Alamogordo NM
10-17-2026 5:27am

Reeb’s Forced Resignation Exposes the Insider PAC Machine Propping Up John Block While Local Voters Are Left Behind

Filings show the Clovis lawmaker gave $5,000 to Piñon PAC — more than 18 times what every Otero County resident gave it — as legislators from other districts supply nearly 90 percent of the committee’s money.

ALAMOGORDO — State Rep. Andrea Reeb (R-Clovis) resigned her House seat on October 15, 2026, one day after a federal judge ruled that her simultaneous service as a legislator and a special prosecutor violated the separation-of-powers clause of the New Mexico Constitution.

The ruling came October 14 in Baldwin v. Morrissey, actor Alec Baldwin’s civil suit against the prosecutors who charged him in the 2021 “Rust” shooting. U.S. District Judge Kea Riggs dismissed many of Baldwin’s claims on prosecutorial immunity grounds but found that Reeb, who briefly served as a special prosecutor in the case, had exercised the power of two branches of state government at once. Reeb said she disagreed with the ruling but stepped down so she could keep prosecuting cases. She said she had relied on guidance from the State Ethics Commission and a 2024 Attorney General’s opinion. Records obtained by The Santa Fe New Mexican show she holds a 2024–2027 contract with the 9th Judicial District Attorney’s Office at $125 an hour, capped at $18,000 a month.

Within hours, Rep. John Block (R-Alamogordo) posted on X that Reeb was “one of the most talented lawmakers I’ve ever worked with” and that he was “proud to call her my friend.”

Campaign finance records show the relationship also runs through Block’s political action committee.

Reeb’s checks to Piñon PAC

Piñon PAC is the committee Block solicits for under his own name. Its filings with the Secretary of State show Reeb gave it $5,000 in three checks: $2,000 on January 27, 2025; $1,000 on October 6, 2025; and $2,000 on June 4, 2026.

The PAC’s registration lists Block as treasurer. Block’s own money has also moved through the PAC. His campaign committee, John for New Mexico, gave it $6,500 in 2024, and Block gave $2,000 personally in January 2025.

Money has also moved back out to Block. The PAC paid Block’s company, Piñon Post LLC, $2,336.90 on April 15, 2026, and another $2,336.90 on June 4, 2026. Both were described only as “Check,” with no purpose disclosed. The PAC also reimbursed Block $148.55 for stamps and gave $800 to his campaign in April 2025. The second payment to Piñon Post LLC was made the same day Reeb’s last $2,000 check was recorded. The filings do not show that one paid for the other.

Who funds the PAC

From January 2025 through June 2026, the most recent public filing, Piñon PAC raised $53,836.

Republican legislators from other districts: $47,148, or 87.6 percent. Sixteen House Republicans gave, including Reps. Terrazas, Vincent, Mason, Zamora, Pettigrew, Chatfield, Henry, Brown, Martinez, Baca, Montoya, Duncan, Jones and Reeb. House Republican Leader Gail Armstrong: $2,000. Armstrong publicly defended Reeb’s handling of her resignation on Friday. Otero County residents: $271, or one-half of one percent.

Reeb’s $5,000 alone was more than 18 times what every Otero County donor gave the PAC combined.

The PAC’s largest expenses were not in Otero County either. In 2025, a year with no election, it paid Right Insight LLC of Boise, Idaho, about $12,750 and Connector Labs Inc. of Frisco, Texas, $7,500, both described only as “consulting.” It reported $1,370 for a mailer in May 2026. Piñon PAC also mailed District 51 voters a flyer this month attacking Block’s opponent, independent Grace Nagamine, over her 2005–2008 record. Its cost will not appear until the next filing.

Block’s campaign: 0.4 percent from Otero County residents

The corporate donors were Chevron ($6,200), Permian Resources ($5,000), Devon Energy ($2,500), Presbyterian Health Plan ($1,000), Anheuser-Busch ($1,000) and Comcast ($500). The $104 from Otero County residents came from a single Alamogordo donor giving $10.41 a month.

The “big PAC” warning and the documented hypocrisy

In a recent fundraising email, Block told supporters he faces an opponent backed by a “deep-pocketed, far-left PAC” and asked for donations as small as $35.

