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ALBUQUERQUE, NM—Last week Sen. Martin Heinrich and his opponent, multimillionaire former hedge fund executive Nella Domenici, each sat down for interviews with KRQE anchor Dean Staley. Heinrich described his significant legislative accomplishments and articulated his plans to lower costs for working families and create more good-paying jobs, while reaffirming his commitment to protecting reproductive rights for all Americans. In contrast, Nella Domenici struggled to express a positive vision for the economic future for the state, revealing herself as out of touch with the struggles of working New Mexicans. Her statements about abortion were incoherent and contradictory, failing to overcome concerns about her commitment to reproductive rights.

Asked about economic headwinds facing New Mexicans, including inflation, housing costs, and the cost of prescription drugs, Sen. Heinrich touted the IRA bill, stating,“I’m really proud of the work that we did in the Inflation Reduction Act to bring down costs, especially in the energy sector and as well as prescription drugs.” He also committed to zoning reform and incentives for the construction of more affordable housing. He advocated for raising the federal minimum wage of $7.25, stating “I raised the minimum wage when I was on the city council, for goodness sakes, and that was about the last time the federal government raised the minimum wage. It’s become very mired in partisan politics, and it takes 60 votes to raise the minimum wage. And there’s, to my knowledge, you know, there aren’t any Republicans standing up and raising their hand and saying, we need to do this. I think it’s one of the reasons why we need to reform the filibuster.”

Faced with similar questions about economic issues, Nella Domenici was out of her depth and reluctant to address the problems head-on. Domenici, a multi-millionaire former CFO of the world’s largest hedge fund and owner of several multimillion dollar properties on the East Coast struggled to show she is not insulated from the struggles of ordinary Americans. She was unsure of the actual federal minimum wage, describing it as “seven something.” She admitted this was low, but hesitated to say she would raise it out of concern for corporate profits, saying, “And we also need to make sure we don’t push the cost of labor up into places like restaurants and grocery stores and all of these basic and gardening and make labor so high that those companies then become non competitive.” Domenici demonstrated herself to be out-of-touch with everyday working New Mexicans and could not outline an agenda that would help.

On the issue of reproductive rights, Henrich articulated his stance in clear, unambiguous language: “I think we should leave it up to women. That’s a decision that should be made between individuals and their healthcare providers.” He also committed to passing legislation that would codify abortion rights. When faced with similar questions, Domenici doubled down on her support for the Supreme Court’sdisastrous Dobbs decision, which has threatened abortion access across the United States. Domenici stated, “I support the Supreme Court’s recent decision to push the issue down to the states.”

“The choice facing New Mexico voters is crystal clear,” said Heinrich campaign manager Brad Elkins. “Martin Heinrich has spent his career fighting for working families, lowering costs, and safeguarding reproductive rights. Nella Domenici offers little more than out-of-touch rhetoric and no clear vision for the future beyond putting corporate profits ahead of New Mexicans’ rights and livelihoods.”