Top NM Democrats call Trump's visit a waste of time, as Republicans allege gamesmanship

SANTA FE — Top New Mexico Democrats are not exactly rolling out the red carpet for former President Donald Trump’s visit to Albuquerque.

Several high-profile state Democrats held a news conference Wednesday blasting Trump, who is scheduled to arrive in New Mexico early Thursday and hold a noon rally near the Albuquerque International Sunport before leaving for Nevada.

“We want to send a message to Donald Trump that his hate is not welcome here in New Mexico,” said U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, who represents an Albuquerque-area district.

Meanwhile, Republicans accused State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard, a Democrat, of nixing an off-site parking arrangement for rallygoers.

Rep. James Townsend, R-Artesia, said the Trump campaign had a contract in place to use the Isleta Amphitheater as a parking venue so that rallygoers could shuttle to the private hangar where the former president will speak.

He described the land commissioner’s actions to scuttle the arrangement as “sheer, naked, bitter partisanship.”

But Garcia Richard said Live Nation Entertainment, which leases the state trust land on which the amphitheater is located, does not have authority to use the parking lot for any off-site events.

“Since, at this time, the rally is not being held at the Isleta Amphitheater, parking for an off-site event is a non-permissible use,” Garcia Richard said in a Wednesday statement.

The dispute over parking comes after the Trump campaign sought unsuccessfully to reserve the Albuquerque Convention Center for the ex-president’s Thursday rally.

Mayor Tim Keller’s administration cited a planned water line repair as the reason for denying use of the convention center, though Keller said Wednesday that Trump’s unpaid bills stemming from a 2019 campaign visit also played a factor.

The Trump campaign also made inquiries about holding the rally at the Tingley Coliseum on the grounds of the New Mexico State Fair, but were told “no” since the historic building is undergoing a seat replacement project, said Ty Stevers, the media marketing manager for Expo New Mexico.

“At this point, we really cannot accommodate a crowd of that size,” Stevers told the Journal.

After those inquiries were turned down, the Trump campaign ultimately decided to hold the rally at a private hangar owned by CSI Aviation. The president of CIA Aviation is former state Republican Party chairman Allen Weh, who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 2014.

Rally may draw large crowd, protests

State Republican Party Chairman Steve Pearce said Wednesday that alternate parking sites near the Sunport had been secured, adding the Trump rally would be “huge and spectacular.”

“Nothing is going to stop President Trump from coming to New Mexico!” Pearce said in a statement. “President Trump has shown a commitment to winning our great state year after year, now, he’s returning to show New Mexicans how much he cares about making their communities safe, wealthy, secure, and truly great again.”

His counterpart, state Democratic Party Chairwoman Jessica Velasquez, said Trump will be “wasting his time in New Mexico,” referring to Kamala Harris’ advantage in recent polls of the presidential race in New Mexico.

A Republican has not won New Mexico’s five electoral votes since George W. Bush did so in 2004, and Trump lost in the state during both the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.

Velasquez also claimed Trump would gut safety net programs like Social Security, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act if elected, even though he was unsuccessful in repealing the landmark 2010 health care law during his first term as president.

“Donald Trump is coming to New Mexico as part of his blue-state hate tour and he wants to spread his divisive rhetoric here,” Velasquez said.

Previous Trump visits to New Mexico

Trump’s visit to New Mexico marks the first campaign stop in the state by either major party presidential candidate during this year’s election cycle.

Trump previously held two campaign rallies in Albuquerque in 2016, including a May 2016 rally in Downtown that sparked raucous riots as protesters jumped on police cars, smashed windows, and fought with Trump supporters and police.

He returned to the state in 2019 — this time as president — for a rally in Rio Rancho during which he accused Democrats of seeking to “completely annihilate” New Mexico’s economy.

In addition to Trump, Republican congressional candidate Yvette Herrell will be among those speaking at Thursday’s rally, a campaign spokesman confirmed.

Herrell is locked in a hotly contested race for the state’s 2nd Congressional District seat with Democrat Gabe Vasquez, who defeated her to win the seat in 2022.