Leaving New Mexico is one of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever made.
Through the work I did on the New Mexico Rising Podcast, it became apparent to me that things weren’t getting better in the short term. Decades of corruption had become fully manifest in state government, scamdemic policies decimated the consistently struggling economy, and the Department of Justice’s campaign to cripple my revenue stream and label me “insurrectionist” finally forced me to sell my home.
I moved 1,106 miles away from the Northwestern New Mexico oilfield town I’d grown up in and spent the last year and a half attempting to rebuild my life in compliance with federal restrictions — working as a Free Range Journalist from a camper trailer in my parents’ yard in Missouri.
While traveling the country in 2022, I spoke with people from all walks of life. My work further informed my understanding of our great melting pot, yet I was constantly reminded of how much I still miss the Southwestern Land of Enchantment from which I was born.
Along the way, I heard moves were being made to reshape Republican Political Strategy. As many are beginning to understand, the national political landscape is informed by localities. Many in New Mexico contend that the state is a testing ground for much more than the Atomic Bomb.
New Mexico shut down well ahead of other states in the spring of 2020 and didn’t reopen until long after the rest of the country had already decided the lockdowns were nothing but bunk.
While Democrat Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham holds a firm grasp on power, genuine opposition is needed now more than ever.
I reached out to several officials from state and local Republicans (Including RPNM Chair Steve Pearce) in preparation for this story. Their lack of response forced me to rethink my approach.
The best advice for a writer is to stick to what you know. After fighting on the front lines in the information war in New Mexico, it seemed only appropriate to check in with some very close friends in the motherland — three outstanding gentlemen who know New Mexico Politics well.
Honest Assessment From a Council of Friends.
David Clements
David Clements (likely well-known by readers of The Gateway Pundit) is an attorney and former award-winning business law professor and prosecutor. Throughout the last three years, Professor Clements stayed on the front lines of the fight for election integrity across the United States while remaining a staunch advocate for Americans who’ve gotten wrapped up in the January 6th Reichstag Event.
Brett Kokinadis
Brett Kokinadis was a candidate for the US House of Representatives. He later served as First Vice-Chair of the Republican Party of Santa Fe County and as director of several political action committees. With over 23 years of entrepreneurship and executive leadership experience in the telecommunications, software, and finance sectors, he’s always looking for ways to bring new and impactful ideas to life. He’s currently spurring policy reform through his work with the Southwest Public Policy Institute.
Thaddeus Preston
Thaddeus Preston describes himself as a Father, Husband, American, and black man “in that order”. As self-designated editor-and-chief of Blogs at Relative Progress and Co-Host of the “Thank You for Your Servers” podcast, he’s never shy about his expertise on tech topics and dedication to liberty. He’s a Controls Engineer with Sandia National Laboratory and served for over ten years in the United States Air Force.
All three of these men possess the precise intellect needed to address madness with reason.
More important, however, is their dedication to honesty — a trait sorely missed in all corners of the political establishment and media sound byte personalities made famous by TikTok attention spans.
I started with a deceptively simple question.
Why Can’t New Mexico Republicans Win Elections?
Thaddeus Preston:
“They think it’s 1990, and they’re fighting their opponents here in the state, who are hard ideologues. I don’t think they’ve truly understood since the departure of Governor Susanna Martinez that, like California rules apply to the Democrat party here in the state, and they play all the ethnic groups against basically anyone with the “R” next to their name.
Republicans don’t understand the battle space.
They don’t understand that they’ve lost a lot of cultural caches. They think they can just own the libs and stuff like that, but the liberals here don’t care. And they willed this power so effectively over the last 20 years since the departure of Governor Gary Johnson.
When I first lived out here that this was the Goldwater West — live and let live and a little culturally liberal. But for the most part, we understood things like economics and the development of natural resources and land. And now what we get is Deb Holland who everyone thought was going to be their Native American savior going to the interior department, but instead she shuts down any opportunity for the development of natural resources. She basically stabs her own tribal regions in the back by not allowing anyone to develop their land.
These people are ideologues. And, the Republicans here don’t understand how to fight dirty.”
