Free Republic

SANTA FE – Alexis Johnson and Harry Montoya, two Republicans who have previously filed paperwork to run for New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District seat in the U.S. House, made formal announcements of their candidacies this week. In a news release. Johnson, who lives in Santa Fe and is a graduate of New Mexico Tech, describes herself as a rancher, engineering consultant, social conservative and pro-life mother who was raised in southeastern New Mexico. She said she has worked in environmental engineering as a liaison in the Permian Basin, helping private business and government entities reach solutions to complex technical and...

President Trump’s reelection campaign says it is hiring staff and opening field offices in Minnesota and New Mexico, two traditionally blue states the president’s strategists have identified as having potential to flip in 2020. Still, the Trump campaign believes that both states are in play this time around. On a conference call with reporters, a senior official said the campaign is working on a “huge buildout” of paid staffers and a volunteer network in Minnesota that will dwarf their 2016 efforts there. In the past election, the campaign had only one staffer on the ground in Minnesota, and that person...

Anyone wondering why religious people still support Donald Trump, despite his flaws, need only watch a recording of the Democrats’ fanatical LGBTQ town hall last week. From Elizabeth Warren mocking religious males as incapable of finding a wife to Beto O’Rourke’s promise to strip tax benefits from religious institutions, or Cory Booker’s assertion that Catholics use religion to justify discrimination, you see the ugly face of militant secularism and coercion. It is frightening that every one of the nine Democratic candidates who took part in the CNN event has signed up to extreme policies that attack religious liberty and radically...

RIO RANCHO, N.M. (KRQE) – Protesters have gathered about 100 feet away from the arena where President Trump will be speaking Monday night. The crowd has steadily grown in what’s been designated as the “Free Speech Zone” across the street from the entrance where Trump supporters are heading into the Sana Ana Star Center. So far, the protests have been peaceful, with people holding handmade anti-Trump signs. There has been some arguing back and forth with Trump’s supporters and some chanting. People in this crowd believe Trump will not win over New Mexico. “We’re all about love, we’re not about...

Rio Rancho mayor says "zero tolerance" for anyone who displays violence or aggression RIO RANCHO, N.M. — We're only hours away from the gates opening at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho. KOAT spoke with Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull about what people should expect Monday when President Donald Trump is in town. This will be the biggest event Rio Rancho has ever hosted, and as you would expect, a lot of planning has gone into it. “We’re dealing with a sitting president of the United States here, so there’s going to be high security all over,” Hull...

When President Donald Trump steps on stage for a campaign rally in Rio Rancho, New Mexico next week, even his own campaign staffers know he will be facing long odds. A Republican candidate for President hasn’t won the state since 2004, when George W. Bush beat John Kerry there by a margin of just 5,988 votes. Trump himself lost the state by eight points to Hillary Clinton in 2016 and his disapproval rating among registered voters there is a crushing 57%, according to the Morning Consult voter tracking poll. Nonetheless, Trump’s campaign is betting it can win in New Mexico....

Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski predicted Thursday that President Trump will win by a wider electoral margin next year compared to his 2016 victory. “My prediction is Donald Trump will win by a larger electoral margin than he did in the 2016 election,” Lewandowski told Hill.TV. He was also optimistic about Trump’s ability to win three states that he lost in 2016: New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Nevada. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton won all three states by a slim margin. Trump received 304 electoral votes to Clinton's 227, for a 77-vote margin of victory.

With the Democratic National Committee (DNC) struggling to raise money, Chairman Tom Perez is planning to hold multiple fundraisers in Mexico City this September. The three fundraisers scheduled for the 28th, according to Bloomberg, will range from a student-centric event with a $25 minimum entry fee to a dinner at which tickets could go as high as $15,000. Under Perez’s leadership, the DNC has lagged far behind its Republican National Committee (RNC) counterpart in raising funds. Election 2020 Democratic National Committee Will Raise Funds in Mexico — and Seek Hillary’s Help, Too Chairman Tom Perez is organizing events in Mexico...

Pollster Lee Carter measured the responses of a group of 100 voters to President Trump’s rally in Cincinnati and she said Friday that independents are leaning toward the president's immigration stance. At one point in the speech, Trump said Democrats’ greatest “betrayal” was supporting “open borders’ and Democratic lawmakers “care more about illegal aliens than they care about their own constituents." “We’re not going to do that,” Trump said to his base at the rally on Thursday. Carter, president of communications consulting firm Maslansky + Partners, said the voter-reaction analysis showed independents tracking closer to Republicans than Democrats in response...

President Donald Trump over the weekend backed off a threat to have Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conduct massive nationwide raids to deport "millions" of migrants illegally in the United States, an act that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says came after she phoned the president last week. "When I spoke to the president, I said, 'Look, I'm a mom, I have five kids, nine grandchildren and children are scared. You're scaring the children of America, not just in those families, but their neighbors and their communities,'" the California Democrat said Monday while discussing immigration at an event in Queens, New...

