In a video that has gone viral across social media this week, a bear was captured stuck on top of a utility pole in New Mexico.
While driving from New Mexico to Oklahoma, Shannon Mullens recorded the shocking video of the large animal aggressively panting on top of the pole on the side of Highway 56.
“We really didn’t believe what we saw at first, so we turned around to get another look,” Mullens told <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/videos/bear-spotted-atop-utility-pole-184534204.html">Storyful</a>. “At first, we thought the bear was dead, until we got closer to it and then we realized he was still alive.”
Mullens and her fellow passenger immediately called 911, as heard in the background of the video. In the clip, you can hear the dispatchers informing Mullens that they have already received many calls about the bear and notified state officials, but they could not tranquilize it and said there was nothing they could do.
“We just hope that the bear was able to get down safely,” Mullens said.
Unfortunately, that was not the case. Robin Dawson, another witness of the incident, said in Facebook post that the bear was electrocuted and died before the New Mexico Department of Wildlife could rescue it.
The department told The New York Post that “despite the best efforts of local authorities,” the animal was fatally electrocuted.
Wildlife experts said the bear’s head-scratching decision to climb the pole was most likely caused by it being frightened by a person or traffic. When bears are frightened, they are likely to climb trees to escape potential danger.

Bear

Driver Records Wild Video After Finding Bear Stuck Atop Utility Pole

bears

New Mexico

video

wildlife

A New Mexico Democrat running for re-election in a district won by President Donald Trump thinks that too many white people are involved in outdoor conservation and recreation, according to clips unearthed by The Daily Wire. 
Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM) said he looked forward to a world where the outdoor spaces were “no longer white” and took shots at “white monied male” conservation organizations in multiple podcast appearances across 2020 and 2022. 
Vasquez, running for re-election in New Mexico’s 2nd congressional district, has a long history of attacking “white rich men&#8221; and claiming that white people have special privilege. 
“There&#8217;s amazing organizations out there that are just promoting diversity, you know, amongst the outdoors and big national organizations that are slowly and finally starting to get it and actually promote policies that create more equitable access and opportunities,” Vasquez said on the Mountain and Prairie <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QFMRlAna8A">podcast</a> in June 2020. “And so, you know, spaces that have been traditionally white will no longer be white. Secret spots will no longer be secret, and hunters and anglers and hikers and everybody in between will look different.”
He argued that people should be actively happy if they see fewer white people out in nature.
“And so not only should you be OK with that, not only should you tolerate that, but you should embrace that, and you should welcome a new set of outdoor users with open arms,” he added. “It&#8217;s up to us to be the change that we want to see.”
Vasquez, who once said that New Mexico is built on “stolen land,” is running against Republican candidate Greg Cunningham in a race the GOP sees as a potential pickup. Trump won the district by about 2 percentage points in 2024. 