Brett Kokinadis:
“What we’ve seen is the result of lackluster performance on strategic messaging and focusing on the issues that matter to voters. They like to talk about the issues, and those issues are very important to Americans, especially in New Mexico. But we have yet to present any real solutions, particularly solutions that are marketable to voters across the aisle and the state where the GOP is the minority in the two-party system.
We can’t win elections without getting support from independents and Democrats. Democrats, as you know, in the state, are also disenfranchised by how things are going.
We rank last in education. We have issues with inflation, issues with drugs, and crime in our community. We lost 30% of our small businesses due to failed covid policies under the current administration, and we have rampant drugs in our communities with the Fentanyl crisis.
These are issues that affect everybody. They’re nonpartisan issues, but the state has yet to present any real flagship of hope and strategy to convince the electorate to vote with us.
People don’t like angry leaders. They don’t want someone up there telling them what they already know. They wanna know what the candidates and the party are going to do for them to make life better in the state that they call home.”
David Clements:
“There’s lots of different reasons that people will share with you, but for me, it’s all about the election infrastructure. And if you don’t change the tools that are being used, meaning the technology and the software, and if you’ve got the same corrupt administrators, you’re gonna run into the same problem over and over again.
And so, case in point, if you look at just the political makeup of New Mexico going back 80-plus years, Republicans have never held the Senate, and they’ve only controlled the house one time for a brief term. I think that was in 2014 for two years. And you could say that it’s a reflection of our elections, but I think what where we’re at right now is that you’re looking at the infrastructure of the past 20 years, where machines have the ability to perform selections rather than elections.
And we can get into the minutia on why I believe that’s the truth and not just a theory, but unless you change those things, you’re gonna have the same results come election season.”
Should RPNM Chairman Steve Pearce Retire?
Thaddeus Preston:
“I’m in a part of the state where he doesn’t have much of a stronghold. I think he should, though. There’s a general problem with leadership in this country with geriatric leadership and generals that are used to fighting the last war.
I think he’s done his best for state and country, but he should probably step aside.”
Brett Kokinadis:
“Before the biannual convention where the Republican party elects new leadership, there’s a small set of individual political insiders elected or appointed from individual counties —the State Central Committee. They’re the ones that go to these conventions, listen to the candidates, and elect the leadership of the party.
Prior to that, our organization sent out a very simple survey with three questions:
Do you support or oppose the reelection of the current chairman, which was Steve Pearce, and then rank your confidence in the current chairman’s ability to lead.
And that was a simple response of, ‘I’m confident,’ ‘I’m very confident,’ ‘I’m unconfident,’ and ‘I’m very unconfident.’ 77% of the respondents said that they opposed the reelection of chairman Steve Pearce, and 76% of the respondents said that they were either unconfident or very unconfident in his ability to lead the party.
We sent those communications privately to each respondent’s elected state central committee members. We sent over 22,000 emails, and the state central committee party basically rejected the survey, saying that it was fraudulent. And yet when we’re talking about our current call for the chairman to step aside so that we can elect a new leader for better outcomes, they’re continuing to say that this election survey or this performance survey was stacked.
Now for our current calls that we’re putting out on the internet against the chairman, it’s pretty clear if you compare the New Mexico State Party, GOP’s social media, compared to my individual social media, where I’m getting 200 x the amount of engagement and support to replace the current chairman.
New Mexicans that are not political insiders, that are not part of Steve’s cabal, know that it’s time for new leadership if we’re gonna expect different results in this state.”
David Clements:
“I think Steve Pearce is more aware of how the election game is played better than anyone because, for some reason, he was able to stay in Washington. I think also when you devote millions of dollars to campaigns to ensure that your congressional race can be won, year in and year out, you better have a good handle on what the election system is.
And now it doesn’t surprise me because of everything I just shared with you. Steve Pearce has done nothing to investigate these deviations. He’s done nothing with respect to litigation to hold Democrats and Maggie Toulouse Oliver accountable.
When we brought together an audit package that showed 17 explicit violations of our own election code, where the Secretary of State should have been sued by the Republican Party, Steve Pearce did nothing to investigate. So, the question isn’t so much, should he retire or should he bow out? The question is, ‘Who’s gonna replace him if you do?’
