Heinrich battles Domenici to hold onto Senate seat

Oct. 5—Nella Domenici remembers driving around New Mexico some 20 years ago with her late father, Pete Domenici, a political giant and larger-than-life figure who still holds the title of longest-serving U.S. senator in state history.

At the time, the father-daughter duo operated a strategic consulting firm and traveled the state together on business.

Their long drives led to long conversations that included a possible future in politics for the younger Domenici.

"He would explain to me the history of different companies that he helped bring here or [talk about] the ranchers or the farmers," she recalled. "He would just take me everywhere, so we talked about it then. But it was just more theoretical."

Not anymore.

In her first bid for public office, Nella Domenici, a former chief financial officer for Bridgewater Associates, the world's largest hedge fund, is aiming high — and hoping to recrudesce the family name in Congress.

Domenici, 63, a Republican like her father, is challenging Democratic U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich in November.

Heinrich, 52, a darling of the Democratic Party of New Mexico, is seeking a third term — and with only a month left until Election Day, his prospects are looking good.

A recent poll conducted by New Mexico-based Research & Polling Inc. for the Albuquerque Journal found Heinrich with a double-digit lead over Domenici, 50% to 38%, with 9% of those polled still undecided and another 4% saying they wouldn't vote for either.

"I never feel comfortable in a campaign, but I'm feeling optimistic," Heinrich said when asked about the poll.

Domenici said "data analytics" conducted by her campaign also showed Heinrich ahead, but the gap was much closer. She noted Heinrich has an advantage as an incumbent.

"We did [the data analytics] so that we could find out where to place our bets as we're designing and creating a very smart campaign in the last six weeks," she said.

Deflecting questions

The highly competitive matchup has turned into a costly and contentious race between a political neophyte with a strong background in finance, who only moved back to New Mexico full time a few years ago, and a seasoned politician known for championing the state's public lands and a clean energy economy.

While a Senate seat is on the line, Heinrich's own political future in New Mexico is the subject of wide speculation amid talk he is mulling a run for governor in 2026.

Heinrich wouldn't answer directly when asked whether he would commit to serving the full six-year term in the Senate if he wins reelection.

"The way I make these decisions — and it's heavily influenced by family, obviously — is I try to figure out where I can make the biggest difference for the state of New Mexico," he said. "Right now, I believe that's in the United States Senate."

Pressed for an answer, Heinrich deflected.

"I think I gave you my answer," he said.

Heinrich wasn't the only one who was coy.

Domenici has tried to avoid questions about former President Donald Trump. In July, for example, she canceled a radio interview after the host said he submitted questions in advance about Trump, including whether she still supported him following the events leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Asked whether she would vote for Trump in November, she sidestepped the question.

"I know right now that much of the policy that Kamala Harris stands for is not the right policy for the state," she said. "There are some policy pieces that Donald Trump did embrace that I think helped America be a much stronger country and help New Mexico. For example, his policies on oil and gas. ... I will, by and large, be in agreement with him on that, but I'm not attaching myself to a person."

Pressed for an answer, she, too deflected.

"At this point, I prefer just to talk about the issues," she said.

Abortion policies

Heinrich, who previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives, said this year's race is unlike any other he's faced.

"It's probably just the amount of resources brought to bear," he said. "I mean, the fact that [Domenici] has the ability to not only raise a lot of money but also self-fund, and that's just a dynamic we're not really used to in New Mexico. We haven't had a lot of self-funders in our state."

Campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission show Domenici has raised more than $3.6 million, which includes $1.5 million in loans from Domenici and her husband, Patrick McDonough.

Heinrich is a formidable fundraiser, too. His campaign reported Wednesday it had raised $2.3 million in the final quarter before Election Day.

His campaign has portrayed Domenici as a multimillionaire hedge fund executive who can't authentically connect with New Mexicans. According to published reports, Domenici and her husband reported assets estimated between $21.2 million and $94 million.

"New Mexicans deserve leaders who will fight for their families, not hedge fund executives who prioritize Wall Street over Main Street," Heinrich, who grew up in a working-class union household, said in a statement when his campaign announced its most recent fundraising haul.

His campaign has also asserted Domenici is being financed in part by anti-abortion national Republicans and that a vote for Domenici is a vote for a national abortion ban — an assertion that bothers Domenici, who is on record saying she doesn't support such a ban.

"Martin Heinrich has disappointed New Mexico women, for sure, the way he's treated my abortion policy," she said. "He has absolutely, unequivocally, knowingly and intentionally lied about my policy, and he's used one of the most important areas of a woman's sort of life, and he's politicized it for his own benefit."

Heinrich defended his campaign's assertion that abortion rights are in jeopardy under Domenici.

"If she is elected, Republicans will hold the majority in the United States Senate, and one of the first things that she would do is vote for a majority leader when every single one of those candidates, whether it's John Cornyn or John Thune, have embraced the national abortion ban," he said. "So, she would be putting leadership in place to make that possible, and I think it's very clear that the impact of electing her would be to facilitate a national abortion ban."

Domenici said she won't be controlled by anyone.

"When I'm a senator, I will make every decision independently, and I will do what I said I'm going to do," she said. "So, for him to just do a 180 and hire people to run ads to say I'm not going to do that is horrible."

During an April meeting of Republicans in Albuquerque's South Valley, Domenici told the audience she had been recruited to run by the National Republican Senate Committee.

"It's an organization that has a lot of resources, and their job is to identify Republican possible candidates and help those candidates in many, many ways," she said, according to a transcript of her remarks at the meeting.

"They identified me like four years ago, then they came back this year," she said.

Her April remarks are the basis of the barrage of attack ads asserting Domenici poses a threat to abortion rights.

'Definition of carpetbagger'

But it's not the only basis of attack.

Democrats have accused Domenici of being a carpetbagger who is riding on her father's coattails to try to get elected.

Domenici, who was born and spent her childhood in New Mexico but most of her life on the East Coast, said the attack is unfair. Her father moved the family to Washington, D.C., when she was 12 years old "so we could all be in once place and close to him," she said, but New Mexico has always been home. She called the house she and her husband have had in Santa Fe for about 20 years their "real family home."

"Martin Heinrich is the definition of carpetbagger," she said. "He came here in his mid-20s from out of state, no roots, no connection, no reason for coming other than opportunistic. I was born here. I'm a third-generation New Mexican."

Heinrich, a mechanical engineer, said he and his wife moved to New Mexico in 1995 "straight out of college because of the national labs and the tech that was here." He said he loved the state and the opportunities it presented.

"That was almost 30 years ago," he said. "I live in Albuquerque. My wife works in Santa Fe. My youngest son goes to [Albuquerque Public Schools]. My oldest son is at University of New Mexico. I don't know how much more rooted I can get in this community."

As the pair battle it out and make their case to voters, both say they have the interests of New Mexico at heart.

"I love solving problems, and I believe there's a lot more that I can accomplish for the state of New Mexico," Heinrich said.

He's proud of the work he's done for the state, he added, including passing a bill that was "the biggest expansion of VA benefits for our veterans in several decades" and the creation of high-quality jobs.

"When you look at what the Inflation Reduction Act has done to manufacturing in the state and to clean energy generation, we're now seeing array technologies expand, we're seeing new manufacturers," he said. "The fact that we're building the single largest clean energy project ever built in the Western Hemisphere, and it's right here in New Mexico, is something to be proud of."

Domenici, however, said "things are so terrible in this state," from crime to education, that New Mexicans are ready for a change in leadership.

"I love the state," she said. "The state has a whole pile of diamonds that just need to be reconnected to make us a truly incredible state."

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