{"id":628405,"date":"2018-09-22T11:22:26","date_gmt":"2018-09-22T17:22:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=628405"},"modified":"2018-09-22T11:22:26","modified_gmt":"2018-09-22T17:22:26","slug":"nm-in-depth-analyzes-national-pac-ads-in-2nd-district-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/09\/nm-in-depth-analyzes-national-pac-ads-in-2nd-district-race\/","title":{"rendered":"NM In Depth analyzes national PAC ads in 2nd District race"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_589912\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-589912\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Herrell-and-Torres-Small-771x357.jpg\" alt=\"Yvette Herrell and Xochitl Torres Small\" width=\"771\" height=\"357\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Herrell-and-Torres-Small.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Herrell-and-Torres-Small-336x156.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Herrell-and-Torres-Small-768x356.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Courtesy photos<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Yvette Herrell, left, and Xochitl Torres Small<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The Southern New Mexico congressional race is finally getting the national attention many have been expecting. With a major push by Democrats to take back control of the U.S. House of Representatives, the two women vying for the District 2 seat vacated this year by Rep. Steve Pearce are getting help from their national parties. That\u2019s because the seat, long held by Republicans, is considered by national analysts as one that has a chance of flipping to Democratic control.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2018\/09\/21\/national-pacs-jump-into-2nd-congressional-district-race-we-analyze-the-ads\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Mexico In Depth<\/a>. Sign up for\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.us6.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=1d2ab093d81b992e50978b363&amp;id=9294743d38\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">their newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Democrat Xochitl Torres Small, a water lawyer from Las Cruces, and Republican Yvette\u00a0 Herrell, a state lawmaker and real estate agent from Alamogordo, have each been\u00a0subjected to attack ads by Democratic and Republican PACs hoping to boost their preferred candidate\u2019s chances. And the Congressional Leadership Fund, which is endorsed by House Republicans,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.congressionalleadershipfund.org\/clf-announces-13-million-in-new-fall-ad-reservations-includes-five-new-races\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">added the race<\/a>\u00a0to fall advertising reservations.<\/p>\n<p>The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, chaired by New Mexico\u2019s own Rep. Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n, of District 3,\u00a0supports Democratic candidates for the House. The DCCC\u00a0released a video called\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=aBbU8AVG6EQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cTrust\u201d<\/a>\u00a0on Sept. 11 that said Herrell failed to list $440,000 in lease payments made by the state of New Mexico to her real estate company, Herrell Properties, in her financial disclosure statements.<\/p>\n<p>The National Republican Congressional Committee, the GOP House PAC, responded Sept. 18 with its own attack against Torres Small. A press release touting the ad, called\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/zio-_zs5LTo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cLiberal Activist,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is bankrolling Torres Small\u2019s campaign and paints Torres Small as a \u201cfoot soldier for the radical left\u2019s agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Breaking down the claims<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aBbU8AVG6EQ\" width=\"771\" height=\"430\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><b>\u201cTrust\u201d:<\/b>\u00a0The ad revives a charge by a Republican primary challenger that Herrell didn\u2019t properly disclose state contracts the Taxation and Revenue and Environment Departments had to lease property from a business where she is a partner. The ad quotes an Albuquerque Journal\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.abqjournal.com\/1158210\/theres-a-440k-question-in-nms-cd2-election.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">editorial<\/a>\u00a0that called the lax disclosure \u201cegregious.\u201d The central claim in the ad is accurate. When the issue was first raised by the campaign of Hobbs businessman Monty Newman in April, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lcsun-news.com\/story\/news\/local\/2018\/04\/06\/records-congressional-candidate-yvette-herrell-didnt-disclose-state-contracts\/493039002\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Associated Press reported<\/a>\u00a0that the contracts were not listed in Herrell\u2019s disclosures. Since that time, Herrell has amended the financial disclosures to comply with state regulations, again\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lcsun-news.com\/story\/news\/local\/2018\/04\/13\/yvette-herrells-disclosures-satisfy-regulator\/516434002\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to the AP<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Although the ad says Herrell\u2019s record is \u201cfilled with controversy,\u201d the ethics charge is the only one the DCCC video makes.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zio-_zs5LTo\" width=\"771\" height=\"430\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><b>\u201cLiberal Activist\u201d:<\/b>\u00a0This ad is less specific than the Herrell attack ad, seeking to brand Torres Small as part of a wave of liberals \u201con the march.\u201d The main claim is that Torres Small has the support of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi because, among other things, she will back a \u201ctotal government takeover of health care.\u201d This claim is misleading on two fronts. Neither Pelosi nor Torres Small has endorsed government-provided health care, or \u201cMedicare for All.\u201d The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lcsun-news.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2018\/05\/30\/xochitl-torres-small-mad-hildebrandt-congressional-district-2-new-mexico-democrat\/651974002\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Las Cruces Sun-News story<\/a>\u00a0cited in the ad says Torres Small\u2019s primary opponent, Mad Hildebrandt, supported universal health care. In the story, and on her website, Torres Small said she wanted to protect the Affordable Care Act, and work for access to affordable health coverage, particularly in rural areas. Torres Small has received $10,000 from the Pelosi-affiliated\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pactothefuture.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PAC to the Future<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Breaking down the money<\/h3>\n<p>Torres Small had a lot more cash on hand at the end of June going into the general election, according to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/races\/summary?cycle=2018&amp;id=NM02&amp;spec=N\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">data from Center for Responsive Politics<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fec.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Federal Election Commission<\/a>. But there have been almost three months since then for Herrell to catch up in the money race. The next reports won\u2019t be filed until October.<\/p>\n<p>As of June 30, Torres Small had raised\u00a0$928,419 and spent $432,438. That left her $495,980 cash on hand, nearly five times more than her opponent.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>As for who\u2019s giving, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, about 20 percent of Torres Small\u2019s contributors are small donors, those who\u2019ve given $200 or less, and 23 percent comes from political action committees \u2014 $215,625.\u00a0Herrell reported raising $512,610 as of June 30. She had spent $412,316 and had $100,294 cash on hand. Five percent comes from small donors ($200 or less), and about 13 percent of Herrell\u2019s contributors are PACs. The balance of their accounts come from large donors, a mix of individual contributors and businesses. Top industries include oil and gas, and agriculture for Herrell, and attorneys and educators for Torres Small.<\/p>\n<p>A recent\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.abqjournal.com\/1221684\/herrell-leads-torres-small-in-southern-nm.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Albuquerque Journal poll<\/a>\u00a0done by New Mexico pollster Research &amp; Polling Inc. showed Herrell with a convincing lead of 48 percent to 41 percent. A live poll by the New York Times found Torres Small ahead by 1 point, 46 percent to 45 percent, but well within the 5 percentage point margin of error. National groups that track the chances of candidates, like the Cook Political Report, currently rank the race at too close to call, with Cook this week\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cookpolitical.com\/ratings\/house-race-ratings\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">moving it<\/a>\u00a0from \u201clean Republican\u201d to \u201cRepublican toss up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Ximena Tapia is New Mexico In Depth\u2019s Southern New Mexico academic fellow for 2018\/2019. Reach her at <a href=\"mailto:ximenanmid@gmail.com\">ximenanmid@gmail.com<\/a>. Read more about the fellowship\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/series\/fellowship\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Southern New Mexico congressional race is finally getting the national attention many have been expecting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":589912,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2238,219,705,116,3658,3664],"class_list":["post-628405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2018-election","tag-2nd-congressional-district","tag-money-in-politics","tag-washington","tag-xochitl-torres-small","tag-yvette-herrell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}