New Doña Ana County GOP leaders point to education, economy as winning issues for party

LAS CRUCES – The Democratic Party controls all three branches of the New Mexico state government, plus it swept most state and Doña Ana County races in the 2020 general election. When all the votes were counted, Republicans did not curb Democratic control as they had wanted.

The state GOP saw arguably its most notable success in electing U.S. Rep. Yvette Herrell to Congress in Congressional District 2, unseating former Democratic Rep. Xochitl Torres Small.

While the state Republican Party ran candidates who promised to protect energy jobs, help businesses crippled by COVID-19 restrictions, limit abortions and raise the state’s dismal ranking in education, it also didn’t hesitate to side with false claims of a stolen election and declined chances to denounce militia groups and the QAnon conspiracy theory.

But Kim Skaggs believes the Republican Party, at its core, has the facts on its side for many issues. It's just a matter of delivering those facts to voters.

More:New Mexico GOP says election tarnished democracy, faces criticism

“It’s very very difficult to live a full, engaged family and work life and also really know what’s going on with your elected officials,” Skaggs said. “So if that information is provided in a clear and concise, not slanted … way that is easy to get to, I think a lot more of the voters would become more involved.”

And voters would hopefully be, as Skaggs went on to clarify, more hesitant to choose a Democrat in the future.

Skaggs, a recent newcomer to politics, was elected in January to chair the Doña Ana County Republican Party. She formally entered politics in 2020 to run for the District 36 State Senate seat in November, but lost to incumbent Sen. Jeff Steinborn.

The county GOP executive board is almost all new, save for vice chair Bev Courtney. It's the first time five women have served on the board, Skaggs said. Courtney declined to be interviewed for this story.

The new chair thinks county Republicans can become a winning party by focusing their efforts on how their candidates and officials plan to improve education, the economy and voter integrity.

Joining Skaggs in that sentiment is the county GOP’s newest vice chair, Isabella Solis, a former Doña Ana County commissioner and candidate for the state Legislature in 2020. She unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Democratic Rep. Joanne Ferrary in November.

Solis was elected to the county commission as a Democrat before switching parties in late 2019.

The former commissioner said working off former President Donald Trump's accomplishments, like the booming economy he presided over before the pandemic hit, is one way to keep Republican voters engaged.

The vice chair said the county and state parties should continue to appeal to conservative Hispanics in New Mexico, who were happy with Trump as president and who care about issues such as abortion. One Associated Press poll ahead of the 2020 election said at least a third of Hispanics in the state were planning to vote for Trump.

More:Election map: See which New Mexico county was most likely to vote for Trump, Biden

Solis also said election integrity could be increased by enacting voter ID laws, if not eliminating mail-in ballots altogether. That's despite no evidence of widespread election fraud in New Mexico this past cycle.

"It really goes back to the grassroots effort," Solis said about how Republicans can be more successful in future elections. "With the pandemic, there was a lot of hesitation just really getting out into the community."

While Skaggs acknowledged some voters will always have opposing beliefs and be unreachable, she believes that providing straight information on the actions of lawmakers countywide and in Santa Fe is a key strategy to making her role as chair successful.

Success, she said, she defines as uniting the county party and winning races for state, city, county and school board positions.

To begin doling out that information, Skaggs said the county party’s website recently was redone and is planned to update frequently, not just informing members about Republican events but nonpartisan community events. Social media is also a method of engagement, she said.

As chair, Skaggs said she also sees her role as providing support to GOP candidates and engaging with the local community through outreach such as community service.

“The party shouldn’t just emerge when it’s election time,” Skaggs said. “Each party … we all need to be aggressively involved in our communities doing what we can to make our communities better every day.”

More:These Doña Ana County residents explain why they voted for President Donald Trump

Asked if she believed the Republican Party will need to work to mend the rift between moderates and Trump loyalists, or decide which values prevail going into 2022, Skaggs said “all of us have to stand together. We all have to find that portion of the Republican values that we truly believe in, and grab a hold of that and use it as a tool to unite us.”

The rift was laid bare over the weekend, when seven Republicans — the most ever from a president's own party — broke ranks to vote to convict the former president in his second impeachment trial for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. The trial ended in Trump's second acquittal.

"I think that if the Republican Party can work together as one," Solis said, "with one goal in mind, to win elections, I think we could get something done."

Michael McDevitt is a city and county government reporter for the Sun-News. He can be reached at 575-202-3205, mmcdevitt@lcsun-news.com or @MikeMcDTweets on Twitter.