Republican Steve Pearce is up with a new TV ad identifying him as the only conservative in the U.S. Senate race, and GOP primary opponent Heather Wilson is attacking him for what she says is an insult to the retiring senator they’re both seeking to replace.
Here’s Pearce’s new ad, which is running statewide:
In it, he says he’s “the only New Mexico congressman to oppose a disastrous government-run socialized medicine scheme.” He also calls himself the only conservative in the race, saying he has worked to cut taxes, eliminate wasteful spending and defend “our traditional New Mexican values.”
“It’s a fact. There’s only one conservative running for Senate – Republican Steve Pearce,” the narrator of the ad states.
The Wilson campaign quickly responded when the ad began running on Tuesday with a news release accusing Pearce of attacking Wilson and U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici. Wilson and Domenici joined New Mexico’s two Democratic members of Congress last year in supporting an expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, while Pearce stood alone in the New Mexico delegation in opposing it.
In fact, Pearce frequently stands alone. He said as much during the debate between him and Wilson in Alamogordo in February.
“I have done it time and time again in the New Mexico delegation, standing alone,” Pearce said.
The implication is certainly that he often thinks everyone else in the delegation is wrong, and he appears to be referring to Domenici along with the others in the new ad. But is it an attack on them? Wilson thinks so.
“What bothers me most as a loyal Republican is that Congressman Pearce isn’t just attacking me. … He’s launched his campaign with an ad criticizing Senator Pete Domenici as well,” she said.
Wilson may be trying to ensure that Republicans loyal to Domenici are offended by Pearce’s ad. But she might also be trying to tie herself to Domenici and his legacy. In the news release, she points out that Domenici took an active role in creating the SCHIP program in the late 1990s. Wilson and Domenici voted last year to expand the program and also place some new checks on the funding designed to ensure that undocumented immigrations couldn’t take advantage of it. Wilson was one of the biggest GOP champions of the legislation last year.
In voting against the expansion, Pearce called it socialized medicine and said that’s not what the United States needs. The Pearce campaign didn’t respond to a request for a response to Wilson’s complaint about the new ad.
Pearce is also up with a new radio ad attacking Wilson for missing votes in the House last week while she was in New Mexico campaigning. I haven’t heard the ad and don’t have a copy but, according to the Albuquerque Journal, Pearce accuses Wilson in the ad of being “too busy playing politics to do her job.”
The Wilson campaign has not provided a response to the radio ad, but it’s an issue about which the two have been sparring for a week.
Expect this primary race to get even more brutal in the next six weeks. Wilson’s campaign says it plans to start airing television ads soon.
Update, April 24, 9:40 a.m.
Wilson spokeswoman Whitney Cheshire had this to say about Pearce’s radio ad:
“Heather Wilson has voted 98 percent of the time out of over 6,000 votes cast. This is just another negative attack to distort her record,” she said.
“It’s a fact. There’s only one conservative running for Senate – Republican Steve Pearce,” the narrator of the ad states.
“What bothers me most as a loyal Republican is that Congressman Pearce isn’t just attacking me. … He’s launched his campaign with an ad criticizing Senator Pete Domenici as well,” she said.