And, um, sometimes there, there’s, there’s a blessing to knowing the culprits that are behind all this and, and keep them in front of you. I’ve got a lot of problems with Steve Pearce’s leadership and it’s pretty sickening just how quickly — once Trump did not succeed in 2020 due to the blatant theft — how quickly the people that used him ran and didn’t stand for the real president.”
When It Comes to Election Integrity, Can Republicans Do Anything to Reassure the Public?
Thaddeus Preston:
“I think until you have a Republican party who’s willing to do kind of the groundwork that the Democrat party has been doing for the last fifteen years here and play the same games until we get competent litigators to go at the Secretary of State office and really start digging — forcing the Secretary of State to defend the position for third party entities to have access to the voter world databases and all this stuff — it’s going to be difficult.
But now people are starting to realize it. This is why, while I’m not a Ron DeSantis guy, I do recognize that he’s one of the few politicians who’ve said, ‘We will ballot harvest and play the games the Democrats play because that’s now the rules of the game.’
What would probably help out here is a dedicated litigator with funding from the right to go at the Secretary of State’s office, hardcore, and just bury them in litigation until you get it done right.
In the meanwhile, in discovering that process, understand what the hell they’re doing and emulate it from the right, ‘cause these elections are now Banana Republic. This is shit that I saw when I was in Nigeria in 2015, where I’m just like, ‘Uh, why does it take you guys so long to figure out who’s president? I typically know who’s president by the end of the night.’
So, famous last words in 2015 when Buhari won in Nigeria, everyone bitched about election integrity. Everyone bitched about this, that, and the other thing, but the other side lost because they didn’t understand the game.
And you see it all around the world. They’re gonna do what they need to do. And so we need the GOP to stop being worthless and controlled opposition. They need to start playing those games, and it has to happen at the state-by-state level, county-by-county level.
But I don’t think they’re serious. I think they’re fighting the war from 20 years ago, and I don’t think they understand how demonically maniacal and ideological the other side is”
Brett Kokinadis:
“Well, it’s a waste of time if you don’t vote.
So we’ve heard that argument now for several cycles, starting with the presidential loss of President Trump to Joe Biden, that’s been challenged by his campaign team. People within his administration — the state party, the GOP — has not yet done anything with legal relevance to present a sound case that election integrity is at issue.
I’m not saying that there aren’t election integrity issues, but as of to date, no organization, no NGO, no movement, no group of Republicans, no party, and no elected official (which we don’t have many in this state) have presented any evidence that a competent court will accept.
Until that time comes, I don’t know what Republicans and folks that are concerned about election integrity are expecting as an outcome because, so far, no one has presented a smoking gun.
If there was, I guarantee there would be money — there would be a lot of media attention around it — and we would be in court as soon as tomorrow. So until someone can bring that forward, I don’t think that’s a strategy for the GOP to be focused on.”
David Clements:
“I don’t distinguish between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to our elections. In fact, most of the objections that Erin and I faced in our audit came from Republicans. Or we were met with abject silence. Steve Pearce did nothing to look at the problems of our election system.
Yvette Harrell had an opportunity to challenge and ask for an audit of sorts after she lost this last go around — she did nothing.
There are people within the party that, to me, appear to be controlled opposition, where they’re very, very smart on certain microcosms of the elections. Still, they completely ignore the strongest evidence we presented: Analysis of these things called cast vote records, or cast vote records summaries — an electronic record that shows you the order in which votes were cast on election day.
And what we found is certain places like Sandoval County had an impossible arrangement of votes. When I say impossible, I mean there’s no possibility whatsoever to account for what we saw in those records.
The second thing is that we saw great malfeasance with the destruction of records that were supposed to be retained for up to two years.
That happened in Otero County and many other places in Doña Ana County, where the entire election file in Otero was deleted by Dominion or the Clerks, which is illegal. That happened.
We also have been lied to about whether or not our elections are hooked up to the internet, and we were gaslit over it.
Well, we found out, through correspondence between the Secretary of State’s office and the Center for Internet Security, that they have an agreement in place that allows them to monitor all election information — all election data, in real-time — to basically have access to all of our software.
And they have tools available to them via the internet through backends. So we broke that story.
