CD2 candidates are up on the airwaves, but agreement elusive on televised debates

SANTA FE — The two candidates vying for New Mexico’s hotly contested southern congressional district seat have not been able to reach an agreement on any televised debates this fall.

And with absentee and limited early voting now underway, the clock is ticking on hopes for striking a last-minute deal.

Republican Yvette Herrell last week blasted Democratic incumbent Gabe Vasquez for declining a proposed KOB-TV debate on Oct. 16. Herrell will appear alone in the studios for that debate.

“It’s disappointing that instead of defending his extreme positions on defunding the police and softening border security, Gabe Vasquez has chosen to hide from the voters,” Herrell campaign spokesman Paul Smith told the Journal.

But Vasquez’s campaign said it communicated multiple dates and times that Vasquez was available to debate after Oct. 21, and those dates were rejected. Earlier proposed dates did not work with the congressman’s schedule, according to the Vasquez campaign.

KOB News Director Matt Grubs said Tuesday that after the two campaigns could not agree on a date, the station selected a date and made a final invitation to both candidates. The Vasquez campaign declined the invitation, he said.

Meanwhile, the two candidates’ campaigns have also been in ongoing negotiations with KOAT-TV since July about a possible debate, according to the station, but have not agreed on a date.

After Herrell’s debate criticism, Vasquez’s campaign and the state Democratic Party responded by pointing out the GOP candidate did not attend a recent forum held by the All Pueblo Council of Governors that other candidates participated in.

“If ‘Hiding Herrell’ can’t be counted on to show up for New Mexico’s tribal communities at their forum, how can she be counted on to be there for them in Congress?” state Democratic Party spokesman Daniel Garcia asked.

Vasquez and Herrell are facing off for New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District seat in a rematch from 2022 that could help decide political control of the U.S. House of Representatives for the next two years.

Vasquez narrowly won by a 1,350-vote margin two years ago in a race in which more than 192,000 votes were cast.

But Herrell accused Democratic legislators of engineering her ouster by making changes to the district during a 2021 special session on redistricting that included moving parts of Albuquerque’s South Valley and West Side into the district, while shifting Roswell and parts of Hobbs into other districts.

The two candidates faced off in one televised debate two years ago — a KOB-TV debate that focused on border issues, abortion, election results and the oil and natural gas industries.

While the candidates are not scheduled to meet in any debates this year, they have been active on the TV airwaves — via hard-hitting attack ads funded by both the campaigns and outside groups.

Despite the debate stalemate between the 2nd Congressional District candidates, there are televised debates on tap for other high-profile races.

The two candidates for a U.S. Senate seat, Republican Nella Domenici and Democratic incumbent Martin Heinrich, have agreed to a Oct. 14 debate on KOAT-TV. That debate is co-sponsored by KKOB-FM radio and the Journal.

In addition, Heinrich and Domenici will face off at a second debate on Oct. 27 that will be hosted by Congregation Albert Brotherhood and broadcast live on KOB-TV.