Oct. 30—SANTA FE — Top New Mexico Democrats aren’t exactly rolling out the red carpet for former President Donald Trump’s visit to Albuquerque.

Several top state Democrats held a news conference Wednesday blasting Trump, who is scheduled to arrive in New Mexico early Thursday and hold a lunchtime rally near the Albuquerque International Sunport before heading to Nevada .

“We want to send a message to Donald Trump that his hate is not welcome here in New Mexico,” said U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, who represents an Albuquerque-area district.

Meanwhile, Republicans accused state Lands Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard, a Democrat, of reneging on an off-site parking arrangement for rally attendees.

Rep. James Townsend, R-Artesia, said the Trump campaign has a contract in place to use the Isleta Amphitheater as a parking lot so rally attendees can get to the private hangar where the former president will speak.

He described the Land Commissioner’s actions to destroy the arrangement as “pure, empty, bitter partisanship”.

But Garcia Richard said Live Nation Entertainment, which leases the state trust land on which the amphitheater sits, does not have the authority to use the parking lot for any off-site event.

“Since the rally is not being held at the Isleta Amphitheater at this time, parking for an off-site event is a non-permitted use,” Garcia Richard said in a statement Wednesday.

The parking dispute comes after the Trump campaign unsuccessfully sought to book the Albuquerque Convention Center for the former president’s rally on Thursday.

Mayor Tim Keller’s administration cited a planned water main repair as the reason for denying use of the convention center, although Keller said Wednesday that Trump’s unpaid bills from a 2019 campaign visit also played a factor.

The Trump campaign also made inquiries about holding the rally at Tingley Coliseum on the New Mexico State Fairgrounds, but was told “no” because the historic building is undergoing a seating replacement project, said Ty Stevevers, the media marketing manager for Expo New Mexico.

“Right now, we really can’t accommodate a crowd that size,” Steves told the Journal.

After those inquiries were rebuffed, the Trump campaign ultimately decided to hold the rally at a private hangar owned by CSI Aviation. The chairman of CIA Aviation is former state Republican Party Chairman Allen Weh, who ran unsuccessfully for the US Senate in 2014.

Rally expected to attract large crowds, protests

State Republican Party Chairman Steve Pearce said Wednesday that alternate parking lots near the Sunport have been secured, adding that Trump’s rally will be “huge and spectacular.”

“Nothing will stop President Trump from coming to New Mexico!” Pearce said in a statement. “President Trump has shown his commitment to winning our great state year after year, now he’s coming back to show New Mexicans how much he cares about making their communities safe, wealthy, secure and truly great again “.

His counterpart, state Democratic Party Chairwoman Jessica Velasquez, said Trump would “waste his time in New Mexico,” referring to Kamala Harris’ lead in recent polls of the New Mexico presidential race.

A Republican has not won New Mexico’s five electoral votes since George W. Bush did so in 2004, and Trump lost the state in both the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.

Velasquez also argued that Trump would gut safety net programs like Social Security, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act if elected, even though he failed to repeal the landmark 2010 health care law during his first term as president.

“Donald Trump is coming to New Mexico as part of his blue state hate tour and he wants to spread his divisive rhetoric here,” Velasquez said.

Previous Trump visits to New Mexico

Trump’s visit to New Mexico marks the first campaign stop in the state by one of the major presidential candidates during this year’s election cycle.

Trump previously held two campaign rallies in Albuquerque in 2016, including a May 2016 rally downtown that sparked loud riots when protesters jumped police cars, smashed windows and fought with Trump supporters and the police.

He returned to the state in 2019 — this time as president — for a rally in Rio Rancho during which he accused Democrats of trying to “completely annihilate” New Mexico’s economy.

In addition to Trump, Republican congressional candidate Yvette Herrell will be among those speaking at Thursday’s rally, a campaign spokesman confirmed.

Herrell is locked in a heated race for the state’s 2nd Congressional District seat with Democrat Gabe Vasquez, who defeated her to win the seat in 2022.