On Tuesday, New Mexico candidates filed their financial reports for the second General Election period, with many contentious races for fundraising. On the top of the ballot, Republican nominee Mark Ronchetti outraised embattled Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who is battling flak on the airwaves over her $150,000 payout for grave sexual assault claims.
Ronchetti ended up raising $1,451,582.10 to Lujan Grisham’s $1,121,728.94 — outraising her by $329,853.16.
Third-party Libertarian candidate Karen Bedonie raised $14,523.08 during the same period, leaving her with $3,415.94 cash on hand.
According to the Ronchetti campaign in a press release, “95% of Ronchetti’s money is from within the state of New Mexico, showing that he has the support of the people of this state, not special interest groups in California and Washington, DC.”
“The outpouring of support from everyday New Mexicans continues to humble me, and I will not stop fighting for them until we restore our public safety, catch our kids up in school, and provide sustained economic relief for the people of this state,” said Ronchetti. “There are 28 days left in this campaign, not only do we have plenty of resources to win, we have the people of this state on our side and we will carry this momentum forward all the way through election day!”
The campaign’s press release continued, “Ronchetti will be entering the final 27 days of this campaign with $2.49 million cash on hand. With this advantage, Ronchetti will be in great position to put Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham on defense for the final month. The governor is currently sitting on $1.68 million cash on hand, more than $800k less than Ronchetti.”
Ronchetti predominantly spent $1,080,963.20 on expenditures marked as television during the fundraising period.
The cash advantage will help Ronchetti overcome the embattled Democrat governor as she continues to attack the Republican on the abortion issue — apparently running specifically on her record of signing a 2021 abortion up-to-birth bill into law.
Ronchetti continues to poll within single digits of Lujan Grisham, signifying a close race that Republicans have a good shot of winning.
MLG’s money is going out, as she is having to pay victims of her sexual assaults, while Ronchetti’s money is coming in from supporters.
It’s time for change! High crime rate, low test scores, and a Governor who has shown to only care when the camera are present is NOT way to invoke change! We owe it our children, we owe to ourselves to do better.
Ronchetti is full of it he only knows which way the wind blows his fart
MLG’s money is going out , as she is having to pay victims of her sex scandals, while Ronchetti rakes in money from his supporters.
It disgusts me that MONEY is the key to any candidates chances of being elected to office ! The “system” as we know it is DESIGNED FOR CORRUPTION, and for the common person makes no sense ! Without endorsements, we (the common peasants) don’t stand a chance of running for office. WHEN will we wake up and FORCE change ? As it exists, this can only lead to one inevitable outcome …
I believe you are correct. I think, if candidates need money, there should be an even level of what they can absorb for their campaign. perhaps 500,000.00 each and no more. That way, each as the same opportunity to present their platform and each has the opportunity to see to it their money is spent wisely. But even that is fraught with risk: A candidate could have a advertising company that hates one candidate and said company could lower their advertising price to provide for double the exposure for the same dollar spent. It is a tough nut to crack.
A lot of Democrats use Struther Nuckles in DC as their agency. Richardson did and Maggie Oliver does now. They idemtify themselves as an agency dedicated to helping DEMOCRATS win tough races. They wouldn’t take on a Republican or Independent candidate for any amount of money.
Agree with you 100% Richard. It is disgusting.
TRUE! I think no one should be allowed to send money out of state! Undoubtedly it smells like the insane brains of… WE ALL KNOW W. H. O.
Personaly a true campaign finance law, should be implimented, One where the only legal donations are from the people who live in the town/city/county / district/ state they will represent. NO out of state money, NO PAC’s NO special entrist groups, None of those groups have a say in our local areas!
2nd those funds are public information, 3rd those funds left over not spent can only be donated to non political aligned charities if the person leaves office or loses, End the chance of becoming a millionare in government service you end the chance of selfserving sociopaths , taking office
Personaly I would prefer the type of person who becomes a Volinteer firefighter or EMT, not some wanabe millionare
I think there should be a campaign finance “rule” that all of your money has to come from within your state. That includes PACs….if the PAC is not based locally, no donations. That would quickly weed out the politicos from the candidates who are in the race to serve the people. And it would also push down the ability to influence. That would mean no more money from out of state PACs or people like Soros.
I’m closely following the SoS race, and Maggie Oliver is another one to watch closely. A good percentage of her funding is coming from out of state, as well as obvious conflicts of interest. Why is the Los Alamos County Assessor allowed to donate? Or various lawyers and commissioners from out of state? It stinks like corruption. Look for yourself. https://login.cfis.sos.state.nm.us/Files/ReportsOutput/103/2a0efd30-e8ae-4542-b5d7-175da9994dff.pdf
I agree. Why is there so much money coming from out of state? We need to change state law to not allow outside PAC’s. Lots of California money going to SoS race.
“Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is” became a well used phrase for a reason..
This does not surprise me at all.
Money talks and BS walks also comes to mind.
I wonder will she walk awa or ride away on the the same skateboard she rolled in on??
More like she road in on her skateboard with her red LBGTQ+ Boots!!!
Oh Si! Richard, Matt, and Rayanne Northrop are the same M.L.G. Troll!
It’s so obvious how they all agree with each other one email after another, it was probably written and pasted it. A 12 year old could spot it. All the money the Gov. fleeced from honest people and all the money spent on personal junk, and all the illegal money brought in from outsiders for their cut to NM. and nothing is mentioned about that. But now that nobody wants to fund her. and Mark is ahead all of a sudden it’s disgusting! What’s disgusting is NM being at the bottom of everything good and the top of everything bad. STHU! You stupid trolls and go back to your hole. I’m sending Mark a check right now! M.L.G. sucks!
Ronchetti is full of it he only knows which way the wind blows his fart
Michelle Lujan Grisham has done a good job for NM . She is honest, not hateful and has largely kept her promises. She deserves to be re-elected in my opinion. New Mexico doesn’t need a hardliner, police state governor our state is doing just fine right now. MLG is the peoples governor!!
I agree with you Jennifer Remington 100%
Jennifer
I agree with your statement.