NM GOP leaders call for turning down the temperature after suspected arson

While officials investigate if a New Mexico Republican Party office was set aflame intentionally, state GOP leaders are calling for turning down the political temperature and strengthening the state’s crime laws.

High-profile acts of political violence like the 2024 assassination attempts against then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and the 2021 Capitol riot have made headlines in recent years. In recent weeks, following Elon Musk’s national political presence alongside Trump, several people have been arrested for setting fire to Tesla cars and charging stations in Nevada, South Carolina, Colorado and Oregon. A Tesla dealership in Santa Ana Pueblo also dealt with vandalism in February. Photos posted online show a burned car and a swastika spray-painted on the side of a Cybertruck.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s prosecutions of threats of political violence against political leaders increased fivefold during Trump’s first term and continued to rise under Biden, according to a 2023 survey from the Chicago Project on Security and Threats. But most Americans still reject political violence, according to the 2024 American Values Survey conducted by market research company Ispos’s Knowledge Panel.

“This isn’t just about Republicans,” said Party Chair Amy Barela at a news conference on Monday. “This is about every New Mexican that has suffered because of a system that fails to hold criminals accountable. From car-jackings in Albuquerque to tragic murders in Las Cruces, the crisis is escalating, and time for action is now.”

State Senate Minority Leader William Sharer of Farmington said legislators should work together to strengthen the state’s juvenile code, target street gangs and cartels and support law enforcement. House Minority Leader Gail Armstrong of Magdalena said Republicans are still ready to come “to the table for solutions.”

Sharer and Barela both said they would support a special legislative session focused on crime, which Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham hinted at after the end of this year’s regular session when she voiced disappointment with a lack of movement on public safety bills. Sharer thinks the governor should bring Republicans in before calling a session to talk about what can be accomplished.

“I hope for that, because actually at this point, the governor and me are closer than the governor and my Democrat counterparts on this issue,” he said.

There is no cost estimate for the damage yet, but the building’s doors burned, the roof was compromised, there is smoke and water damage throughout the office and it needs a complete remodel, Barela said. An ignition device was definitely used for the fire, Barela said. There is a “revealing” video of the fire from inside the office that was turned over to the FBI, the agency investigating the fire, according to party spokesperson Ash Soular.

An official investigation into the incident is ongoing.

New Mexico has other recent examples of political violence. Two weeks ago former Republican state representative candidate Solomon Peña was convicted on 13 counts for planning and participating in shootings at four Democratic politicians’ homes in 2023.

In 2022, Conservation Voters New Mexico received a mail threat with a substance containing an ingredient known to be used in terrorist attacks. The New Mexico State Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO and EDF Action Votes received similar letters. CVNM Chief Operating Officer Molly Taylor condemned the suspected arson at the GOP office.

Although the arson investigation has yet to be completed, New Mexico Senate Republicans tried to pin blame for the fire on rhetoric from Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández at a town hall Saturday in Santa Fe.

“In the wake of a prominent Democrat official calling for her supporters to be ‘agitators,’ it appears some unhinged supporters took the message to heart and acted out in a violent manner,” the group’s leaders said in a statement.

The claim echoes one made last year, when Trump claimed former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris inspired an assassination attempt with their rhetoric.

Leger Fernández did call for her supporters to “agitate” with specific actions like coming to town halls, following Democratic politicians on social media and calling Republican members of Congress. In a statement Monday, Leger Fernández said “political violence of any sort is unacceptable, including this attack. The perpetrators must be held accountable.”

“It is a ludicrous leap to twist encouraging democratic participation, calling your representatives and showing up at town halls into an insinuation of violence,” Leger Fernández said.

Democratic Party of New Mexico Chair Jessica Velasquez called on Republicans to apologize for implicating Leger Fernández’s rhetoric in the fire. DPNM also condemned the fire.

“Everyone who participated in the Congresswoman’s town hall knows how peaceful and community-oriented it was — participants were even invited to rise and pass the peace,” Velasquez said in a statement.

An apology is not warranted, according to Sharer.

“She said, legislate, litigate and agitate,” Sharer said, before staring at the burned office doors. “That wasn’t litigating, but I do stand by (that) it’s time for everybody to calm down, take a breath and stop the rhetoric that creates things like that.”