It’s no surprise to anyone that Democrats hold a significant advantage in New Mexican politics. They control all the statewide elected executive offices, the congressional delegation, and both chambers of the state legislature.
Needless to say, this all leaves New Mexico Republicans facing an uphill battle. And they’re making that battle even tougher on themselves.
The Republican party of New Mexico (RPNM) has been imploding for the last six months. There’ve been candidate filing issues, in-fighting, leadership challenges, and scandals involving high-profile party officials. There’s only 4 months left until the midterm elections and Republicans’ chances of winning statewide races are getting slimmer by the day. So what exactly is going on with the local GOP? And can they survive this election cycle?
Can’t find the candidates:
The troubles started back in February, when history was made: for the first time ever, Republicans failed to field an eligible candidate for US Senate in New Mexico. The only Republican who attempted to file for candidacy, Christopher Vanden Heuvel ,failed to submit enough signatures to the Secretary of State’s office to qualify for the ballot.
After this snafu, the party tried to rally support for a write-in candidate and landed on Larry Marker, who was able to secure enough signatures to run as a write-in candidate (with no major party affiliation). According to New Mexico Political Report, Marker’s a fan of infamous Trump supporters like Steve Bannon and Mike Lindell. In the June primaries, he secured only 30,000 votes in the GOP primary. In comparison, Nella Domenici earned 79,809 votes in her uncontested 2024 Republican primary.
In addition to the qualification issues, Republicans were also unable to recruit candidates for other statewide races like treasurer and auditor. The lack of both top of the ballot and downballot candidates will most likely hurt GOP voter turnout in a year where they need to overperform to just stay competitive.
Party leadership is crumbling:
Beyond the electoral struggles, Republicans also have to reckon with in-fighting that’s led to a complete shake up in party leadership.
The saga began in May, when then-gubernatorial candidate Duke Rodriguez and then-lieutenant governor candidate Aubrey Blair Dunn filed a lawsuit against the Chairwoman of the RPNM, Amy Barela. They alleged that Barela had violated party rules by holding her office as chairwoman at the same time that she was running as a candidate for Otero County commissioner.
It wasn’t the first time that Barela had been accused of violating party rules, but it’s the one that stuck. Less than a week before the June primaries, a judge ruled that Barela had to step down as party chair. The RPNM appealed the decision but was rebuked by the state Supreme Court, which rejected the appeal.
Barela, Rodriguez, and Blair Dunn all lost their primary races in June. Immediately afterwards, Barela announced that she would seek to reclaim her position as RPNM chairwoman now that she was no longer a candidate. Several other Republicans have challenged Barela and blame her for the party’s mismanagement, according to Source New Mexico. Valencia County Republican Party Chair John Brenna and conservative radio host Brandon Vogt are running against Barela for her old position.
That hasn’t been the end of it: In June, Republicans also failed to reach a quorum to even vote on new leadership. Only 160 party officials attended the meeting where they planned to elect a new chair, but they needed at least 358 present to begin the voting process.
Bigger than politics:
It gets even worse, believe it or not. Perhaps the biggest scandal for the party happened at the end of June, when Kimberly Skaggs, the state Republican Party’s treasurer, was charged with committing a fatal hit-and-run in Otero County. The deadly incident came after Skaggs had received multiple previous citations for speeding and street racing.
Skaggs had held leadership positions in the RPNM in the past, but once news of the charges broke, all mention of her was scrubbed from the party’s website. The RPNM put out a statement on the matter in which it declared that Skaggs was no longer affiliated with the state GOP.
Where can Republicans go from here?
New Mexico conservatives used to have real political power: They held the governor’s mansion as recently as early 2019, when Gov. Susana Martinez was term-limited out of office.
But in 2026, the future of the party seems uncertain—especially in a year where national politics are expected to swing left, New Mexico Republicans have their work cut out for them.
