 10 without explanation, clearing the way for Saturday’s vote. Barela went on to lose her county commission primary to Emery by two points in early June, leaving her without either job she had tried to hold simultaneously.

The five candidates

Amy Barela — The deposed chairwoman is running to reclaim the job she was forced out of, betting that a Las Cruces venue gives her a home-field edge in southern New Mexico, where she has built support as a Tularosa-based Otero County official. Her bid has drawn the public backing of a newly formed group calling itself the Southern & Rural New Mexico County Officers Coalition, which frames the fight less around Barela personally and more around protecting rural and southern county influence against what it describes as power consolidation by Albuquerque-area Republicans. Critics, including some of her own former allies, say her refusal to step aside — even after some offered to let her stay on if she endorsed Emery and dropped her commission bid — reflects a determination to hold power that has split the party during a year it can least afford division.

Robert Aragon — An Albuquerque attorney and one of the original plaintiffs who sued to remove Barela, Aragon is a former three-term state representative who has also chaired the Bernalillo County GOP and served as the state party’s first vice chairman. He switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party in 2010 and lost a 2014 bid for state auditor to Tim Keller, now Albuquerque’s mayor. Aragon has reportedly discussed an alliance with rival candidate John Brenna to avoid splitting anti-Barela votes between them.

Brandon Vogt — A talk-radio host on Albuquerque’s KKOB, Vogt entered the race after New Mexico Republicans initially failed to field a qualified candidate against incumbent U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján; a write-in candidate, Larry Marker of Roswell, ultimately secured a spot on the November ballot after the original GOP nominee was disqualified. Vogt has described the current party as ineffective and says his priority would be unifying Republicans behind this fall’s statewide ticket.

John Brenna — Chairman of the Valencia County Republican Party and a retired law enforcement officer with 39 years in public service, Brenna says he’d push for changes to party rules and a bigger role for county-level organizations if elected. He has been in talks with Aragon about coordinating their campaigns rather than competing head-to-head.

Zac Anaya — At 33, the youngest candidate in the race, Anaya works in real estate in Rio Rancho and lost a primary challenge to state Rep. Joshua Hernandez this year. He has indicated he’d drop out and back either Aragon or Brenna if the two can reach an agreement on who should lead the field against Barela.

A party that can’t agree on its own meeting

The deeper controversy isn’t just who wins — it’s whether Saturday’s meeting will produce a valid result at all. Republicans who backed the lawsuits against Barela have signaled plans to boycott the Las Cruces gathering, calculating that withholding their attendance could deny the meeting the quorum it needs to hold a valid vote — the same tactic, in reverse, that doomed the anti-Barela faction’s effort in Belen back in April.

That faction is instead organizing a separate State Central Committee meeting for June 27 in the Albuquerque area, with several possible venues still under discussion. The Southern & Rural New Mexico County Officers Coalition has pushed back hard against that plan, arguing in a June 12 statement that an Albuquerque-area meeting just one week later would be procedurally improper, would impose unfair travel costs on rural members, and would break with the party’s historical practice of choosing accessible locations for these gatherings. The coalition has urged all Central Committee members to show up Saturday rather than boycott.

Whoever ultimately claims the gavel — assuming Saturday’s meeting reaches quorum and its result isn’t immediately challenged by the rival Albuquerque faction — may not hold it for long. New Mexico Republicans are already scheduled to meet again in December, just after the general election, to elect party leadership for a full two-year term.

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