The Democrat lawmaker started an environmental group called Nuestra Tierra in 2017, an organization that <a href="https://www.nuestra-tierra.org/blogs/news/towards-equity-in-the-outdoors?_pos=2&amp;_sid=acd0847a4&amp;_ss=r">complains</a> that “public lands are predominantly occupied by white folks,” pointing to statistics that show visitors to National Forest lands were mainly white. 
Later in the Mountain and Prairie podcast, Vasquez claimed that the New Mexico Wildlife Federation, a nature advocacy organization, had no credibility with Hispanics because it has been historically led by white men. 
“I think still today, I think every single executive director of the New Mexico Wildlife Federation up until today has been a white male,” he said. “And so there&#8217;s no cultural connection there.”
Vasquez, who frequently touts his bipartisan credentials, has long pushed for so-called equity in outdoor recreation and conservation. 
In an appearance on The Trail Ahead <a href="https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-trail-ahead-3703244/episodes/gabe-vasquez-environmental-equ-141308700">podcast</a> in June 2022, he said he started a conservation organization because he wanted a group led by an “all people of color board” that would send a message that “conservation/environmental organizations don&#8217;t all have to be white.”
“We are the guardians of these places that we all love and live in,” he said. “And nobody can take that away from us as long as we&#8217;re able to be here. And so that comes with inherently more power than any white-monied-male organization has, especially coming from the outside or without as deep history or cultural understanding of what those respective communities represent and who they are.”
During the podcast, he noted his efforts to push for New Mexico’s “Outdoor Equity Fund,” a government-sponsored grant program for outdoor programming. 
Vasquez, who describes himself as a first-generation immigrant from Mexico who has lived on “both sides of the border,” said in the podcast that he has lost consulting opportunities because of his race.
“I have missed out on a whole lot of opportunities just because I&#8217;ve asked for compensation, and it shouldn&#8217;t have to be that way because if I was a white consultant working with a major brand or a major nonprofit,” he said. 
A review of his social media shows that Vasquez has consistently made derogatory comments directed at white people, who make up about 30% of his district. 
“As long as white folks (mostly men!) dominate this nation’s wealth &amp; preside over our nation’s governing bodies &amp; judicial systems, the racism, killing &amp; injustice will continue,” he <a href="https://x.com/Gabe_NM/status/1265621552306905093">posted</a> in May 2020. “We need a fundamental power shift in this country &amp; it starts with electing black, indigenous &amp; POC.”
In another post from June 2020, he bashed “white rich men.” 
“Black lives matter. Until we deconstruct and rebuild the systems of oppression that keep black people in perpetual harm, justice will not be served,” he <a href="https://x.com/Gabe_NM/status/1267599464665018369">said</a> in June 2020. “That includes law enforcement, the economy, and the disgusting wealth inequality that keeps white rich men in power.”
Other posts <a href="https://x.com/Gabe_NM/status/1048697354231189511">lambasted</a> the Supreme Court as being great for “straight white males,” and another said history classrooms had been <a href="https://x.com/Gabe_NM/status/1395379735316733953">dominated</a> by the “white, male colonialist” perspective. 
This story has been updated to note the appearance on the Mountain and Prairie podcast occured in June 2020, not November 2025.

