Gov. Lujan Grisham launches new TV ads, website

May 18—In her first set of TV ads for her reelection campaign, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is leaving the mudslinging to the Republicans gunning for her job in November.

Rather than go on the attack as two of the leading Republican gubernatorial contenders duke it out before the June primary election, the incumbent Democrat, who is running unopposed in the primary, is touting her administration's accomplishments while softening her image.

Lujan Grisham appears in each of the 15-second ads under warm lighting as soft music plays in the background.

"Dropping these now is early in the season, but she has the deep war chest to allow her to begin outreach to voters," Gabriel Sanchez, a political science professor at the University of New Mexico, wrote in an email. "This will also be a nice contrast to the negative attack ads voters are seeing lots of from the Republican challengers right now."

In addition to highlighting bills she's signed during her first term, from a tax rebate to a tax exemption on Social Security benefits for most seniors, Lujan Grisham directs viewers to a website — newmexicodelivers.com — where they can gather more information with a political undertone.

The homepage declares in large text: "Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham is delivering for New Mexico."

The governor's campaign spokeswoman, Kendall Witmer, described the ads and website as an effort to provide New Mexicans more information about legislation that will benefit them while also giving the governor an opportunity to remind them she's the one who made it happen.

With so much focus on the coronavirus pandemic, the governor often says, "We don't always remember or sort of understand, conceptualize how many things have been accomplished by this administration, by the [majority Democrat] Legislature over the last three years," Witmer said.

"These ads ... remind people that there are some incredible things that have happened to New Mexico that benefit people's pocketbooks and their everyday lives," she said. "And two, it's super important to the governor that New Mexicans actually benefit from them and have an easy way to find information."

The website, which offers campaign contribution information at the bottom of the page and a window to sign up for email updates, has attracted more than 5,000 unique visitors since it was launched last week, Witmer said.

"They spend an average duration on the website [of] seven minutes," she said. "For people to be spending several minutes reading is really good and, to me, that means that people are actually benefiting and getting that information. That's really a goal of this."

Finding information on the internet can sometimes be challenging, and the website offers New Mexicans one central location to learn about multiple government initiatives they can benefit from, she said.

"The governor knows that rising prices are affecting people and ... so many of these programs, especially with regards to child care and pre-K, can help families overcome that burden and really thrive and make investments in their future," Witmer said. "That's something that we're really going for with these ads."

Steve Pearce, chairman of the Republican Party of New Mexico, said Lujan Grisham has nothing to brag about.

"Gov. Lujan Grisham has done virtually nothing during her tenure to improve the lives of New Mexicans and is again misleading the public in these TV ads," he said in a statement.

Pearce called Lujan Grisham a weak leader who can't be trusted and doesn't deserve a second term.

"With her progressive policies, what she has done is destroy our economy, lost thousands of jobs, taxed New Mexicans to death, weakened security at our borders, kept our education system the worst in the nation and tried to eliminate our vital oil and gas industry," he said before lodging other charges, including that she paid "hush money" to silence a former campaign staffer who accused her of sexual harassment.

A spokesman for the Republican Governors Association voiced a similar reaction to the ads.

"Between scandals, Michelle Lujan Grisham refused to address the state's violent crime crisis and supported President Biden's policies that continue to cause gas and food costs to skyrocket," RGA spokesman Will Reinert wrote in an email. "No amount of soft smiles, good lighting and soothing music will erase Governor Lujan Grisham's disastrous record from voters' minds."

The governor's reelection campaign, which reported a $111,605 ad production expenditure in its most recent campaign finance report, launched the first pair of ads last week and a second set this week. The release of four more ads is planned in the next two weeks.

"They're called 'bookends,' " Witmer said, explaining the first 15-second ad will appear immediately after a program goes to a commercial and then the second ad will air at the end of the commercial break.

"This is another way to sort of reach people who do channel flip ... and who might see it at the end of a program and then switch and see it at the end, so it's a creative way to reach more people," she said. "At the end of the day, we want to reach as many people to make sure that they're getting or knowing about Social Security tax cuts or economic relief" or other initiatives under the governor's tenure.

Sanchez, the political science professor, deemed the governor's ads effective.

"The governor is taking advantage of the power of incumbency across several of these ads by framing to voters the things she has done for New Mexicans in her first term," he wrote. "These will be effective because they are indirect and do not feel like campaign messages and remind voters of resources that are available to them.

"The governor's specific focus on seniors is strategic," he added, "as seniors are the most likely to vote among age groups in the state."

Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter @danieljchacon.