Five GOP Guv candidates (Journal)

Mark Ronchetti reports a better than 2 to 1 cash advantage over Rebecca Dow as the 2022 GOP gubernatorial primary heads into the crucial weeks, continuing his front-running position and likely forcing Dow and the other challengers to go negative to try to slow his momentum.

Ronchetti, a longtime TV weather personality, raked in $2.1 million in the reporting period that covered six months ending April 4. He spent $584,000 and ended with a hefty cash balance of $1.55 million. That's more than enough to swamp TV, radio, the mailboxes and digital media with nonstop messaging. 

Dow, a state rep from T or C, reports raising $751,000 in the period and a total of $1.2 million for the campaign, including $100,000 transferred from her state representative account. She has $681,000 in cash on hand. 

That's enough to give her a good TV presence up to the June 7 primary but she will need a strong message and help from the rest of the field going forward, says veteran Dem consultant Sisto Abeyta:

The rest of the field includes financial consultant Greg Zanetti and Sandoval County Commissioner Jay Block. They filed reports with the Secretary of State but the SOS website was having major technical problems Monday and their reports were still not available late Monday. 

However Zanetti announced he raised $169,000 in the period and Block says he has raised about $130,000. Anti-abortion candidate Ethel Maharg says she raised about $13,000. 

Clearly that is not enough to move the needle much and will stimulate talk that they should consider throwing their support behind Dow in a stop Ronchetti effort. 

That talk had already begun. Conservative radio talker and 2021 ABQ mayoral candidate Eddy Aragon is calling for Block snd Zanetti to bow out and endorse Dow, telling us late Monday:

On the Dem side MLG has the luxury of no primary opposition and her campaign was celebrating the $2.7 million she raised during the period, even though she could not raise money during the 30 day legislative session and its aftermath. Her campaign says she now has $3.8 million in cash for the battle ahead. 

While her campaign seems on the right financial track--she spent $9.5 million in her 2018 victory and is on course to meet or exceed that amount this time--she did suffer a personal blow Sunday with the death of her 82 year old mother who had recently entered hospice. Obit here.

Ronchetti raised significant funds from the state's oil industry, including a $10,000 check from Brewer Oil Company based in ABQ and much more from SE NM. 

Dow received major dollars from the Yates oil family of Artesia, reinforcing the spilt in the GOP this campaign season. 

Yates, a former GOP state chairman and GOP National Committeeman, was often a foe of Republican Gov Susana Martinez and her consultant Jay McCleskey who is now handling Ronchetti. Consultants say Dow's chances would improve if she could get another $400,000 in cash in short order from more oil boys. 

Ronchetti received $5,200 from Dorothy Rainosek, co-owner of the famous ABQ Frontier restaurant and a similar amount from Doug Peterson, the ABQ real estate developer who is a bitter opponent of MLG and who he battled with over her Covid policies. 

The ABQ GOP crowd is more friendly to Ronchetti than the rest of the state but his statewide name ID also helped him collect small donor donations from varied geography. 

The buzz in the background is Trump--not a friend of the Martinez faction of the NMGOP. Could he endorse Dow and would she would want such an endorsement given the political dynamite it could be in a general election? A longtime NM consultant weighed in:

But there is no indication that Trump is prone to playing in New Mexico. Most national pundits rank the Guv race as likely to tip MLG's way and if so the former president's primary endorsement would not have any legs. Also, Dow’s consultants are tightly associated with potential ‘24 presidential candidate Ted Cruz, perhaps not a recipe for a Trump endorsement. 

SOS Oliver

It was a rough day at the office for Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver where campaign reports jammed the computer system, delaying their posting for hours and apparently some until today or later. 

Here's what greeted the statewide candidates and those for the state House when they went to file their reports on the SOS site:

One glitch that was an eyebrow raiser had Guv candidate Mark Ronchetti reporting he spent tens of thousands of dollars on "salaries for campaign workers" but none of the workers were named. His campaign says they did report the names and that the info was correct on their end but the SOS glitch meant they did not get posted. They expect a correction today. 

Campaign insiders and political junkies were disgruntled over the technical mess. One of them went as far as suggesting that the SOS be administered 20 lashes with a wet noodle. 

Prepare yourself, Maggie. 

This is the home of New Mexico politics.