Abortion rights and energy policy dominated a Monday afternoon debate between the major-party candidates for a seat in the U.S. Senate.
Democratic incumbent Sen. Martin Heinrich and Republican challenger Nella Domenici sparred during the televised debate, while also selling themselves to voters as the best choice for Washington, D.C.
“I’ve spent my career fighting to increase opportunities and fighting for the rights and freedoms that New Mexicans hold dear,” Heinrich said in his opening remarks. “The right to choose, the right to vote, the right to clean air and clean water, and the right for our kids to just feel safe in their schools.”
Domenici, a former hedge fund financial officer, described herself as an independent leader “who will stand up to our criminals, who will improve our education, who will lower your cost of living, and who will unleash New Mexico’s many assets.”
She said the state is in a crisis and ranks poorly in terms of crime, drug use, education, economic development and child well-being.
“Martin, that’s your report card, and that’s an ‘F,’” she said.
Heinrich said Domenici is out to buy the Senate seat with the support of “extreme Republicans” who would strip away New Mexicans’ rights and freedoms.
The panelists asked Heinrich whether he would support the idea of having any restrictions on late-term abortion.
“I support allowing the women in this country to make their own health care decisions,” he responded. “I don’t think there’s any moment when women take that lightly, and I don’t think there’s any moment when a politician is going to make a better decision than the woman who has to make that decision herself.”
Domenici was asked — given statements that she would not support a national abortion ban — whether she would, as a senator, support a bill that would guarantee abortion rights.
“I will aggressively focus on unintended pregnancies — preventing births from occurring, preventing pregnancies from occurring,” she responded. “The best way to do that is to focus on birth control and make sure women all over the country are fully educated on their choices.”
Heinrich said her response was “a nonanswer.”
Domenici said the senator, whom she called a “radical progressive,” thinks oil and gas, the oil and gas industry, should be destroyed.
“Martin Heinrich is the biggest threat we have to oil and gas in our state,” she said, criticizing Heinrich’s support for the elimination of subsidies for fossil fuel producers.
The senator stood by that position during the debate.
“We don’t need to subsidize the most prolific oil and gas basins in the world,” Heinrich said. “We did not give up any of our jobs in oil and gas in the last few years. We’re at record production levels, and what my policies have done … is diversify on top of those energy jobs.”
Heinrich also said he’s worked on legislation that helped the United States reduce inflation faster than other countries, following broken supply chains caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. He said his successes in Congress also include increasing high-tech manufacturing jobs and bringing down the cost of prescription drugs.
Domenici said inflation rose “because of the excessive spending that has occurred in the last four years under the Biden administration.”
Heinrich said a Domenici win could mean a Republican majority in the Senate, and suggested she would vote for Texas Sen. John Cornyn or South Dakota Sen. John Thune — “both of whom are enthusiastic supporters of a national abortion ban” — as Senate majority leader. After Heinrich suggested that Domenici would follow the lead of the Republican Party in electing Senate leadership, Domenici fired back with an accusation that the senator is sexist.
“I’m a very successful, educated professional woman, and I will not be told by any senator in Washington what to vote on or how to vote on it,” Domenici said. “For Marin Heinrich to think that I’m a weak woman who will take orders from a man and not stick to my own values, that’s a sexist, insulting, demeaning remark, and all of the women who hear that in this state should be upset.”
The pair also sparred over issues that included border security, gun safety, education and addressing the fentanyl crisis. The full video of the debate, which was hosted by KOAT, is available here.