To the Point with Mick Rich

A Path Forward for New Mexico's Republicans

If NM Republicans want an easy path, be a Democrat. Photo by Mick Rich

Haaland presents both challenges and opportunities

The electoral challenge is straightforward. Haaland received more votes in the Democratic primary than all votes cast in the Republican primary combined. Independent voters also favored Democratic candidates by roughly a two-to-one margin. Republicans face a significant uphill battle heading into November.

At the same time, Haaland carries political baggage. During her tenure at the Department of the Interior, she prioritized her pueblos' interests over the Navajo Nation in a sovereignty dispute. Questions have already arisen regarding financial enrichment while failing to her Pueblo's attempt to open a casino in New Orleans. Let us not forget she was silent when her daughter's extreme Pueblo rights organization occupied a portion of the Department of the Interior headquarters in Washington.

Hull, Rodriguez, and Turner

Are Republican voters expected to choose between the factions or the candidates?

This year is the first time since the match-up of Pearce Vs Wilson and Johnson leaving the Republican Party that the division in the Republican Party has surfaced so publicly. The RPNM executive director, Laticia Munuz, publicly stated that RPNM has always been divided. Candidates have sought relief from the courts over the RPNM leadership's failure to remain neutral during the primary election. Another faction seeks to have the courts enforce the RPNM rules on leadership.

The 2026 gubernatorial race is an opportunity for Republican voters to see the Republican factional warfare.

The Three Republican Gubernatorial Candidates

Podcast interviews with the three 2026 Republican Gubernatorial candidates by this columnist Mick Rich.

Doug Turner interview with Mick Rich

https://youtu.be/iAC6jlLuSDw?si=IxLA2FJtc-jV_C99

Three parts of the Greg Hull interview with Mick Rich.  They may not be in order! I posted them in the order that they were sent.

https://youtu.be/c5yacf5e4fM?si=wAEPwuGC5aC2r3EX 

https://youtu.be/WIydyz6fs1M?si=w5htsEAEpxXW49n- 

https://youtu.be/S9hWGDjKvaI?si=wfhRmRohiISY-7CU 

Duke Rodriguez interview with Mick Rich

https://youtu.be/jcqF2Wj90oM?si=_RwDxpa0dduLnoQ2 

RPNM Keeps Running One Campaign While Losing the State

Every four years, and 2026 is no different, the Republican Party of New Mexico announces that the Governor's race is "the most important race" of the election cycle. The statement was repeated again during the 2024 RPNM Chair-Elect campaign speech to the RPNM SCC meeting.

But what exactly is the party saying to Republicans, candidates, donors, volunteers, and independent voters?

If the Governor's race is the "most important race" in 2026 — just as it supposedly was in 2018 and 2022 — then what does that imply about every other race on the ballot? Are the U.S. Senate and Congressional races merely loss leaders for the Governor's race? Are the New Mexico Senate and House races simply there to fill out the ticket?

Whether intentional or not, this messaging weakens Republican candidates across the board.

No wonder independents gain 50K voters and RPNM lost 10K in one year

Yesterday in Belen, the RPNM State Central Committee failed to assemble a quorum to vote on the status of its Chair. In doing so, they answered questions that have lingered for years.

When I began my campaign in 2018, I encountered a fractured party. I would ask Republicans about the divide, and the response was always the same: "They need to get behind us." No interest in unity, in winning the internal fight.

Today, even the RPNM's own Executive Director acknowledges what was obvious then: the party is splintered.

The Coming Bloodbath: How RPNM Lost NM

By Mick Rich

RPNM's Leadership Crisis Is Coming to a Head

Chairwoman Amy Barela is not leading a unified Republican Party of New Mexico—she is leading the Pearce/Barela faction of it.

Even Barela has implicitly acknowledged this reality. In a recent appeal, she asked Republicans to support her so she can lead the RPNM. This is an explicate acknowledgement that she won the Chair position through manipulation. At the same time, her executive director admitted to the e Santa Fe New Mexican that "the party has never been unified."

That is not a messaging problem. That is a leadership problem.

While building friendships across the state.

On Friday, March 27, 2026, Mick Rich Contractors handed the keys of the new Academic Building to Navajo Technical University in Crownpoint, New Mexico.

NTU President Dr. Guy, NM Governor Lujan Grisham, Navajo Nation President Dr. Nygren

Distress Flag

For almost twenty years, the RPNM State Central Committee members have chosen new state leaders with proven experience, but that experience has been in losing campaigns. RPNM went through the motions every election cycle: we are going to raise more money, we are going to get better candidates, we are going to register more Republicans, but the results were the same. Lost Elections. But the news is not all bad; the RPNM still shows life in rural New Mexico, but is overwhelmed by urban New Mexico, and low Republican turnout.

The challenge facing the Republican Party of New Mexico (RPNM) is not a lack of effort—it is a lack of unity. No single faction within the party is strong enough to dominate the other, yet the State Central Committee (SCC) continues to elect leaders with campaign experience but without the leadership ability to bring those factions, rural vs urban, together.