The strange fundraising claim at the center of Haaland’s campaign push

Former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is warning supporters that Republicans see New Mexico’s open governor’s race as a major opportunity — even claiming in a fundraising email this week that “Fox News has named our race a top pickup opportunity for the GOP.”

But no such Fox News report appears to exist.

The claim appeared in a May 12 fundraising email sent by Haaland’s campaign asking supporters for $5 donations ahead of a campaign deadline.

“$5 because Fox News has named our race a top pickup opportunity for the GOP,” the email stated.

The campaign also warned that Republican opponents were “self-funding their campaigns” and pushing an “extremist agenda,” while portraying Democrat governors as “the last line of defense” against the Trump administration.

Yet despite repeated online use of the Fox News talking point by Haaland supporters and campaign allies, no public Fox News article, ranking, or political analysis labeling the New Mexico governor’s race a “top pickup opportunity” for Republicans could be located.

Searches of Fox News election coverage and archived political rankings produced no matching report.

The unexplained claim comes as the race is increasingly attracting national attention and outside spending.

According to a recent report from the Santa Fe New Mexican, a political action committee attacking Haaland over her connection to Jeffrey Epstein raised approximately $650,000 in just over a month.

The group, Accountable New Mexico, has been running ads highlighting Haaland’s appearance in Justice Department files connected to Epstein, the disgraced financier who owned a ranch in Santa Fe County before his death in 2019.

The paper reported the PAC concealed its donors through another organization called Stand for New Mexico, potentially raising campaign finance questions under state law.

The article noted that campaign finance records and business filings showed both groups shared the same Washington, D.C., address, the same treasurer, and were incorporated one day apart.

One ad from the group accused Haaland of accepting “a ride on one of Epstein’s private jets to a D.C. fundraiser.” The Santa Fe New Mexican reported that claim mischaracterized the situation because Epstein allegedly arranged a chartered flight on another aircraft during Haaland’s unsuccessful 2014 lieutenant governor campaign with former Attorney General Gary King.

Haaland’s campaign has denied wrongdoing and insists she never interacted with Epstein directly.

Still, the issue continues to follow the campaign. Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman, Haaland’s Democrat primary opponent, recently stated in an ad: “Unlike others, I’m not in the Epstein files.”

The controversy has helped transform what many Democrats expected to be a smooth path to the nomination into a far more contentious race.

Earlier this month, The New York Times described Haaland’s campaign as a would-be “coronation” that had unexpectedly hit a “primary snag” after Bregman entered the race. The paper quoted Bregman saying, “I don’t think we should have coronations in a democracy.”

While Haaland still dominates financially — reporting roughly $3.16 million cash on hand compared to Bregman’s approximately $200,000 usable primary balance — the increasingly aggressive tone of the race appears to be changing campaign strategy on both sides.

Haaland’s fundraising email itself reflects growing concern inside Democrat circles about the broader political environment in New Mexico.

The email emphasized “safe communities,” “strong education,” and affordability issues — areas where Democrats have faced mounting criticism after years of one-party control in Santa Fe.

And while the campaign claims national Republicans see the race as a top-tier opportunity, the campaign has yet to provide evidence that Fox News itself ever made that designation.

For now, the quote appears to exist primarily in Democrat fundraising emails rather than any publicly identifiable Fox News reporting.