Nagamine’s filings through June show no PAC contributions and her next filing will show a in kind contribution from a Tularosa based group. The Sierra Club’s Rio Grande Chapter endorsed her August 29. A Tularosa volunteer group says it has put about $2,000 of in-kind support into the race for her this month, which will appear in the next filing.

This further demonstrates the hypocrisy of the Block narrative to local constituents. More than 80 percent of the significant contributions to his campaign and nearly 90 percent of the money flowing into the PAC he controls come from out-of-county corporate, energy, PAC, and fellow-legislator sources. 

Local individual donors from Otero County account for well under 1 percent of both.

While Block asks grassroots supporters for $35 and $50 checks to fight phantom outside money, the public record shows Rep John Block is the one collecting it from Santa Fe insiders and corporate interests that do not live in District 51.

Nagamine has focused on the issues that affect District 51 residents—power bills, water infrastructure, veterans and military families, seniors, CYFD reform, and local economic needs—as laid out on her website and in her regular Facebook posts. 

Block continues to endorse and promote the self-interest of the energy companies, corporate donors, and allied PACs that fund his operation, while mailing personal attacks and warning of phantom outside money.

Block’s political operation is not powered by the people of Otero County.

It is powered by oil and corporate checks written from outside the district, by a network of House Republicans who do not live here and do not answer to local voters, and by a PAC that shares an address with his own company and writes checks back to it with no purpose disclosed.

Local residents are left to absorb the consequences of utility rate structures he opposed and infrastructure needs that remain unaddressed, while the money trail runs through Santa Fe and out-of-state firms.

The “big PAC” threat he describes in fundraising emails is the opposite of the one documented in the filings.

It is time to break the machine of special insider interests propping up Alamogordo’s political leadership with outsider money instead of the interests of the people who live here. 

On November 3, voters have a clear choice between a candidate who answers to local constituents on the issues that matter in this district and one whose campaign and PAC are sustained by the very outside money and insider network he claims to be fighting.

What's next

Reeb remains the only candidate on the ballot in House District 64. County commissioners in Chaves, Curry and Roosevelt counties are expected to send nominees to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who will appoint her successor.

Block faces Nagamine in House District 51 on Nov. 3. The next campaign finance reports will show fall fundraising and spending, including the cost of the PAC's October mailer.

Early voting had begun for many the call is to oust the incumbents and break the political machine that has stymied Alamogordo for decades. 

Sources and Links

• U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, Memorandum Opinion and Order, Baldwin v. Morrissey, Oct. 14, 2026.

• Rep. Andrea Reeb, resignation letter to Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, Oct. 15, 2026.

• Source New Mexico, “New Mexico state Rep. Reeb resigns following ruling in Alec Baldwin case,” Oct. 16, 2026: https://sourcenm.com/2026/10/16/new-mexico-state-rep-reeb-resigns-following-ruling-in-alec-baldwin-case/

• Albuquerque Journal, “Rep. Andrea Reeb resigns after federal judge rules holding dual roles violates state Constitution,” Oct. 16, 2026: https://www.abqjournal.com/news/rep-andrea-reeb-resigns-after-federal-judge-rules-holding-dual-roles-violates-state-constitution/3143510

• Santa Fe New Mexican, “House Democrats allege Reeb buried conflict of interest before resignation,” Oct. 16, 2026: https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/house-democrats-allege-reeb-buried-conflict-of-interest-before-resignation/article_68f48aad-fb50-4575-89c7-eb2cd6e6c320.html

• Santa Fe New Mexican, “Reeb resigns from state House after federal judge in Baldwin suit targets dual roles,” Oct. 15, 2026: https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/reeb-resigns-from-state-house-after-federal-judge-in-baldwin-suit-targets-dual-roles/article_c76596e1-8ce3-491b-92ad-204a246e15df.html

• KOAT, “Clovis state representative resigns over dual role in Baldwin case,” Oct. 15, 2026: https://www.koat.com/article/clovis-state-representative-resigns-over-dual-role-in-baldwin-case/74152251

• KOB 4, “Andrea Reeb steps down from New Mexico House over special prosecutor conflict,” Oct. 16, 2026: https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/santa-fe-northern-new-mexico/andrea-reeb-steps-down-from-new-mexico-house-over-special-prosecutor-conflict/

