Republican U.S. Senate candidates Steve Pearce and Heather Wilson took part in their third debate Saturday in Roswell. In case you missed it, here’s the full debate, courtesy of KNME-TV:
Part 1
Part 2
Pearce declared victory afterward, with a news release from his campaign stating that he “won handily” and “showed why he is the candidate who best represents New Mexico’s conservative values and will fight for the interests of New Mexicans.”
Wilson, meanwhile, claimed in a news release that Pearce “failed to explain the vote he cast this week to severely weaken the state’s dairy industry.” She was referring to a controversy over a farm-bill vote.
“I believe on June 3rd New Mexicans need to nominate a commonsense conservative who can win in November,” Wilson said in the release. “We need a senator who will stand up and fight for our contribution to national security. Steve Pearce was the only member of our delegation to mothball Cannon Air Force Base. He also voted to cut critical funding from our national labs. And last week, Steve Pearce voted against jobs in southeast New Mexico and our dairy industry. Senator Domenici and I voted against that Farm Bill, but Steve Pearce supported it. This is going to be a tough election. I have the ability to win where it’s tough to win.”
Pearce, like Wilson, hit hard in the release his campaign sent out after the debate. The release stated that Pearce citied his “perfect” records on pro-life issues and opposing tax hikes at the debate while Wilson had to explain her support for a tax increase and her votes “against the life issues more than half the time last year.”
“Wilson’s campaign is in desperation mode and it showed this evening,” Pearce campaign manager John Billingsley said in the release. “After tonight, we can expect the attacks to get worse, less truthful and more bitter. … Pearce, however, is surging because he is talking to New Mexicans about the things they face and his vision for the future of New Mexico. We will all be proud to have him as our next senator.”
Click here for coverage of the debate from the Roswell Daily Record and here from the Albuquerque Journal.