We’re the ones that found out that our voter rolls seem to have strong evidence if not absolute evidence, of automation — where you see the same spikes on the same days in all 33 counties, which is also impossible. And we’ve identified the weapon that makes that possible, which is a software called Total Vote.
We have a version of total vote software in New Mexico called “SERVIS.”
It’s fully integrated — there’s no congressional mandate — there’s no oversight. And none of the clerks, by and large, are even aware of the existence of this software. They’re not aware of these things called Albert sensors, which is what I was referring to before — the agreement between CIS and the Secretary of State to monitor elections.
Most of the clerks downstream weren’t even aware of that relationship. So you’ve got maximum vulnerability here where the Department of Homeland Security, by virtue of its relationship with CIS, has the capability to monitor every aspect of our elections. Real-time, from voter roll management to election act reporting to tabulation to overriding results, and they had the functional capability to change things. And we’ve seen evidence of those changes with respect to the cast vote records I just mentioned and voter roll automation.
So we’re not even guessing at whether or not these vulnerabilities have been exposed. We have quantitative proof that shows that they have been exposed.
And when you couple that with the fact that registration trends favoring Republicans over the 30 years or the past 30 years are quite strong, we’ve seen a decline in Democrat registration and a greater registration trend going for Republicans.
Yet when it comes to election season time in, and time out, you never see successes with Republicans at the ballot box.”
Why Did the Republican Party Fail to Stop Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham?
Thaddeus Preston:
“During the last election cycle, she pulled back on the covid insanity. She cut taxes and checks at the last minute. I can’t really articulate how tribal everyone is in these population centers, like mine, where I work around a lot of very highly paid, highly educated people.
They just didn’t trust Mark Ronchetti. He’s a weather guy. People ask, ‘Why would I vote for him?’ I reason because the current governor is terrible, but it didn’t matter.
The other thing was the SCOTUS decision on Roe v. Wade kind of killed it.
Is it stupid to vote on those kinda social issues? Yeah. Because most of your electorate are women. And so there were a lot of compounding circumstances that were working against us here.
They believed that really shitty poll that he was as close as he really was. I always, I always knew he was never that Ronchetti was never that close.
I just chalk it up to incompetence and misunderstanding of the battle space.
Michelle Lujan Grisham had a lot of money, and everyone sort of forgot, like the covid lockdowns — everyone forgot standing in bread lines in November of 2020.
And she cut checks. And at the end of the day, that’s what worked in a very emotionally polarized electorate.
The RNC didn’t really throw a lot of money this way until the last minute, but they didn’t even lay the groundwork to do what was necessary to win in the first place.
And then, as I said, being in very cosmopolitan Albuquerque, nobody wanted to vote for Ronchetti.”
Brett Kokinadis:
“The first issue was we went through several years of the most extreme tyrannical administration in this state and across the nation. We suffered the consequences of failed economies and horrible education where kids were kept out of school. Communities in New Mexico that are heavy in religious beliefs were locked out of churches, small businesses were fined, and big, big box stores were able to profit.
I would’ve thought at that time that when we had a governor, which we proved was out joy boating in a state that is deprived of water in most places, —partying at her residence, potentially fundraising for her campaigns, doing favors for her friends — I thought that would be enough to open up the eyes of the voters, but it wasn’t. And we worked relentlessly on this. I’ve personally chased the governor now, as you know, for well over eight years or six years since her first election when she left the US House of Representatives and campaigned to be the governor of New Mexico. And there were plenty of issues even on that.
The reason why we’re transitioning to focus on Steve Pearce is he himself was a gubernatorial candidate and Michelle Grisham’s first campaign election cycle and lost horribly.
Now we continue the story. We had a major loss in New Mexico in the 2022 election cycle. We lost our only federal seat. We were unable to win any statewide offices, and we lost footing in other chambers of the state government. So when Republicans are concerned about things like election integrity or any of the other issues that the Republican party likes to carry the flag for, my question is: What do you expect the party to do about it?
If we have no power, if we have no plan, if we have no money, and if we have no strategy. And Steve Pierce is ultimately responsible for all that from the New Mexico GOP.”
David Clements:
“I think that MLG, just like Maggie Toulouse Oliver and many of our local officials, knows they can treat their constituents with contempt because they understand that the system will ensure that they’re selected.