• KRQE, “New Mexico lawmaker and district attorney steps down from the Roundhouse,” Oct. 16, 2026: https://www.krqe.com/news/politics/new-mexico-lawmaker-and-district-attorney-steps-down-from-the-roundhouse/

• nm.news, “Rep. Reeb resigns from state house after court rules against her double-dipping as legislator, prosecutor,” Oct. 15, 2026: https://nm.news/2026/10/15/rep-reeb-resigns-from-state-house-after-court-rules-against-her-double-dipping-as-legislator-prosecutor/

• Eastern New Mexico News, “Clovis’ Reeb resigns House seat,” Oct. 2026: https://www.easternnewmexiconews.com/story/2026/10/14/news/clovis-reeb-resigns-house-seat/234395.html

• Ballotpedia, “Andrea Reeb”: https://ballotpedia.org/Andrea_Reeb

• Wikipedia, “Andrea Reeb”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Reeb

• Source New Mexico, Rep. Andrea Romero resigns from district attorney’s office job, Sept. 1, 2026: https://sourcenm.com/2026/09/01/new-mexico-lawmaker-resigns-from-job-with-da-accuses-ag-of-attempt-to-disrupt-epstein-commission/

• Piñon PAC contributions, NM Secretary of State filings via Money Trail NM: https://moneytrailnm.com/api/bulk/contributions/?pac_id=2516

• Piñon PAC expenditures, NM Secretary of State filings via Money Trail NM: https://moneytrailnm.com/api/bulk/expenditures/?pac_id=2516

• John for New Mexico contributions, 2025–26, via Money Trail NM: https://moneytrailnm.com/api/bulk/contributions/?candidate_id=1890&from=2025-01-01&to=2026-12-31

• Piñon PAC committee page, Money Trail NM: https://moneytrailnm.com/committees/pinon-pac-kf81x/

• John Block candidate page, Money Trail NM: https://moneytrailnm.com/candidates/john-block-hoMlQ/

• John for New Mexico, all contributions, via Money Trail NM: https://moneytrailnm.com/api/bulk/contributions/?candidate_id=1890

• Transparency USA, Piñon PAC: https://www.transparencyusa.org/nm/committee/pinon-pac-476932

• Transparency USA, Andrea R. Reeb candidate page: https://www.transparencyusa.org/nm/candidate/andrea-r-reeb

• Transparency USA, John for New Mexico committee page: https://www.transparencyusa.org/nm/committee/john-for-new-mexico-436647

• 2nd Life Media Alamogordo Town News, “Follow the Money: Block Cries ‘Big PAC’ While His Own PAC Pays His Own Company,” Oct. 15, 2026: https://2ndlifemediaalamogordo.town.news/g/alamogordo-nm/n/393444/follow-money-block-cries-big-pac-while-his-own-pac-pays-his-own-company

• 2nd Life Media Alamogordo Town News, “Block told voters his lawsuit was ‘resolved.’ A judge set it for trial. Now a PAC tied to his news site is mailing his opponent’s 2008 record,” Oct. 14, 2026: https://2ndlifemediaalamogordo.town.news/g/alamogordo-nm/n/393260/block-told-voters-his-lawsuit-was-resolved-judge-set-it-trial-now-pac-tied

• 2nd Life Media Alamogordo Town News, Sierra Club endorsement of Grace Nagamine, Aug. 29, 2026: https://2ndlifemediaalamogordo.town.news/g/alamogordo-nm/n/392830/sierra-club-backs-independent-grace-nagamine-otero-county-house-district

• BallotReady, Elizabeth Lee Winterrowd: https://www.ballotready.org/people/elizabeth-lee-winterrowd

• Block fundraising email, “They are out for blood…”: https://mailchi.mp/johnfornm.com/2025-legislature-week-12779050

• Grace Nagamine for HD 51: https://graceforhd51.org/

• Grace For HD51 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GraceForHD51/

• NM Legislature, Rep. John Block: https://www.nmlegis.gov/Members/Legislator?SponCode=HBLOC

• NM Secretary of State Campaign Finance Information System: https://login.cfis.sos.state.nm.us/

Figures cover Secretary of State filings through June 27, 2026. Percentages were calculated from itemized contributions. “Otero County” is based on the mailing addresses donors listed.

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