State GOP elects Cangiolosi as new chairman
Grappling with a series of defeats in legislative races last month, New Mexico Republicans on Sunday elected the former executive director of the state’s GOP as their new chairman over an Albuquerque businessman touted by many supporters as an outsider who would shake up the organization.
Ryan Cangiolosi cinched a vote of the state party’s central committee during a meeting in Albuquerque on Sunday afternoon, defeating his only opponent, John Rockwell, 251 to 156.
While both candidates had pledged to work more closely with county parties and the Republican grass roots amid complaints past chairs focused too closely on Albuquerque, Cangiolosi, 45, pointed to his work on winning campaigns to argue he is best prepared to develop a strategy for victory in 2018.
Cangiolosi was the party’s executive director in 2009 under former Chairman Harvey Yates and left in 2010 to work on Susana Martinez’s first campaign for governor. He went on to become her deputy chief of staff. Cangiolosi now works in administration at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center and recently consulted on Rep. Sarah Maestas Barnes’ successful re-election campaign.
“John and I ran a hard-fought race and I look forward to working together to build the Republican Party,” he said in a statement after his election. “We need to unite the party behind our common goal of electing Republicans across the state and promoting our shared message of economic prosperity, safer communities and an education that truly prepares children for the future.”
Many of the Republicans backing Rockwell, however, viewed Cangiolosi as an insider, out of touch with the grass roots.
“The divisions mostly are between people who have been running the party for years and those who have been doing the groundwork and gotten no credit,” said Samuel LeDoux, a member of the central committee from Santa Fe County who supported Rockwell.
LeDoux, like many of Rockwell’s backers, argued the the 64-year-old businessman would be removed from the party’s infighting and better support Republicans beyond Albuquerque.
President of the Albuquerque-based engineering and design company Sierra Peaks and a former Air Force officer, Rockwell has represented New Mexico at the Republican National Committee and has run for chairman in the past.
But Cangiolosi’s experience running campaigns was key for some members of the party’s central committee, which includes Republican leaders from each county.
“We’ve elected money before,” said Todd Hathorne, a member of the central committee from Rio Rancho.
The party needs a chairman who has run campaigns, he argued.
Party chairmen can be key in recruiting candidates, raising money and organizing volunteers.
While political action committees have grown in influence during recent years to raise more money than state parties, Cangiolosi argued “that does not mitigate the need to have a strong party.”
Cangiolosi will succeed Debbie Maestas , who was elected in 2014 shortly after the party’s best election performance in years. In the wake of last month’s election results, Maestas announced she would not seek another term.
Republicans won the White House and control of more state legislatures than ever before but the party fared relatively poorly in New Mexico. Democrats won control of the state House, expanded their majority in the state Senate, ousted a Republican from the New Mexico Court of Appeals and won the Secretary of State’s Office. Though Republican Donald Trump visited the state twice during his campaign, Democrat Hillary Clinton, who never stumped here, won New Mexico by 8 percentage points.
The election’s results stirred criticisms that the party’s leadership had fallen short.
Anonymous emails blasted to central committee members in the days before Sunday’s meeting accused Maestas of wasting the party’s funds.
Addressing the central committee Sunday, Maestas described the attacks as “ridiculous” and “misrepresentations.”
The anonymous emails also attacked Cangiolosi and one of his most visible supporters, Yates, the former chairman and a critic of the governor.
Cangiolosi said after his election Sunday he will move to mend rifts in the party by meeting soon with county chairmen and Republican elected officials. He takes office immediately and will keep his full-time job at The University of New Mexico.
The Santa Fe New Mexican is a sister-paper of The Taos News. Contact Andrew Oxford at 505-986-3093 or aoxford@sfnewmexican.com. Follow him on Twitter @andrewboxford.