So they’ll risk the blowback of having perpetual emergency powers under covid to keep us under lockdown.
I remember being here when we had literal bread lines outside of stores, which favored the big box chains but shut down a third of the restaurants in the state, and they haven’t come back.
In a similar fashion, that happened on her watch. And how could she weather that and win an election when she was historically unpopular from both sides.
So again, I just point to the elections. I think they know, and they’re at the tip of the spear of perfecting the cheat in New Mexico, which is being seen deployed across the country.”
Does the NM GOP Enjoy Playing Second Fiddle to Democrats?
Thaddeus Preston
“I think to a certain extent, that they do. I think they’re happy just doing whatever and playing along with the constituents who voted them in, but the eastern part of the state has been greatly neglected.
I think it’s kinda like what you see at the national level, which you, where it’s just good old boys and geriatric leadership that do the bare minimum.
They get outraged when everyone else gets outraged, but they sit up there and let their constituents in the East get pretty much passed over, and it’s kind of sad. Slowly but surely, they’re getting their power eaten away by a state bureaucracy.
The left came into the state bureaucracies, you know, over the last 10 to 15 years, very determined to enforce their will. And you know, as the East suffers for that and Indigenous American tribes suffer for that, with no leadership willing to do the right thing.
And when some young guns want to come up and actually do something about it, and Steve Pearce and the establishment picks a safe Republican candidate. It’s self-sabotage.
They have their fiefdom, and they don’t want it ruined.”
Brett Kokinadis:
“Steve Pearce has been the leader of the Republican Party of New Mexico now for multiple terms, and what we’ve seen is a continued decline in the party’s performance, relevance, and outcomes. So why can we continue to do the same thing with the same failed administration and the state party expecting different outcomes?
Furthermore, when we look at the emphasis of where the party puts focus and election cycles, you know, from what I’ve heard, they’re already focusing on the 2024 presidential election planning, which is very important. But we also have elections coming up in November that affect the lives and outcomes of New Mexicans directly.
We have 82 school boards up for election, and we have a US Senate seat. We have a state senate race for multiple candidates and amongst other local elections that are very important to issues that we face in New Mexico.
So even though the President of the United States is a very important position, it has very small effect on the day-to-day life of new Mexicans, particularly in a state with failing a failing education system where we rank 51st in the nation when including Washington, DC, the problems are not the focus of the party.
I mean, we love to talk about what needs to be done, but what can be done today if we’re not in power — if we’re not able to win elections? Voters are affected by these issues regardless of their party affiliation.
The Democratic Party has done a very good job of keeping people distracted from the issues, placing blame on other world leaders, yet maintaining a platform of hope, optimism, and excitement about their candidates.
So even though the GOP likes to talk about the issues, we have to really start looking at our promises to voters.”
David Clements:
“This is the uni-party. I think there’s a little bit of kayfabe — the idea of what we see in professional wrestling where Macho Man and Hulk Hogan will cut their promos and then go out, and they’ll put on a show, and it looks like they hate each other’s guts.
But after the match, they go back to the same hotel, where they drink a beer together and they ask about each other’s families. I get the sense that that’s what’s going on with many of the political establishment types in New Mexico. We get a lot of people that talk tough at certain times but completely change their colors.
I’ve been really disappointed with John Block — a person elected out of Otero County — a strong conservative — but now that he’s in the roundhouse, he’s weakened a lot of his positions on election integrity. So that’s the kind of stuff where what happens to these people when they get wined and dined in Santa Fe, something changes.”
Is the NM State GOP Too Intertwined With the RNC National Establishment?
Thaddeus Preston:
“Yeah, for the most part. I mean, that happens in any political system here.
We’re a lot closer to the political environment that I see when I’ve gone to places like Ethiopia or Nigeria.
There’s enough justice being passed out around the state so that you can send loyal opposition to the state capital to argue one’s case, but typically they’re gonna sell you out for compromise and to get something done.
And you see the same thing at the national level. Where they accept the premise of the argument or the debate, and they proceed to get rolled. And while they’re able to push back at some of the excesses of the left and an agenda of absolute economic and social depravity, they typically always err on the side that was closer to their opposition.
They never negotiate from a position of strength in any of the debates here.
