BY PATRICK LOHMANN / Source NM
New Mexico’s House candidates reported nearly $1.5 million donated in recent weeks to their campaigns. The filings come three weeks ahead of the June 4 primary election.
Candidates were required to report by midnight May 14 all donations they received and how they spent it between April 2 and May 6.
Of 234 candidates who have filed to run for 112 seats in the New Mexico House and Senate, 38 candidates reported no new donations. In the House, 20 of 144 House candidates reported no donations in the last reporting period.
Candidates will be required to disclose their donations and expenses once more on May 30, less than a week before the primaries end. Early voting in New Mexico began May 7.
In the home stretch before the primaries, the filings show some races getting closer, at least in terms of finances. The records also show several long-time incumbents growing cash advantages over their opponents.
For example, Rep. Patty Lundstrom (D-Gallup) raised more than $47,000 in the last month, according to the latest campaign finance records. She now has raised more than $370,000 and, in the past several weeks, spent more than $84,000.
Her main opponent to represent House District 9, Chris Hudson, raised a little less than $3,000 in the same period.
Eight of the top 10 fundraisers this period were Democrats. The biggest earner in the last four weeks was Rep. Ambrose Castellano (D-Las Vegas), who is facing off against Anita Gonzales in the primary. Filings show Castellano raised more than $63,000.
He received multiple donations of $5,000 or more from political action committees representing oil and gas interests and contractors, as well as from a Las Vegas-area ranch owned by actor Patrick Swayze and his wife.
Gonzales was also among the top 10 state House fundraisers in the last month, earning more than $38,000. Her big donations last month came from a Washington, D.C.-based labor union and political action committee tackling climate change, plus local law firm Roybal Mack & Cordova.
Their race for District 70 is among 12 primaries that are relatively close in terms of cash on hand as primary day approaches, according to a Source New Mexico review of 31 contested primaries this season.