Advance New Mexico Now

Legislative candidates spent more than $10M

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Legislative candidates raised $12 million and spent more than $10.3 million during the 2016 election cycle. Republicans lost their state House majority despite outraising and outspending Democrats overall. Democratic Senate candidates outspent their GOP opponents while increasing their majority. even though Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez lost his seat after an onslaught of negative advertising funded by a super PAC. Candidates filed their final reports Thursday.

2016 election

Mapping the election: NM Legislature results

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Democrats took back the House and increased their hold over the state Senate last week. That’s despite the loss of Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez to Republican Greg Baca, which GOP Gov. Susana Martinez declared a major victory. Come January, the House majority will switch from 37-33 in favor of Republicans to at least 37-33 in the Democrats’ favor. That margin could increase to as high as 39-31, depending on the outcome of two recounts in the Albuquerque area. Here’s a look at the seats that switched or might switch:

House District 36: Las Cruces Democrat Nate Small defeated incumbent Rep. Andy Nunez with 56.5 percent of the vote to 43.5 percent of the vote.

2016 election

Mapping the election: NM secretary of state and presidential votes

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Democrat Hillary Clinton won New Mexico’s five electoral votes a week ago, but her popularity varied among counties. And both Clinton and President-elect Donald Trump received fewer total votes than the two candidates in the special New Mexico Secretary of State contest. Part of that is attributable to the presence of former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson as the Libertarian presidential candidate. He won 10 percent or more of the vote in 10 counties, including nearly 14 percent in Los Alamos County. Clinton won 15 of the state’s 33 counties, 10 of them with more than half the vote.

Politics

New Mexico Super PACs: Winners and Losers

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Gov. Susana Martinez took out her major target in Tuesday’s election, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez. But that single victory came at a cost. Republicans lost the state House after two years in control, while Democrats strengthened their margin in the state Senate. The Democrats will control the House by at least a 37-33 margin, with an outside shot at a 39-31 split. Two races are going to recounts.

Politics

New Mexico Election Day: Political action committees replace political parties

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Political action committees have spent plenty of money this year with the goal of getting voters to select one candidate over another. New Mexico In Depth has documented many of the campaign mailers and messages at our Follow the Message site. One trend is that the money paying for such messages has increased over the years. Another is the rise of political action committee and replacement of political parties as fundraising’s big players in New Mexico politics.  That’s especially true of super PACs, which can take unlimited donations and spend large sums without coordinating with parties or candidates.

2016 election

Clinton, Trump liven up TV ad market in final week of campaign

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Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton made a splash with their TV ads in New Mexico in the final week of campaign 2016. But neither candidate broke into the top three spenders or the top five advertisers during October. Republican Trump spent $219,500 on 466 ads in the state, while Democrat Clinton spent $179,374 on 1,194 ads. (Clinton’s spending went further because she also bought ads on cable and satellite TV, which is less expensive than network TV ads.)

That’s according to an analysis of TV and cable ad contracts filed with the Federal Communications Commission. 1st Congressional District Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, still tops the list of spenders during October at $427,463.

2016 election

New Mexico PACs bring in big bucks

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New Mexico political action committees have raised nearly $15.8 million and spent more than $14 million in the two years leading up to Tuesday’s election. Those PACs have bought TV and radio ads, sent mailers, paid for robocalls and polls. New Mexico In Depth analyzed fundraising and spending for 2015 and 2016 through Nov. 1 for state-registered PACs. Excluded were the two state party committees; Act Blue, a conduit PAC for donations to candidates; and South-Central PAC, a union group that only sends money to a parent group in Washington, D.C.

Advance New Mexico Now, a super PAC operated by Republican Gov. Susana Martinez’s top advisers, is the top money raiser and spender.

Politics

Leadership races are top draws for candidate campaign cash

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Control of New Mexico’s Legislature is on the line in Tuesday’s election, and that’s evident in the fundraising and spending reports. Through Nov. 1 candidates in 17 hotly contested seats have raised nearly $6.2 million and spent nearly $4.5 million. Nowhere is the battle more pronounced than in the contests featuring Republican House Majority Leader Nate Gentry and Democratic Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez. The two  lawmakers top the list of money raised and spent over the last two years.

2016 election

NMID tracks November campaign filings

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Today is a filing day for New Mexico candidates, the third for the general election. It’s another important day as Republicans fight to hold their two-year majority in the House and take over the Senate, while Democrats hope to take back the House and hold the Senate. Today, we’ll track the secretary of state contest, plus key legislative races. We’ll check out the super PACs too. Below you’ll find the money coming in betweenOct.

Election 2016

In competitive races ads start positive, then turn negative

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They start arriving in your mailbox or on the radio in a trickle, with mostly positive vibes. This candidate will help the children, that candidate will get tough on crime. But then the political messages seem to fill your mailboxes and the airwaves. And they seem to be taking a decidedly nasty turn. That’s the pattern New Mexico In Depth found in reviewing mailers and other messages  contributed by our readers, friends, sources, campaigns and the University of New Mexico library patrons as part of our Follow the Message site.