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said Sunday Dreamers, children of immigrants brought into the country illegally, should get legal status. "Well, it's been put in place by President Obama and I believe we have a responsibility to fulfill what is a presidential pledge and commitment. So that's in the past. I would provide legal status for those Dreamers in the country," Romney said on NBC's "Meet the Press," referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that shields these individuals from deportation. "That's something the president's put on the table. I think we should get that job done, and hope,...

Former New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez defended President Donald Trump's call for a border wall as part of a deal to end the government shutdown and said Thursday "it's disgusting" not to call the situation on the U.S. Mexico-border a crisis. The Republican, who was the nation's first Latina governor, told Fox News that Democrats should come to the table and agree to Trump's wall in exchange to fund the federal government. "I think the president's plan is smart, and it's multi-faceted," Martinez said. "It includes a fence, but not for 2,000 miles."

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said in a recent interview that he hopes somebody runs against President Trump in the 2020 election, and that Trump supporters' continued chants of "lock her up" — typically in reference to Hillary Clinton — are "disturbing." In his retirement interview with C-SPAN, Flake said the chants, which were sparked by Trump's campaign and have continued throughout his presidency, are more concerning than the controversial things Trump says. "The disturbing thing isn’t so much what [Trump] says anymore, it’s the cheers from people behind him and the chants of, 'Lock her up!' for example that’s just...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Standing before hundreds of business leaders, Republican Steve Pearce and Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham clashed Monday over whether “right to work” legislation banning compulsory union fees should be part of New Mexico’s economic development strategy. The two gubernatorial candidates — both of whom are giving up safe seats in Congress — also sparred over whether the Republican tax cuts passed last year are promoting economic growth in the country. But Pearce and Lujan Grisham also treated each other with respect and avoided personal jabs. They hugged after the one-hour forum, sponsored by a coalition of 21 real...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Former Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson said in seeking to make history and capture a U.S. Senate seat in New Mexico he'll have to give up a few of his favorite activities: marathon biking rides, hanging out in his northern New Mexico "dream" home and tuning out news about President Donald Trump. But he can't promise he won't smoke an occasional joint. Johnson, who served two terms as New Mexico governor in the 1990s and gained national attention as one of the first mainstream politicians to call for the legalization of marijuana, announced Thursday that he's...

Hard-working, strong Asian-American Republicans are active and vocally supporting the leadership of President Trump while working to instill Republican values and policies in their communities. Kimberly Yee is an American politician and a Republican member of the Arizona Senate representing District 20 since January 14, 2013. Being a candidate for Arizona State Treasurer, Senator Kimberly Yee has been consistent throughout her career in public service and she has earned a reputation at the Arizona State Capitol as a fiscal conservative who advocates for issues on behalf of the taxpayer. Asian Republicans are no longer hidden; they have an active and...

Well then, you must like losing your job to someone in Mexico who will make $3/hour. Union leaders at an air conditioner factory in Indianapolis threatened with losing 1,400 jobs to Mexico said on Tuesday the plants owner expects to pay Mexican workers $3 an hour compared to an average of more than $20 an hour for the U.S. workers. "We have not given up the fight yet," said Chuck Jones, president of the United Steelworkers union local that represents workers at the Carrier Corp plant. "But Carrier has pretty well indicated that the wage differential is too great and...

Voting precincts have closed in Alabama, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota as eight states hold primaries Tuesday, including in California where the Democratic Party’s plan to regain control of the House of Representatives faces a big test. The Fox News Decision Desk can now project that former pharmaceutical executive Bob Hugin will win Tuesday’s Republican Senate primary in New Jersey. But it is too early to project a winner on the Democratic side, where incumbent Sen. Bob Menendez is battling fellow Democrat Lisa McCormick. Menendez’s corruption and bribery case is expected to play a starring role in...

Dr. Lisa Shin officially announced her bid for Representative of House District 43 on January 11, 2018. Shin, a Korean-American optometrist, has served the people of District 43 for 20 years. She is running for New Mexico House Rep to fight for the American Dream and a beautiful future for our kids. Shin’s opponents include local Democrats Pete Sheehey and Chris Chandler, who are currently councilors on the Los Alamos County Council. The Democrats will have a primary June 5. An exciting race of 2018 New Mexico State House District 43! Visit Power Voter for more candidate info, e.g. Asian...

PHOENIX — Arizona's top elected officials, both Republicans, are not going to join the lawsuit filed by Democrat officials in some states challenging the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census even though it could mean that Arizona won't get its fair share of federal dollars and political representation. Daniel Scarpinato, press aide to Gov. Doug Ducey, said his boss is opposed to more lawsuits. "And he supports having accurate statistical information,'' Scarpinato said. Attorney General Mark Brnovich also has no interest in Arizona becoming one of the 17 states, seven cities and the U.S. Conference of Mayors...