The only saving grace, we had a legislative session that pushed gun stuff and abortion stuff cause they love killing babies. But all the GOP got were these really bullshit concessions, and everything still lurched in favor of the left.”
Brett Kokinadis:
“If we look at a corporate structure, in a normal system, you have corporate America talking down to its franchise operators, and they set the tone, they set the marketing, they set the message. So the national GOP is partially responsible for that marketing approach and messaging as well, which I believe it’s currently a failure.
But Steve Pearce has taken it upon himself to follow that lead and then add his own words to it and focus the direction of the party on the same path he always does.
The objections from the State Central Committee about why we cannot replace Steve Pearce at this point is because we have a current election cycle in progress for November for local elections. My question to them is: “Are we planning to fail again?”
Because there’s certainly nothing visible to the public or Republicans that instills any type of confidence that we’re gonna have any different result.”
David Clements:
“I do think there’s a problem with Ronna McDaniel — a problem with the RNC — which is sad because when you talk to everyday registered Republicans that aren’t higher-ups in the party, they’re just regular good people that want the best for their country. But as soon as you get caught up in the statewide party, it is the same song and dance.
It’s not about serving the people of New Mexico. It’s all about power playing and horse trading and making sure that you get this favor and this person gets that favor. It’s insider trading all the way down to local commission meetings where these people are enriching themselves.
We saw that in Torrance County — we had a great opportunity to do audit work there and were sold out because it would disturb some of their backdoor deals.
They met with Daniel Ivey-Soto, who is the chief lobbyist for Dominion, and froze out investigators and auditors that were trying to get to the bottom of election deviations in their county.”
In Facing the Progressive, Extreme Left, Does the GOP Need to Move Harder to the Right?
Thaddeus Preston:
“That’s kind of a tough one, right? The GOP needs an identity other than that of a Fox News commentator from 2004 or whatever.
Since they’re not winning by moving to the center, it would probably help them in negotiations with their opponents in the future.
So I say they need to move further right. As much as it pains me to say, I think they should stake out very conservative positions.
Because we’re living out west with very staunchly right-wing positions that you’re never gonna get the press to write about in a fair way. So you might as well go extreme.
At the very least, it sets the precedent that when you go into negotiations, they already know you want to eliminate the gross fees tax.
That should be the position going into any debate, as an example, so that we can get meaningful concessions.”
Brett Kokinadis:
“I think this talks about the religious factions within the GOP, which is made up of many demographics.
I myself am an openly gay member of the party — an openly gay candidate for the United States House of Representatives, and I don’t feel welcome in that party.
The issues we have to look at are the hard right controlling the Republican party and the hard left controlling the Democrat party. Neither of those extremes is marketable to voters. And I think we’ll start seeing that become more and more true on the left.
When we start looking at the pronoun movements like “they” and “them,” that’s not a very clear, concise message. And they’re allowing that message to hijack their party.
We had President Biden disgrace the United States Flag at the White House by putting predominance on the LGBTQ+ flag. This is not an agenda that solves American problems.
And I don’t think that the GOP is out there saying that they don’t support equality and that they don’t support inclusion. Still, when we look at things from the left, when we have United Airlines CEO coming out and saying they’re going to hire new pilots based upon diversity, instead of trying to find the right pilots for the right job — the best pilots they could possibly find — this is changing culture in America.
We saw what happened with Target — with the recalls on their clothing line for children — promoting LGBTQ initiatives.
I think America cares more about putting food on the table, affording fuel for their car, having a roof over their head, and making sure that their future is bright.”
David Clements:
“I think we have to kind of get away from the left/right paradigm.
I think that we’re actually much more similar than we recognize at first, but I think people like to keep the fruits of their own labor, whether you’re a Democrat or Republican.
I think business owners on both the left and right like to have predictability in regulations.
I think people like a fair criminal justice system.
I think they like the idea of having trust in the votes that are cast in the system.
I think there’s some differentiation on the social safety net.
You know, Democrats seem to prefer, at least historically, having a safety net provided by the government on all kinds of domestic issues. And Republicans, while they say they’re against that, they’re all about providing safety nets overseas and being the world’s policeman. It’s like birds of the same feather or two sides of the same coin.
