Daughter Of That Republican With The Big Soap Opera Scandal Thinks She Can Flip New Mexico Senate Seat
Sure, whatever.
Republicans are making a go for Martin Heinrich’s Senate seat in New Mexico. Don’t laugh — especially if you sent any of your hard-earned money to Amy McGrath in Kentucky or Jaime Harrison in South Carolina.
Heinrich won re-election in 2018 with 54 percent of the vote, and that was a three-way race! Joe Biden carried New Mexico by almost 10 points in 2020. The state seems safely Democratic, but nonetheless Nella Domenici, a former chief financial officer of Bridgewater Associates, launched her campaign against Heinrich last Wednesday.
“After a period of diligent research and evaluation,” she said diligently, “it is clear that the political environment in New Mexico is favorable to Republicans. Over 70 percent of voters believe the country is on the wrong track. There is massive dissatisfaction with the economy, our border, and the misguided policies from Washington that have made life more difficult for New Mexico families.”
If that’s true, it’s not actually a slam dunk that voters blame Biden more than they do the bomb-throwing MAGA dolts in the House of Representatives. Republicans have proven they absolutely can’t govern when they’re in control. They can hold sham impeachment hearings and harass Hunter Biden, but that’s apparently the limit of what they can offer Americans.
Domenici declares she’s “in this fight to win,” as opposed I think to the political masochists who ran for the Republican presidential nomination. Domenici’s father was the late Pete Domenici, one of New Mexico’s US senators from 1973 to 2009. He was first elected to the Senate in the same year as Biden and served until 2009, when he retired for health reasons. He was the longest-serving senator in the state’s history. This is all an impressive resume that Nella Domenici doesn’t actually inherit through her DNA.
Speaking of DNA, Domenici is the father of recent Republican Senate candidate Adam Laxalt from an extramarital relationship with the late Michelle Laxalt, a Republican staffer and lobbyist, who was the daughter of Domenici’s fellow senator Republican Paul Laxalt from Nevada.
This daytime soap situation was kept under wraps until 2013 when a then-80-year-old Domenici admitted that the kid was indeed his son and said he was “very sorry” for his actions. This might not technically qualify as an actual “endorsement,” but Adam Laxalt would go on to win the Nevada attorney general’s race in 2014.
Of course, back in 1999, when Laxalt was still a fleshy skeleton in Pete Domenici’s closet, the senator voted to convict President Bill Clinton for his fellatio felonies. Although, he claimed it wasn’t the sex that bothered him but the lying. How could an elected official maintain the public trust when he misled people about his sex life?
He said in a speech explaining his vote:
“The Character Counts program of which I have been part of establishing in New Mexico. Many of you in this chamber have joined me in declaring the annual ‘Character Counts Weeks.’ This program teaches grade school youngsters throughout America about six pillars of good character. Public and private schools in every corner of my state teach children that character counts; character makes a difference; indeed, character makes all the difference.
Guess which one of these pillars comes first? Trustworthiness. Trustworthiness.
So what do I say to the children in my state when they ask, ‘Didn’t the President lie? Doesn't that mean he isn't trustworthy? Then, Senator, why didn’t the Senate punish him?’”
Pete Domenici’s hypocrisy and personal failings aren’t relevant to his daughter’s campaign, though she is attempting to trade on his name in the election. However, she deserves to be judged on her own merits, and she seems like your typical terrible Republican but one with the smooth veneer of respectability. Unfortunately, her father is evidence that superficial appearances are often misleading.
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Is there just one major political family in Nevada Republican politics, and Pete Domenici was like the Genghis Khan of it?
Knew Domenici from the time he was running for City Manager (we didn't have Mayors then). Everyone I knew called him "Greasy Pete". I remember Agnew referring to him as "My old friend, Pete Dominsheeny".
Also known for being found wandering in the Capitol building in his pajamas and fuzzy slippers.