New Mexico’s second congressional district is one of the most hotly contested races in the country, and Republicans are already spending big to reserve coveted local TV ad space.
A memo from the National Republican Campaign Committee shared with Republican donors and posted online Thursday touts a $2,043,200 ad buy in the Albuquerque media market to help former Republican Congresswoman Yvette Herrell take back the seat from Democrat Gabe Vasquez, who defeated Herrell in 2022.
Republicans currently hold a narrow six seat majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. New Mexico’s second district is one of 22 across the country the GOP has publicly targeted as “battleground” districts where protecting existing Republicans and ousting Democrats are critical to their strategy to maintain control in the next Congress.
“The NRCC set a goal to expand the House Republican Majority by recruiting top tier candidates in Democrat-held seats, while at the same time shoring up our most vulnerable members,” Tom Erickson of the NRCC wrote to donors in the memo. “Those off-year efforts have paid off as the NRCC’s Independent Expenditure (IE) team prepares to reserve $45.7 million in television and digital advertising across 22 battleground districts. This reservation includes a significant investment in both digital and Spanish-language advertising.”
Of that budget, $2 million is allocated in Albuquerque, and another $600,000 is reserved in the El Paso media market, which serves Las Cruces and nearby areas.
By comparison, the NRCC spent $2,379,273 in 2022 in the same race, according to Open Secrets, a nonprofit organization tracking political spending.
Since then, the state legislature has redrawn the state’s political maps to include parts of Albuquerque’s Westside and South Valley in the district, which traditionally included mostly southern New Mexico communities.