Trump's green-leaning stance could boost Republicans' bid to unseat a Democrat-held Senate seat
The Republican Senate nominee from New Mexico says former President Trump's stop in the southwestern region on Thursday will “infuse our country with great momentum.”
Nella Domenici, the 2024 GOP Senate nominee and daughter of New Mexico's last Republican senator, is trying to defeat Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich, who will run for a third six-year term in November, as his party works to regain the majority.
“Trump will help us with independents,” Domenici predicted in an interview with Fox News Digital on the eve of the former president's visit to the country.
With five days until Election Day next Tuesday, the former president is making a rare foray into seven key battleground states in the race for the White House that could decide whether Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris wins the 2024 election.
WHY TRUMP IS POSTPONED LAST MINUTE BEFORE ELECTION DAY IN A BLUE-LEANING COUNTRY
Former Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Rocky Mount Event Center, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Rocky Mount, NC (AP Photo/Steve Helber) (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
For two decades, Republicans have carried New Mexico in presidential elections. You have to go back to President George W. Bush's 2004 re-election.
There was no turnout in New Mexico, but recent polls show Harris has a single-digit lead over Trump, even though one poll suggests a tight contest for the state's five electoral votes.
With time running out as a valuable asset to presidential campaigns and the clock ticking toward Election Day, New Mexico Democrats say Trump's trip to the state — his first in five years — is a fool's errand.
FOX'S LATEST POLS SHOWING HARRIS-TRUMP REGIMENT
“Trump is wasting his time coming to our country as polls show that New Mexicans will once again reject his extreme MAGA and segregationist rhetoric,” New Mexico Democratic Party spokesman Daniel Garcia said in a statement.
And referring to the former president's October 31 stop in Albuquerque, Garcia took a verbal jab at Trump, saying “the rotund orange grove will be in Albuquerque for Halloween, and we're not talking about the pumpkin.”
Nella Domenici, New Mexico's Republican Senate nominee, campaigns in Carlsbad, NM on Oct. 29, 2024 (Nella Domenici Senate campaign)
But Domenici, who is trying to narrow the gap with Heinrich, sees down-vote benefits for Trump's stop at the airport in Albuquerque, the state's capital.
“People are very excited for Trump to come here,” he told Fox News. “We're very excited about the foundation and the foundation is a growing brand.”
CHECK OUT FOX'S LATEST POWER FOR THE 2024 ELECTION
Domenici asserted that “we have so many problems in our state that eventually people say 'I'm leaving the Democrats and I want to be a Republican' and it's happening every day, every week, in this race.
Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) speaks during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on Federal Electric Vehicle Incentives on January 11, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images)
“Most Hispanic Democrats are coming to us. They're angry that the cost of living is too high. They're angry that crime is everywhere. You can't even get gas out of your car at night,” Domenici charged. “There's a lot of pressure for people to want to vote Republican.”
CLICK HERE FOR THE NEWS PROGRAM
Domenici has decades of experience in the financial industry at Bridgewater Associates (where he served as chief financial officer), Credit Suisse and the Citadel Investment group.
Republican Senator Nella Domenici campaigns in Carlsbad, New Mexico, on May 14, 2024 (Domenici campaign)
She is also the daughter of Sen. The late Republican Pete Domenici, who served 36 years in the Senate before retiring in early 2009 at the end of his sixth term.
The legacy of his father, who died in 2017, gives the younger Domenici a powerful political name and a lot of name recognition in New Mexico.
“My family's name has helped me a lot. It's because my father's legacy is highly valued by many generations here,” he stressed. “A lot of people still have warm hearts for him.”
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign, exclusive interviews and more on our Fox News Digital election site.
Source link