Representative Vasquez Participates In Copper Wire Manufacturing Tour

Dem Running For Congress In Trump District Really, Really Hates White People

anti-white

Congress

U.S. Politics

The remains of a missing woman who worked at a sensitive U.S. nuclear development lab were found decaying in a forest in New Mexico Thursday in a &#8220;skeletonized&#8221; state, according to <a href="https://www.dailymail.com/crime-desk/article-15868805/missing-scientist-melissa-casias-cause-death-final-moments.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Mail</a>.
Melissa Casias, a 53-year-old administrative assistant at Los Alamos, was found dead in Carson National Forest, with her body propped up against a tree near an abandoned gun, per the Mail. She was found with a visible gunshot wound to her skull in the remote part of the Carson National Forest, local officials told the Daily Mail. Casias’ body reportedly didn’t show any signs of animal activity even though her body was left to decompose in the forest. The 53-year-old mother was last seen on June 26, 2025.
Thomas McNally, the former homicide detective who is helping Casias’ family with the case, told the outlet he suspects foul play, even hinting that Casias’ family will file a civil lawsuit against the New Mexico State Police for essentially botching the case.
The discovery of Casias&#8217; body comes after a slew of mysterious disappearances related to scientists and employees who worked at sensitive nuclear or space technology labs. Just weeks before Casias vanished, a former Los Alamos employee, 79-year-old Anthony Chavez, disappeared in a similar manner. Chavez went missing after he left his home on foot on May 4, 2025. Police have said that no foul play is suspected in Chavez&#8217;s case.
Casias worked as an administrative assistant at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the site made famous during World War II for the Manhattan Project. The lab remains closely tied to U.S. nuclear weapon development.
The day Casias went missing, she wiped her phones before leaving them behind, along with her ID, when she walked out of her house that is settled in a remote community around 70 miles northeast of Santa Fe, The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/06/03/us-news/missing-us-scientists-body-found-skeletonized-with-gunshot-wound-as-grisly-details-emerge-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
Just before she was last seen, Casias dropped off her husband, who worked at the same lab as her, at work before claiming she forgot her work badge and had to return home.
McNally told the Mail that Casias and her husband were arguing over a vape pen on their way to work.
The investigator claims Casias’ daughter, Sierra, saw her mom when she came back home, and Casias looked &#8220;totally normal.&#8221;
The last known sighting of the wife and mother was June 26 at 2:20 p.m. local time.
While McNally was looking into her disappearance, Casias&#8217; husband claimed she was &#8220;running around with a boyfriend somewhere,&#8221; and authorities believed the narrative, according to McNally.

