BernCo GOP chair calls Republicans critical of her leadership ‘insurrectionists’

On Wednesday afternoon, Bernalillo County Republican Party chair Julie Wright sent out an email blasting her Republican opponents, many of whom being elected and formerly elected leaders, calling them “insurrectionists.”

The email comes after Wright’s opponents have been critical of her over her failure to support Republican candidates, win elections, and show “transparency,” and previously attempted to have a vote to oust her from the leadership of the Bernalillo County Republican Party.

In an email calling for her removal via a call for a County Central Committee Meeting, the concerned members cite rule 3-1-4 D USR “Removal of County Officers,” which reads: 

 Any officer of a County Central Committee may be removed by a two-thirds vote of all the members of the County Central Committee present in person at a meeting properly called for the purpose and attended by at least 51% of the entire membership of the committee. In such voting, proxies shall not be recognized. 

However, according to what Wright previously told the Albuquerque Journal, “The party’s executive committee has ruled the dissenters have fallen short of the requirements needed to call a special meeting this week,” and “a state Republican Party rules committee was reviewing the matter but added the meeting would be invalid under the current ruling.”

The letter was signed by the former state Reps. Janice Arnold Jones and David Adkins, Harry Lord, the husband to current state Rep. Stefani Lord, APS School Board candidate Ali Ennenga, former state Legislature candidate Giovanni Coppola, former First Congressional District candidate Michaela Chavez, among many others. 

In Wright’s Wednesday night email, she tried to rebut the claims made by the scores of County Central Committee members and blasted those dissenters, writing, “What might seem to be an angry mob looking to remove the County Chair is really a handful of insurrectionists who are powered by ego and selfishness.  Ask yourself – has this helped the Party?  Does this shed a good light on Republicans or on the cause of conservatism?  Absolutely not.”

She added, “I often hear that ‘The Democrats are beating us – they have more money and a large group of volunteers!’  Yes, they do.  But do you know what else they have?  They have the understanding that being united is to conquer yet to divide is to fall.  They follow their elected leadership and that is what I ask of you.”

There has long been friction in the Bernalillo County GOP between the Julie Wright wing versus the more conservative wing, with Wright’s hand-selected executive director Geoff Snider branded the New Mexico Trump Victory team “Nazis” and on another occasion said the Bernalillo County GOP was not interested in help from Scott Presler, a conservative activist who has been registering voters around the country.