But I think people, by and large, want to be left alone — to enjoy relative freedom.
And I think one of the great fictions that’s been, um, created by virtue of our election system is that we’ve been fooled into thinking that these elections are competitive — that we’re looking at a 50/50 split along those lines in the country and in reality, I think that probably 75 to 80% of the country feels the same way.
Unfortunately, we’re not able to accurately see that by virtue of the snake news reporting that we see on TV every day.”
If Pearce Goes Away, Who Should Lead the Republican Party in New Mexico?
Thaddeus Preston:
“I don’t know how much of this is true, or how much of this Rebecca Dow understands, at least in our interview way back in the day, who she’s dealing with in Santa Fe.
She’s seen, with her time in the legislature, the slow radicalization of the opposition party. And so I think to a certain extent she knows what time it is.
She told some anecdotal stories about being able to work with some of the less progressive Democrats, but they were primaried out or eliminated by the much more progressive wing within the state.
Another dark horse would be Jay Block, but realistically, it would probably be Mark Ronchetti since I would imagine through a Senate race and a governor’s race that he has built enough of an apparatus for money. He has some sort of notoriety.“
Brett Kokinadis:
“Well, first off, in a state like New Mexico, 52% of our population is Hispanic and Catholic. And the chairman will argue that they’re adequately represented in the leadership.
There are some members of leadership that belong to that demographic. However, none of them have been visible in any significant way on TV, on the radio, or in print and social media.
So when we’re in a state where Hispanics are our primary base, 52% of the state, the party needs to look like them. The party needs to talk about the issues that matter to them.
And examples of that have existed across the state in places like Albuquerque and Santa Fe, where we have the largest voting base in the most progressive areas that are upset at the progressive agenda because of the ethnic cleansing of the historical culture and values from our communities. That’s one big focus.
The second focus is it’s not up to me to nominate or tell this movement who to elect if we’re successful — I should say, ‘when’ we’re successful in removing Steve Pearce. It’s up to the State Central Committee and the Executive Committee to issue a call and welcome new candidates.
There’s plenty of diverse organizations that are within the conservative movement that could put forth candidates with ideas and a passion for change.”
David Clements:
“I have met so many fantastic, everyday grassroots patriots that do not seek power that I’ve seen work their tails off in the trenches. And these would be the people I want to lead the state going forward.
There’s a long list of names, but I’ll give you a few.
John Veltri is part of a New Mexico grassroots group in Sandoval. They have not missed a public meeting in over a year — just taking the commission to task over election anomalies and all kinds of things.
Ramona Goolsby is another person.
These aren’t big-name people you see on the same Ferris wheel of people running. But they’re activists that are trying to make our country better.
I think Carla Sonntag has done a tremendous job over the years in notifying the people of New Mexico about legislation that’s very, very poor. She’s someone who’s very informed — who seems to care about the state — doesn’t seem to have a dog in the fight when it comes to actually running for office. I think she would be a strong candidate.
I also think Cuoy Griffin would be a tremendous party leader going forward because he has been gaslit and abused — removed from office for all kinds of spurious attacks related to January 6 when all he did was go outside and pray and say the Pledge of Allegiance.
I mean, these are the people that will do a better job of protecting the liberty interest of the people of New Mexico because they’ve experienced the consequences of the corruption that we’ve seen.
And by and large, the Republican Party did nothing to help Cuoy Griffin.
This was a Republican County commissioner until he was removed from office by a far-left judge. He survived a recall election in Otero County, and the only reason why he’s controversial is because he’s fighting for all the right things for people in New Mexico.
So if you wanted a lot bigger name, I think Cuoy Griffin’s the type of person that I’ve seen act on behalf of his constituents.
He listens to everyone — he truly treats his work as service, and he’s paid the penalty all the way up to being removed from office for standing up to bullies.
So if I had to give you a big name of who I’d like to see lead the party in some way, Cuoy Griffin would be a strong choice.”
What Could New Mexico Look Like After The Next Election and Into 2025?
Thaddeus Preston:
Look, it looks a lot the same as the way — probably a little more progressive. I think there’s enough backlash, more of a whiplash factor, that there could be some Republican gains. But I’m just not really hearing a lot in 2024, considering my place in this population that is more scholarly.
