As expected, former U.S. Senate candidate Allen McCulloch announced today that he’s running to be the next chairman of the Republican Party of New Mexico.
McCulloch made the announcement in a letter to members of the party’s state central committee, which you can read by clicking here.
“We are at a cross-road of our Republican future. We can cease on the opportunity to come together and re-build a stronger more responsive party or sink further into irrelevancy,” he wrote in the letter.
McCulloch’s announcement has been widely anticipated. He’s already been waging an active, albeit unofficial, campaign that included a guest column on this site in which he laid out his vision for the future of the GOP.
“If this utter electoral disaster has taught us anything, it is that our state party is in desperate need of new leadership and vision,” McCulloch wrote in that November column. “Our party needs the kind of change that does not pit Republican against Republican, retaliate against its own members in the Legislature, or turn a deaf ear and blind eye toward building strong county organizations. We must now start a process of rebuilding, so we have the ability to not only defend existing Republican turf, but also pick up what ground has been lost. We must all come together to achieve this vision.”
McCulloch touched on similar themes in today’s letter.
“As your next chairman, I am committed to ensuring our county chairs, activists and legislators have a seat at the New Mexico Republican table,” he wrote.
McCulloch is expected to be challenged for the chairman position by outgoing U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce — who has said he is considering running but has not officially announced his candidacy — and possibly others as well.
The new chairman or chairwoman, who will be elected in January, will replace Allen Weh, who has built a reputation as a strong fundraiser. However, during his tenure the GOP has lost a lot of ground in state government and the congressional delegation.