Credit: Find Melissa Mondragon Casias

Missing Los Alamos Worker’s ‘Skeletonized’ Body Found Near A Gun Deep In The Forest

News

True Crime

New Mexico Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham went full feminist, declaring that Democrats don&#8217;t need male votes. 
“If women, Democratic women, just show up and vote, we’re good. We don’t need any of the men.” 
Grisham made the remarks during a Democratic National Committee meeting on Thursday, focused on preparations for the 2028 presidential election.
As provocative as the remark may sound, the electoral trends behind it are real. Democrats are increasingly dependent on women voters, who have been the driving force behind many of the party&#8217;s recent victories.
Democratic governors Abigail Spanberger (VA) and Mikie Sherrill (NJ) both won overwhelming support from women while receiving far weaker support from men. Spanberger won the support of <a href="https://cawp.rutgers.edu/blog/women-voters-key-democratic-gubernatorial-wins-2025">65%</a>  of women voters but just 48% of men. Sherrill posted a similar divide, carrying <a href="https://cawp.rutgers.edu/blog/women-voters-key-democratic-gubernatorial-wins-2025">62%</a>  of women while receiving support from 49% of men.
The broader electorate reflects the same pattern. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, women are substantially more likely than men to identify with the Democratic Party. Women also vote at higher rates than men. In the 2024 election, approximately <a href="https://www.lwv.org/blog/report-women-voters-numbers-2024">91.3 million</a> women cast ballots, compared with 82.6 million men.
Experts have spent decades trying to explain the growing gender gap.
“Women consistently rank healthcare, education, and social safety nets as top priorities, while men more frequently emphasize economic growth, national security, and fiscal responsibility,” <a href="https://rebeccakreitzer.com/blog/how-gender-influences-political-opinions-in-america-2025/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">writes</a> University of North Carolina Associate Professor of Public Policy Rebecca J. Kreitzer. 
According to Kreitzer, the modern gender gap emerged during the 1980 presidential election and has steadily widened ever since. What was a relatively modest four-to-six-point difference in the 1980s grew to roughly 12-to-15 points in a majority of races by 2020.
Roosevelt Institute Suzanne Kahn <a href="https://time.com/5903399/gender-gap-politics/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">tied</a> the decline to women voting for “their economic interests” that Democrats have targeted through government programs and benefits.  
“The two parties’ increasing polarization around cultural issues might have been grabbing headlines, but women were looking at their wallets when deciding who to vote for, and one party was clearly doing more for them,” Kahn wrote. 
The gender gap is amplified by another reality: women participate in elections at higher rates than men. According to Rutgers University&#8217;s <a href="https://cawp.rutgers.edu/data/voters/gender-differences-voter-registration-and-turnout?utm_source=chatgpt.com">Center</a> for American Women and Politics, “Women have registered and voted at higher rates than men in every presidential election since 1980.”
The DNC’s recently released 2024 election autopsy <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/4-takeaways-from-the-dncs-long-awaited-2024-election-autopsy-report?utm_source=chatgpt.com">acknowledged</a> the party’s struggles with male voters and concluded they required “direct engagement.” The report recommended that Democrats “deploy male messengers, address economic concerns, and don&#8217;t assume identity politics will hold male voters of color.”
Grisham&#8217;s comments reflect a broader reality for Democrats. As women have become the party&#8217;s most reliable voting bloc, party strategists are searching for ways to attract men to their cause.

