Yesterday’s Congressional January 6th Commission hearing demonstrated once again how dangerous the far-right threat is to our democracy. Michelle Garcia Holmes and Yvette Herrell, two of the most prominent members of the NM GOP, have long records of associating with the farthest right factions and have failed to condemn the actions of January 6th.

It’s no surprise that Michelle Garcia Holmes has never spoken out against the January 6th insurrection – she personally supported insurrectionists and took the lead in an effort to overturn valid 2020 election results in Bernalillo County. Garcia Holmes is one our state’s most prominent figures trying to undermine trust in our democracy and create division among New Mexicans. She supported the insurrectionists and called the 2020 Presidential election “stolen” by liberals.

Garcia Holmes also put New Mexicans in danger during the COVID-19 pandemic by spreading false claims about vaccines, saying they were killing people and shared wild conspiracy theories about voting machines purposefully not counting votes.

“Michelle Garcia Holmes has never won a campaign, but nevertheless has been on the far-right fringe of GOP politics in New Mexico for years now,” said Democratic Party of New Mexico Communications Director Daniel Garcia. “She’s spread conspiracies about the COVID-19 vaccines, tried to overturn election results in Bernalillo County and supported the January 6th insurrection, and has pledged to ban all abortion. The voters of New Mexico’s First District need to know how extreme Michelle Garcia Holmes has been over the last several years.”

One of Yvette Herrell’s first votes in Congress was to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Like Garcia Holmes, she also spread dangerous COVID-19 misinformation, and even promoted the use of Ivermectin.

Herrell has a close friendship with Couy Griffin – criminal Cowboys for Trump founder and former Otero County Commissioner. In fact, Herrell and Griffin campaigned together and Herrell even expressed admiration for Griffin’s Cowboys for Trump mob of renegades. Since then, Herrell has pushed the same conspiracy theories undermining the results of the 2020 election after Trump lost and has refused to denounce Griffin and his attack on the nation’s Capitol and attempts to undermine elections as Otero County Commissioner.

“Yvette Herrell has been one of the most radical far-right members of Congress for the last two years,” said Daniel Garcia. “Herrell’s friendship with criminal insurrectionist Couy Griffin shows how extreme she is. It’s up to New Mexico voters to hold Herrell accountable for supporting insurrectionists and trying to undermine election results.”

On the Albuquerque Journal candidate questionnaire, both Garcia Holmes and Herrell refused to give voters a straight answer when asked if she believed Donald Trump’s claim that he was the rightful winner of the 2020 presidential election. The Albuquerque Journal asked for “yes or no” answers only, however both of them refused to give a straight answer. This is because both want to undermine faith in our democracy for their own political gain.

The January 6th Commission Hearings emphasize how important it is that we elect leaders who will protect Democratic institutions and work to make government work for the people it represents, not destroy it. The contrast could not be more clear, Representative Melanie Stansbury and Gabe Vasquez will uphold our democratic institutions and fight for the everyday New Mexicans, while Michelle Garcia Holmes and Yvette Herrell will continue to be beholden to the most radical factions of the national GOP that want to unravel democracy.

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