Governor's race heats up political advertising

SANTA FE — A national GOP group has waded into New Mexico governor’s race, launching a television ad Wednesday that features familiar attacks against Democratic nominee Michelle Lujan Grisham.

Meanwhile, Lujan Grisham launched a TV spot of her own that links Republican Steve Pearce to President Donald Trump — in part by displaying a selfie that Pearce took at Trump’s inauguration in 2017.

The new TV spots are part of a barrage of political advertisements hitting the airwaves with less than three weeks left until Election Day.

The Republican Governors Association is spending nearly $339,000 to air its new TV ad on several network and cable channels, according to public filings.

The 30-second ad describes Lujan Grisham as a “Bill Richardson crony,” a reference to her past tenure as state Health Department secretary, although she also served as a Cabinet secretary under two other governors.

It also cites her work with a consulting firm that landed contracts to run New Mexico’s high-risk insurance pool. Lujan Grisham divested herself from Delta Consulting last year, and she has defended her past work with the high-risk pool, which assists New Mexico residents who do not have insurance or have been quoted at higher rates than the pool’s rate.

As for Lujan Grisham’s new ad, it features side-by-side images of Pearce and Trump, while claiming Pearce has generally voted in favor of Trump’s positions as a member of Congress and misrepresented his own business interests.

Lujan Grisham has increasingly sought in recent weeks to tie Pearce to Trump, who had a 38 percent voter approval rating in New Mexico, according to an Albuquerque Journal Poll conducted last month.

The race grew nastier on social media as well.

The state Republican Party has deleted a post that mocked Lujan Grisham’s physical appearance during a televised debate late Tuesday.

The tweet asked whether Lujan Grisham had “used Richard Nixon’s makeup artist from the 1960 debate? She looked just like him!”

Nixon is infamous for looking bad during the presidential debate that year — the first televised presidential debate.

Lujan Grisham’s campaign said the “makeup” tweet was “sexist” and disrespectful and that the Republican Party should apologize.

The state GOP deleted the tweet but didn’t offer an apology.