US-VOTE-POLITICS-DEMOCRATIC-CONVENTION

Girl Math: Democrat Gov Says Party Doesn’t Need Any Male Voters

Democratic National Committee

Gender

Students in New Mexico will learn more about the January 6 Capitol riot and climate change than the moon landing.
New Mexico high school <a href="https://defendinged.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/High-School-United-States-History.docx.pdf">history guidelines</a> contain over a dozen references to the January 6 riot while only mentioning the moon landing once. The guidelines, part of the New Mexico Instructional Scope for History, are largely focused on racial and gender grievances and encourage teachers to promote Democratic politicians and lament how the richest men in the United States today are “mostly white.&#8221;
“The freedom of those in America and Ukraine after the 2021 Capital [sic] Insurrection and Russian invasion of Ukraine are two events that reveal the rights and safety of women, immigrants, children, and the LGBTQ community are at risk,” an example discussion in the guidance reads. 
Teachers are also instructed to show footage from NBC showing “Americans armed with weapons and military-type gear storming the Capital, breaking glass, defacing sacred art, political statues and podiums on and in our Capital [sic] building in Washington, DC.”
The purpose of the footage is to “disprove some of the beliefs that it was not violent or a threat to our democracy.”
The repeated misspelling of &#8220;Capitol&#8221; in the January 6 section is one of several errors in the guidelines. In another section, teachers are encouraged to list Democratic politicians from racial and sexual minorities, including &#8220;VP [Kamala] Harris, Transportation Secretary [Pete] Buttigieg, Interior Secretary [Deb] Haaland and Supreme Court Justice Brown.&#8221;
The last example appears to be a reference to Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Rhyen Staley, the director of research at Defending Education, said the documents were an example of politics being pushed in the classroom.
“These state level documents expose a troubling pattern by education activists of pushing leftwing political and social biases into K-12 classrooms as established ‘facts,'&#8221; Staley told The Daily Wire. &#8220;Students and families deserve an education that values a politically neutral approach to weighing different sides of issues, not political indoctrination.&#8221;
The <a href="https://web.ped.nm.gov/bureaus/curriculum-instruction/new-mexico-instructional-scope-nmis/">New Mexico Instructional Scope</a> is an “educator influenced tool designed to provide guidance and support to assure that all students in New Mexico have access to content at their grade level combined with the use of impactful instructional strategies.”
The history guidelines reveal a heavy focus on left-wing activism and grievance politics.
Teachers are suggested to ask students why the United States still struggles “with the idea of racial equality,” discuss the pros and cons of reparations, and assess “who is responsible for the socio-economic disparities in early U.S. immigration to today.”
In contrast, the moon landing and the space race are each only mentioned once
The guidance also suggests that states like Georgia and Florida have implemented laws that are similar to voting restrictions on black people during the Jim Crow era. Teachers are recommended to provide “Current suppression of voting rights” in examples of Georgia, Texas, Florida, and New Mexico.
“How does the current suppression of voting rights compare to the suppression of voting rights during and immediately following the Reconstruction Era?” a question for students said. 
Another suggested discussion is whether there are “more opportunities for minorities today in the business realm.”
“Absolutely there is more opportunity today than there was back then, but that doesn’t mean that things are totally equal. Even though there are lots of Black owned businesses, the richest men in the country are still mostly white,” a suggested student response to the question said. 
Other guidance included in the history materials is for students to be encouraged to “join a program already in existence and help spread their message to prevent global warming” or write to their representative about climate change. 
Students should be able to define LGBTQ (“Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, queer or questioning”) and PFLAG (“Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays”).
“How do historically underrepresented groups such as women of color, LGBTQ and Indigenous people offerse [SIC] diverse views of society,” teachers should ask students, according to the guidance. 
Similar politically focused guidance is found in materials for instruction on <a href="https://defendinged.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/High-School-World-History-NMIS.pdf">world history</a> and <a href="https://web.ped.nm.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/High-School-Ethnic-Cultural-and-Identity.docx.pdf">ethnic studies</a>. 
In the guidance for world history, “equity” is defined as the principle “that all citizens have had different opportunities and experiences, and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.”
The world history guidance also contains guidance recommending that students “create their own posters that show their actions on climate change” after watching a climate alarmist documentary from former Vice President Al Gore. 
The ethnic, cultural, and identity guidance discusses left-wing groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center, Black Lives Matter, and the Human Rights Campaign.  
“How do advocacy at the local, community, national and global levels work together to achieve change over time?” a supporting question asks. 
It also introduces students to the concept of “gender identity,” which it defines as ”identification with, or sense of belonging to, a particular group based on gender, such as cisgender, transgender, agender, bigender.”
New Mexico, a solidly blue state, has previously come <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-mexico-government-survey-asks-middle-and-high-school-students-if-they-are-two-spirit?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=New+Mexico+Government+Survey+Asks+Middle+And+High+School+Students+If+They+Are+‘Two-Spirit’">under scrutiny</a> for asking high school students whether they identify as “two-spirit” or transgender through its Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey.

