Republican challenger Yvette Herrell defeated Rep. Xochitl Torres Small (D-NM) to flip New Mexico’s Second Congressional District pink. Torres S
Republican challenger Yvette Herrell defeated Rep. Xochitl Torres Small (D-NM) to flip New Mexico’s Second Congressional District pink.
Torres Small’s district represented one of many Republican Social gathering’s greatest possibilities to choose up a Home seat this cycle, and Herrell got here by. Torres Small received the seat after prevailing over Herrell by a margin of fewer than 4,000 votes in 2018. President Donald Trump received the district by greater than 10 factors in 2016, nevertheless, and endorsed Herrell in October.
“I’m sitting within the Oval Workplace of the White Home and there’s nothing extra vital than getting you to Washington as a result of we’d like you badly,” the president mentioned, shortly after he returned to the White Home following his hospitalization for Covid-19, in a recording of a tele-rally posted by Yvette Herrell. “Yvette’s opponent, Xochitl Torres Small, is a complete puppet for Nancy Pelosi. She’s a radical left puppet.”
Herrell, for her half, has been principally in lockstep with Trump with regard to points just like the coronavirus response.
It is time to reopen our financial system and permit New Mexicans to return to work. I’ll work with President Trump to cut back job killing laws, minimize taxes for our center class, and rebuild our rural economies by opening the door to logging, mining, and expanded power manufacturing. pic.twitter.com/ROk7Jnq3dr
— Yvette Herrell (@Yvette4congress) Might 26, 2020
Torres Small did break from Joe Biden and Pelosi in some vital methods. The competition for New Mexico’s Second Congressional District grew to become some of the costly this cycle, with each events pouring cash into the race. Power coverage on this oil and gas-rich southern a part of the state was a significant difficulty. Torres Small distanced herself from feedback Biden made through the closing presidential debate about the necessity to transition away from fossil fuels.
I disagree with VP Biden’s assertion tonight. Power is a part of the spine of New Mexico’s financial system. We have to work collectively to advertise accountable power manufacturing and cease local weather change, not demonize a single business. 1/2
— Xochitl Torres Small (@XochforCongress) October 23, 2020
Torres Small additionally touted her bipartisan bona fides, saying in a marketing campaign advert that “I put politics apart and labored with Republicans, Democrats, and President Trump to go the coronavirus aid plan.”
Along with touting her endorsement from Trump, Herrell hit Torres Small for supporting laws beefing up background checks for gun purchases and for her assist of Biden and his power insurance policies. In the long run, it was sufficient for Republicans to choose up a seat in an election cycle the place their possibilities of doing so had been few and much between.