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Keeping Trump in a blue-leaning state could boost Republican efforts to flip a Democratic-held Senate seat

Keeping Trump in a blue-leaning state could boost Republican efforts to flip a Democratic-held Senate seat

This is what the Republican candidate for Senate in New Mexico says former President Trump Thursday’s stop in the southwestern state “will give our state a lot of momentum.”

Nella Domenici, GOP 2024 Candidate for the Senate and daughter of New Mexico’s last Republican senator, is trying to defeat Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich, who will run for a third six-year term in November as her party tries to regain a majority in the chamber.

“Trump will definitely help us with the independents,” Domenici predicted in an interview with Fox News Digital on the eve of the former president’s visit to the state.

With five days until Tuesday’s election, the former president is making a rare departure from campaigning in seven states crucial to the White House race that will likely decide whether Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris wins the 2024 election.

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Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Rocky Mount Event Center, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, Rocky Mount, N.C. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Rocky Mount Event Center, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, Rocky Mount, N.C. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

It’s been two decades since a Republican wore one New Mexico in the presidential elections. We need to go back to the 2004 re-election of President George W. Bush.

There weren’t many polls in New Mexico, but the latest polls show Harris with an upper single-digit lead over Trump, although one poll suggests a tighter fight for the state’s five electoral votes.

As time goes by, such a valuable commodity for presidential campaigns and the clock is rapidly ticking election day, New Mexico Democrats say Trump’s visit to the state – his first in five years – is a stupid move.

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“Trump is wasting his time coming to our state as polls show New Mexicans are ready to once again reject his MAGA extremism and divisive rhetoric,” New Mexico Democratic Party spokesman Daniel Garcia said in a statement.

Referring to the former president’s arrest in Albuquerque on October 31, Garcia sharply criticized Trump, saying that “there will be a round orange mass in Albuquerque on Halloween and we’re not talking about pumpkins.”

Nella Domenici, Republican candidate for New Mexico Senate, campaigning in Carlsbad, New Mexico, October 29, 2024.

Nella Domenici, Republican candidate for New Mexico Senate, campaigning in Carlsbad, New Mexico, October 29, 2024. (Nella Domenici’s Senate campaign)

But Domenici, who is trying to close the gap with Heinrich, sees the benefit of keeping Trump at the airport in Albuquerque, the state’s largest city, as a result of the down vote.

“People are really excited about Trump coming,” she told Fox News. “It definitely excites the base tremendously, and the base is an emerging term.”

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Domenici argued that “we have so many problems in our state that finally people are saying, ‘I’m giving in to the Democrats and I want to go Republican,’ and that’s happening every day, every week in this race.”

Heinrich in the Senate

Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM) listens during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on federal electric vehicle incentives, January 11, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images)

“Many Latino Democrats are coming to our side. They are angry that the cost of living is so high. They are angry that crime is everywhere. You can’t even refuel your car at night,” Domenici said. “People want to vote Republican, there is a big need.”

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Domenici has many years of experience in the financial industry at Bridgewater Associates (where she served as CFO), Credit Suisse and the Citadel Investment group.

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Republican Senate candidate Nella Domenici’s campaign in Carlsbad, New Mexico, May 14, 2024. (Domenici campaign)

She is also the daughter of the late, longtime GOP Sen. Pete Domenici, who served 36 years in the Senate before retiring in early 2009 at the end of his sixth term.

The legacy of her father, who died in 2017, gives the younger Domenici a powerful political brand and high name recognition in New Mexico.

“My family name definitely helped me a lot. This is because my father’s legacy is so deeply appreciated here by many generations,” she emphasized. “Many people still have a very warm heart for him.”

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more on our Fox News Digital election hub.