Trump Supporters Hold “Stop The Steal” Rally In DC Amid Ratification Of Presidential Election

Students In Blue State Spend More Time Learning About January 6 Than The Moon Landing

Capitol Riot

Education

History

January 6

The following is an edited transcript excerpt from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1913-are-aliens-real-the-truth-about-obama-s-interview-explained?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">The Michael Knowles Show</a>.
* * *
Liberal podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen just interviewed Barack Obama, and the former president decided to make a little news. 
Obama declared that aliens are real.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I asked <a href="https://twitter.com/BarackObama?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BarackObama</a> if aliens are real. <a href="https://t.co/ZPw5zT9PfD">pic.twitter.com/ZPw5zT9PfD</a>
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) <a href="https://twitter.com/briantylercohen/status/2022808515082096843?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Credit: @briantylercohen/X.com
<blockquote>Cohen: &#8220;Are aliens real?&#8221;
Obama: “They&#8217;re real, but I haven&#8217;t seen them, and they&#8217;re not being kept in — what is it?&#8221;
Cohen: &#8220;Area 51.&#8221;
Obama: &#8220;&#8230; Area 51. There&#8217;s no underground facility. Unless there&#8217;s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States.” 
Cohen: “What was the first question you wanted answered when you became president?” 
Obama: “Where are the aliens?” </blockquote>
That’s a funny answer. But Cohen just moves on. 
Brian Tyler Cohen has set the new gold standard for incompetence at interviewing. There&#8217;s no follow-up. 
A president of the United States declares that aliens are real, and Cohen decides to not follow up on it. Oh, how do you know that? How do you know aliens are real?
Obama has now come out <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/barack-obama-clarifies-seen-no-evidence-aliens-saying-real-rcna259232">to clarify</a> his statement, offering a whole lot of liberal nonsense about the distance between solar systems:
<blockquote>I was trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round, but since it’s gotten attention let me clarify. Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there. But the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we’ve been visited by aliens is low, and I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!</blockquote>
Liberals always say things like this — the solar system is so large, statistically there has to be intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.
But they never explain why that is. Because in order to ascertain the probability of something, you have to know how that thing came about in the first place. You have to know something, anything, about that thing. And at the level of pure nature, we don&#8217;t.
Now from a theological and anthropological level, I think we do know. But from the point of view of nature, we do not know how life came about. We don&#8217;t know, for instance, how one goes from inorganic to organic matter. There have been a zillion theories over the years, and none of them have been proven, but some of them have been disproven. 
So the argument that the universe is really, really big actually does not imply that there is intelligent life — or life of any kind anywhere else.
But the reason that the libs love aliens is because the existence of aliens diminishes the distinction of human beings. It makes us less special. That&#8217;s usually their explicit argument.
They say things like, What, you think you&#8217;re so special? A universe that&#8217;s eight gazillion bajillion miles wide and expanding, with countless worlds — you think you&#8217;re so special?
And my answer — and I believe the Christian answer — is yes, I think we’re pretty special.
The deeper reason the libs always promote aliens is because it diminishes the Incarnation. Because Christ is a man, because God becomes a man. He doesn&#8217;t become E.T., he doesn&#8217;t become a gazelle. He becomes a man, and he raises our very humanity to inestimable dignity.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1913-are-aliens-real-the-truth-about-obama-s-interview-explained?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">WATCH: The Michael Knowles Show on DailyWire+</a></h3>
And the libs (and demons) want to diminish that. Satan falls from heaven because he can&#8217;t bow down to a man. Basically that&#8217;s what&#8217;s at the heart of this. I&#8217;m not saying that all the libs who promote the alien stuff are actively working with demons. I&#8217;m not. I really am not. I don&#8217;t see demons under every rock. But it is curious that so much of liberalism comes down to a prideful attempt to exalt man above his station and ends by degrading man below his station.
It begins by this notion that we&#8217;ll have no kings or priests. Man will only be free when the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest. We&#8217;re just humanists now. We&#8217;re going to raise humanity up. We&#8217;re going to maximize individual autonomy.
And then what&#8217;s the end of it? The end of it is we degrade ourselves. We pretend that we&#8217;re just sacks of meat that exist only for pleasure. We promote things like abortion, slaughtering babies, and degrading humanity. We promote things like suicide, slaughtering ourselves, again degrading humanity.
We reduce ourselves below the station to which we&#8217;ve been raised. No surprise there. So when Obama says, look, I&#8217;m clarifying, I don&#8217;t see any evidence of aliens — I think he&#8217;s probably being honest here. I think his knee-jerk reaction of, well, of course aliens exist, the certainty in that just comes from his liberalism: we have to be — humans aren&#8217;t special. You think you&#8217;re so special?
But we are. We are actually.
It&#8217;s actually a harder truth. It is a more realistic view, but it&#8217;s more difficult, and it entails more responsibility to say yes, we are special. It&#8217;s kind of weird, right, that we, among all of the created things, have rational wills. Isn&#8217;t that kind of weird that we can conceive of abstract things? Unlike every animal and plant and all organic matter on Earth? We are finite and mortal, we die — but we have this immortal, eternal aspect to ourselves because we can reason.
Isn&#8217;t that kind of weird that nothing else that we&#8217;ve ever encountered or really even can conceive of has that combination of flesh and reason and will?
That makes us kind of special.
You are special, believe it or not.

Untitled design (18)

