New Mexico GOP mulls next steps as House, Senate leaders announce exits

Mar. 16—Republicans in both chambers of the Legislature are taking a deep breath and weighing their options after each of their caucus leaders announced they would not be seeking reelection — news that dropped just as campaign season kicks into high gear and the GOP tries to prevent any more hemorrhaging of votes at the Capitol.

While Senate Minority Leader Greg Baca of Belen plans to serve the remainder of his term through December, House Minority Leader Ryan Lane of Aztec called it quits Thursday, leaving House Republicans scrambling to pick a replacement.

Lane's abrupt resignation and Baca's looming departure come three months before the June primary and less than eight months before the November general election in which Republicans and Democrats alike hope to pick up seats in the Legislature and keep the ones they have.

"While it's a setback when you're not expecting it and you do have an awesome leader as Leader Lane was, I think it's just a temporary setback until we get a leader who will just step right into that role," freshman Rep. Andrea Reeb, R-Clovis, said Friday.

Reeb, a former prosecutor who is running for reelection unopposed, said there are "many, many people" in the House Republican caucus with the connections to raise funds statewide and perform other leadership responsibilities.

"While it's a temporary setback, I don't think it's a loser deal for us at this point," she said.

Adding to the challenge of finding a new leader is that Rep. Jim Townsend of Artesia, a veteran lawmaker who serves as House minority whip, is running uncontested for an open seat in the Senate.

Townsend, who was House minority leader from late 2018 through 2022, said he's not interested in serving as interim leader. He said House Republicans are talking behind the scenes to figure out a plan going forward and the caucus will likely meet within the next two weeks to pick new leadership.

"My ship has sailed from the House — I'm not going back," Townsend said. "Whoever the next leader is should be the leader of the future, not a placeholder."

The situation leaves the vastly outnumbered GOP caucuses in both chambers with voids to fill as they work to raise funds and support Republican candidates. The need to act long before November is perhaps more pressing for the House Republicans, said Albuquerque political analyst and pollster Brian Sanderoff.

"There's more of a sense of emergency on the House side due to the sudden retirement of Rep. Lane," he said.

But, he said, it's important to realize the role leadership plays in the minority party when it comes to electoral fundraising. With the general election looming in November, Republicans in both chambers will have to decide what path to take sooner rather than later.

"One of the most important asks of legislative leadership is to raise campaign funds to assist their candidates who are running in swing districts," he said. "They have their own caucus funds to raise more money and distribute it to their members, so yeah, it's important to act. There will be substantial changes in Republican leadership so it's important they get organized and deal with some of the most immediate tasks at hand — and one of them is the election."

In a statement, the Democratic Party of New Mexico wished Lane and Baca well in their retirement.

"Being part of the Republican caucus in either chamber must be a challenge for the few serious members they have left, as the priorities for many of these Republicans go no further than checking MAGA boxes on social media, slowing down the legislative process with wacky stunts, and obstructing legislation that would benefit all New Mexicans, only because it is a Democratic bill," a party spokesperson said in an email.

Townsend, who has been in the Legislature since 2015, said there are three House incumbents with the experience and tenure that allows them to step into leadership roles: Gail Armstrong of Magdalena, Cathrynn Brown of Carlsbad and Rod Montoya of Farmington.

"Those three people would be the ones that I would think the caucus would consider just based off tenure and experience," he said. "Whether any of them want to be [considered], they're going to have to talk and decide that."

Armstrong, Brown and Montoya did not immediately return messages seeking comment Friday.

Townsend said House Republicans faced a similar situation six years ago when former Minority Leader Nate Gentry decided "at the last minute" not to run for reelection, leaving his post up for grabs. Townsend, who succeeded Gentry, said election season is a "very busy" time for caucus leaders.

"You're hitting the ground running," he said. "You have the primary elections in front of you. You have candidates that are scrambling for funding. You're stumping for them all over the state, trying to help them raise money.

"It'll be important to get somebody in the saddle," Townsend continued. "In my mind, it would be very important right now that whoever does it has, if not a unanimous vote of the caucus, that it should be an overwhelming majority of the caucus that's supporting the new leader, whoever they are, so that there's no controversy going forward."

Rep. John Block, R-Alamogordo, said he isn't too concerned with whom his colleagues pick as leader.

"We could put a pig with lipstick as our leader, and I would still fight as hard as I do," Block said.

Still, he said, House Republicans have "a very good slate of people" who will step into leadership roles and hit the ground running.

"I believe the Democrats are going to be running scared in this next election" because several Democrats are facing primary challenges, Block said.

"They're going to have to defend their incumbents and spend money in the primary while we're set on the general election in many of these seats, and I think that's the key to winning back the House," he said. "We can do it and whoever the leader is, regardless of if they're my top choice or not, I will support them as leader because our party has the ideas that can win back the state and bring back true growth to New Mexico."

Rep. Randall Pettigrew, R-Lovington, said Republicans are unlikely to win the House, but he said it will be important to select the right leader to help the party make gains.

"The sheer numbers are not there, but we're going to get close enough to where y'all's job is going to be really fun in the [2025] 60-day session," he said.

For the Senate, there is less pressure to act fast, Sanderoff said.

Senate Republicans said in interviews they are going to take their time to decide the best course of action. One option, said Sen. Craig Brandt, R-Rio Rancho, is to choose an interim leadership team — traditionally made up of three people — with the understanding the caucus will vote to choose permanent leaders after the November election.

At that point, with several sitting Republicans already announcing they are not running for reelection and a new wave of Senate Republican candidates — including several from the House — looking to move into the chamber, there are bound to be new members who might want to have a say in who leads the caucus, Brandt said.

Brandt, who is the Senate minority whip, said he does not want to move up the chain of command and serve as leader.

"If Sen. Baca felt it was advantageous for the caucus to establish new leadership now for the interim, then that's probably what we would do," Brandt said. "It's really in his court. He is going to do what is best for the caucus."

Baca said there is a pro and a con both to sticking with current leadership through the election and electing new leaders before then. Since he is not seeking reelection, he said, one advantage to staying is "it gives me a lot more time and energy to focus on other people's primary races across the state and then general election."

Part of the decision, Sanderoff said, will be based on whether Senate Republicans believe "there's some obvious replacements to these leadership positions or whether they think it's worth their while to wait until they have a little more direction from the election."

Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, said he has "a good working relationship based on trust" with Baca. Regardless of whom Senate Republicans choose as minority leader, Wirth said, he will continue to build a trusting relationship and work with that person going forward.

Wirth said caucuses typically hold leadership elections after the general election.

"You want to make sure new members elected get to vote for the leadership," he said. "That's important."