NM GOP leaders call for turning down the temperature after suspected arson

Mar. 31—While officials investigate if a New Mexico Republican Party office was set aflame intentionally, state GOP leaders are calling for turning down the political temperature and strengthening the state’s crime laws.

High-profile acts of political violence like the 2024 assassination attempts against then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and the 2021 Capitol riot have made headlines in recent years. In recent weeks, following Elon Musk’s national political presence alongside Trump, several people have been arrested for setting fire to Tesla cars and charging stations in Nevada, South Carolina, Colorado and Oregon. A Tesla dealership in Santa Ana Pueblo also dealt with vandalism in February. Photos posted online show a burned car and a swastika spray-painted on the side of a Cybertruck.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s prosecutions of threats of political violence against political leaders increased fivefold during Trump’s first term and continued to rise under Biden, according to a 2023 survey from the Chicago Project on Security and Threats. But most Americans still reject political violence, according to the 2024 American Values Survey conducted by market research company Ispos’s Knowledge Panel.

“This isn’t just about Republicans,” said Party Chair Amy Barela at a news conference on Monday. “This is about every New Mexican that has suffered because of a system that fails to hold criminals accountable. From car-jackings in Albuquerque to tragic murders in Las Cruces, the crisis is escalating, and time for action is now.”

State Senate Minority Leader William Sharer of Farmington said legislators should work together to strengthen the state’s juvenile code, target street gangs and cartels and support law enforcement. House Minority Leader Gail Armstrong of Magdalena said Republicans are still ready to come “to the table for solutions.”

Sharer and Barela both said they would support a special legislative session focused on crime, which Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham hinted at after the end of this year’s regular session when she voiced disappointment with a lack of movement on public safety bills. Sharer thinks the governor should bring Republicans in before calling a session to talk about what can be accomplished.

“I hope for that, because actually at this point, the governor and me are closer than the governor and my Democrat counterparts on this issue,” he said.

There is no cost estimate for the damage yet, but the building’s doors burned,…