I think we’ve fallen down the charts in a couple of more categories, and I think we’re gonna probably be hit a little less harder than other economies because we have government contracting.
But I think the status quo will remain. I don’t think there are any real brutal fights that people need to rally behind or stop.
I think we’re just a little more progressive than we are today — a little bit economically depressed, but since we’re basically a welfare state, we won’t feel it nearly much.”
Brett Kokinadis:
“The plan going forward for 2025 in New Mexico should recognize that the progressives have constantly attacked conservative policy. Well, it’s time for Republicans to start turning progressive policy on progressives, and that’s pretty simple.
Some examples of that are Tesla — the electric vehicle manufacturer. It has two locations on tribal lands in New Mexico.
Conservatives and Republicans support open and fair commerce, yet we still have a direct-to-consumer sales ban on the state. Tesla cannot sell or service their vehicles directly anywhere except tribal lands. That’s kind of an oxymoron, little bit of hypocrisy from progressives who say we gotta save the climate. And that’s the number one issue.
The second is climate change. We’ve talked about all this money pouring into green energy. New Mexico has a deadline of 2030 to be 100% renewable.
We’re already seeing brownouts and calls for reduced usage during peak power times, like on hot summer days.
Why are we not talking about nuclear energy?
The expertise is in this state.
Not only does nuclear energy address the concerns about climate change in a responsible way, but it addresses conservative concerns about energy, reliability, and energy affordability.
And just like we did a survey with the Southwest Public Policy Institute, 70% of new Mexicans responding to that survey said that they preferred or put preference on reliability and affordability of energy over the source of energy.
Energy demands are growing. If we want to talk about rebates and credits, it won’t happen with solar.
The public utility has already said they have a waiting list for selling solar and wind energy back onto the grid. The idea that New Mexico is going to be able to generate a surplus from those energy sources is just not true.
So investing in nuclear technology in the state, whether that be a modern nuclear facility or micro nuclear facilities, is an option where Republicans can present a solution that addresses those climate change concerns from renewable energy, as well as even offering people an incentive in the form of a rebate if we are successful in selling that energy back onto the grid where instead of it being printed or taxed, it’s based on revenue.”
David Clements:
“I pray for the day where we can get back to a system where people trust who wins on Election Day — a system of voting that we more or less did for over 150 years where you vote on Election Day — one day only — with voter ID. Small precincts and local communities having control over the certification process of who wins in their communities.
I’d love to see pro-freedom, pro-liberty candidates that emerge because of Fair Elections, where New Mexico goes from the basement to being one of the most free and prosperous states in the country.
So if we’re praying for miracles and praying for a vision, that’s why I’m in this fight is I really believe if we can get our elections back in order, we can get quality candidates that can undo all of the ills that we’ve faced over the past 20 years. It’s only gotten worse. So that’s my vision.
And then, of course, whether or not I’m involved in politics, I will serve my family and my communities. So right now, my service is to get rid of these machines. Let’s get rid of the rigged system and, then live to fight another day.”
What Can the Rest of America Learn from the Land of Enchantment?
Thaddeus Preston:
“Depending on how your state is structured, the most important office in the land is the Secretary of State. Learn the ins and outs of the Secretary of State’s office.
Always be mindful of your institutions and who works within them, and who is getting elected to them. If you don’t do that, you’ll run into a situation where it’s pretty much insurmountable for a third party or even the Republican Party, which as the opposition, didn’t have any chance of taking office — particularly in urban areas.
Learn your vote, learn your voting, and learn how your state votes. Keep a very close eye on Zuck Bucks or any of these institutions that tend to come in to get out the vote to do whatever.
But to reiterate — most importantly —find out what relationships your fucking Secretary of State has.”
Brett Kokinadis:
“The Party of “NO” must transform its platform, appeal, trust, and value into a problem-solving party for the American people. Though there are many failed policies pushed by the oppositional party, Republicans must earn votes through the development of inspiring leaders, hopeful and sound policies, while delivering on its promises based on sound economic policies powered by innovation.”
David Clements:
“Elections have consequences. Rigged elections have catastrophic consequences.
And New Mexico has been at the forefront of rigged elections.”
