Politicos got an early glimpse of the potential political landscape Democrats and Republicans are facing in the 2022 midterms with a recent special election in New Mexico's 1st Congressional District.
The special election determined who would fill the congressional seat of former Representative Deb Haaland (D-NM) after she left to serve as President Joe Biden's Secretary of the Interior.
The district is solidly blue, but the margin of victory for Democratic candidate Melanie Stansbury offered insight into the effectiveness of Democrats' messaging in the months since the party regained the White House and a razor-thin majority in Congress.
Stansbury, who will now join the House of Representatives, won the election by nearly 25 points—a higher margin than both Haaland's and Biden's elections in the district.
Meanwhile, the Republican candidate—Mark Moores—only garnered 35 percent of the vote.
In an email, the New Mexico Republican party blamed a lack of confidence in election integrity among its voters for the loss.
Republican Party of New Mexico blames Republican voters questioning election integrity for low turnout in #nm01 in which the Democrats very easily won. #nmpolpic.twitter.com/Q4Hma7Vgfe— Matthew Reichbach (@Matthew Reichbach) 1622741295
The email said:
"There were a number of reasons why Moores lost. Low voter turnout was a big factor. Republican voters were angry from 2020—many questioned election integrity—and stayed home."
Former President Donald Trump's deranged conspiracy theories regarding the validity of the 2020 election were embraced by the Republican party, but potentially backfired with two Senate runoffs in Georgia which both went blue as right-wing conspiracy theorists like Lin Wood said the Republican candidates weren't doing enough to overturn election results.
Nevertheless, Trump's allies in Congress continue to manufacture legitimacy for Trump's election lies. As New Mexico Republicans acknowledge, this could end up stifling Republican turnout.
Many saw that as poetic justice.
They\u2019re reaping what they sowed— Lenorafc (@Lenorafc) 1622751354
They\u2019re reaping what they sowed— Lenorafc (@Lenorafc) 1622751354
Now bless their hearts. Isn\u2019t that a shame. Apparently they achieved voter suppression just not the voters they wanted to suppress.— Marcia Taraschi (@Marcia Taraschi) 1622750590
This is delicious. \nMay I have another serving?— Cynthia, That\u2019s All (@Cynthia, That\u2019s All) 1622745845
pic.twitter.com/HDTg4FEszN— SallyZ (@SallyZ) 1622745621
Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind— Walter Appling (@Walter Appling) 1622772567
Others reached similar conclusions.
Trump's/Rs' continued questioning of election integrity + his absence from the 2022 ballot could be the lethal combination that leads to the party underperforming next year. I still think they are poised to have a good midterm, but there are clearly ways things could go awry.https://twitter.com/fbihop/status/1400504615330750467\u00a0\u2026— Michael Baharaeen (@Michael Baharaeen) 1622819214
Want to know why my party's constant assault on the integrity of the 2020 election is a disastrous move? Right here. We wouldn't have won, but it would have been closer.\n\nWe DID lose the GA senate seats bc of this.\n\nTime to move on and focus on the futurehttps://twitter.com/fbihop/status/1400504615330750467\u00a0\u2026— Tres Watson (@Tres Watson) 1622817223
I've said this before, but even from a raw, self-interested perspective, voter fraud panics are more trouble than they're worth.https://twitter.com/fbihop/status/1400504615330750467\u00a0\u2026— Avi Woolf, Wilderness Conservative\ud83d\udc3a (@Avi Woolf, Wilderness Conservative\ud83d\udc3a) 1622813248
But a lot can happen before the 2022 midterms.