Obama Tells Liberal Podcaster Aliens Are Real

Aliens

Barack Obama

Bible

Conspiracy Theory

Liberals

Michael Knowles

Opinion

Podcast

Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) will not face an official Republican challenger on the November ballot in New Mexico after the only Republican candidate, Christopher Vanden Heuvel, did not receive enough signatures to seek the party’s nomination.
Three candidates in other races in New Mexico were also determined not to have enough signatures to make it onto primary ballots, including Democratic congressional candidate Thomas Wakely, Republican gubernatorial hopeful Belinda Robertson, and Republican congressional candidate Carlton Pennington, according to the <a href="https://www.abqjournal.com/news/four-new-mexico-candidates-disqualified-after-failing-to-meet-ballot-requirements/2978003?utm_campaign=mrf-twitter-ABQJournal&amp;mrfcid=20260211698cbbd4871dae073950f595" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Albuquerque Journal</a>. The outlet noted that the Senate race has never had just one of the major parties on the ballot for the state.
&#8220;He&#8217;ll continue earning their support on the campaign trail while doing the job they elected him to do by lowering costs and delivering results for New Mexico,&#8221; a spokesperson for Luján&#8217;s campaign told the local publication. &#8220;That commitment does not change based on who else is [on] the ballot.&#8221;
Self-described democratic socialist Matt Dodson is also seeking the Democratic nomination against Luján.
New Mexico Republican Party Chairwoman Amy Barela said in a statement on Thursday that the party &#8220;made repeated outreach efforts to candidates who were short on signatures and offered assistance.&#8221;
&#8220;In the case of the U.S. Senate race, we were proactive well before declaration day, engaging in conversations to evaluate the landscape and explore possible remedies ahead of the filing deadline. Our approach was deliberate and strategic. While we sincerely appreciate every individual willing to step forward and place their name on the ballot, our duty as party leadership is to ensure viability, coordination, and competitiveness in every race,&#8221; she stated.
&#8220;That level of success requires communication and partnership. The candidate has also shared that he is in direct contact with the Secretary of State’s Office and believes he has received information that differs from what is in the NM Election Handbook. We respect his effort to seek clarity. If the Secretary of State ultimately confirms his qualification based on that information, we will fully support his placement on the ballot and stand firmly behind his candidacy moving forward,&#8221; the chairwoman continued.
The news did garner some frustration among Republicans. <a href="https://www.the-downballot.com/p/morning-digest-for-the-first-time" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Downballot</a> reported that a Republican wanted to run as a write-in candidate has a March 17 deadline.
“Did you know that Republicans won’t have ANY New Mexico Senate candidate for the federal election this November?” GOP activist Scott Presler posted to X. “Yes, you heard me. Democrat Senator Lujan (NM) will walk into re-election [because] Republicans don’t have a candidate. He’s AGAINST the SAVE America Act, by the way.”
Luján is seeking his second term in the Senate. He won the seat in 2020 after defeating Republican Mark Ronchetti with just under 52% of the vote. Nearly 46% of the votes went for the Republican. Luján also served in the House from 2009 until 2021, including time as assistant House speaker and four years in charge of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
New Mexico has other major races this year, including the contest to succeed Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. In 2024, Sen. Martin Heinrich won re-election against Republican Nella Domenici by roughly 10%. The state was seen as mildly competitive during the 2024 election, with Trump obtaining nearly 46% of the vote after holding a rally in the Land of Enchantment just days before the election.
Republicans are in a tough battle to keep the Senate in 2026, as they currently hold a 53-47 majority. According to the Cook Political Report, the most competitive races are expected to be in Maine, Georgia, Michigan, and North Carolina.

Budget, Nominee Hurdles Sow Senate Frustration

Democratic Senator Won’t Face Any Republican Challengers In November

Democratic Senator Expected To Not Face Any Republican Opponent In November

2026 election

Senate

Actor Timothy Busfield has been indicted by a grand jury on Friday on four counts of criminal sexual contact of a child.
The celeb pleaded not guilty on all counts. His lawyer, Stanton &#8220;Larry&#8221; Stein, said the indictment was expected but still disappointing.
&#8220;As the saying goes, a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich,&#8221; the attorney said in a statement. &#8220;What is deeply concerning is that the District Attorney is choosing to proceed on a case that is fundamentally unsound and cannot be proven at trial. The detention hearing exposed fatal weaknesses in the State’s evidence — gaps that no amount of charging decisions can cure.&#8221;
“This prosecution appears driven by something other than the facts or the law. Mr. Busfield will fight these charges at every stage and looks forward to testing the State’s case in open court — where evidence matters — not behind closed doors,&#8221; he added.
Busfield stands accused of sexually assaulting twin boys beginning when they were 7 years old. The actor worked with the child actors, born in 2014, on the set of “The Cleaning Lady,” which aired on Fox from 2022 to 2025. Busfield directed some episodes and was named an executive producer.
An investigation began in November 2024 when a University of New Mexico Hospital doctor reported his suspicions of sexual abuse and grooming to authorities. Investigators initially didn’t press charges, but the case was reopened in September 2025 when one of the boys reported the alleged abuse to his doctor.
The actor faced two previous sexual assault allegations in 1994 and 2012, but was never charged. Busfield recorded a video of himself professing his innocence just before turning himself in to the police last month.
His wife, actress Melissa Gilbert of “Little House on the Prairie” fame, released a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/melissa-gilbert-speaks-out-after-husband-timothy-busfield-charged-with-sex-abuse">statement</a> in late January thanking fans for their “love, patience, and support” as she and her husband went through this “extraordinarily difficult time.”
&#8220;As with all criminal proceedings, Mr. Busfield is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law,&#8221; Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman said in a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DUbF_SPlHHs/?hl=en">statement</a> shared on social media. “This case will proceed through the judicial process and is expected to move forward to trial.&#8221;

Timothy Busfield

Actor Timothy Busfield Indicted On Child Sex Abuse Charges

Celebrities

Crime

Entertainment

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“West Wing” actor Timothy Busfield turned himself in to the Albuquerque Police Department on Tuesday after a warrant for his arrest was issued last Friday. Busfield stands accused of sexually assaulting twin boys beginning when they were 7 years old.
Busfield&#8217;s attorney, Larry Stein, said his client requested that law enforcement drop the warrant and allow him to turn himself in, but his request was denied. 
“He wants to turn himself in because he wants to clear his name and reputation,&#8221; Stein said, per <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/us-marshals-join-search-actor-timothy-busfield-child-sex-abuse-allegat-rcna253819">NBC News</a>. &#8220;He didn’t do anything wrong. These accusations are false as the investigator from the independent law firm found.&#8221;
Busfield is currently being held without bail, the outlet noted.
The actor worked with twin boys, born in 2014, on the set of “The Cleaning Lady,” which aired on Fox from 2022 to 2025. Busfield directed some episodes and was named an executive producer, per Deadline. One of the boys identified in court documents as “SL” told APD Officer Marvin Brown that Busfield touched his “penis and buttocks, masking it as play” more than once. The alleged abuse is said to have started with the boys when they were 7 years old, The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/west-wing-actor-remains-at-large-after-child-sex-abuse-accusations">reported</a>.
An investigation began in November 2024 when a University of New Mexico Hospital doctor reported his suspicions of sexual abuse and grooming to authorities. 
The actor allegedly had the boys refer to him as “Uncle Tim” and tickled them on their stomachs and legs. Busfield responded to these allegations in November and confirmed it was “highly likely” he engaged in “physical contact” with them.
“I don’t remember those boys,” Busfield said, per the affidavit. “No, I don’t. I don’t actually, I don’t remember it, if it happened. I don’t remember overtly tickling the boys ever, but it wouldn’t be uncommon for me.” The actor also indicated that the twins’ mother was making the claims as a form of revenge for the child stars not being part of the last season of “The Cleaning Lady,” which has since been canceled.
Investigators initially didn’t press charges, but the case was reopened in September 2025 when one of the boys reported the alleged abuse to his doctor.
The actor faced two previous sexual assault allegations in 1994 and 2012, but was never charged.
Before turning himself in, the actor <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2026/01/13/timothy-busfield-surrenders-child-sex-abuse/">filmed a video</a> proclaiming his innocence, which was later obtained by TMZ. 
&#8220;Hi everybody, it&#8217;s Tim,&#8221; Busfield said. &#8220;I&#8217;m sure most of you know, that are watching this, that I was ordered to come to Albuquerque — I&#8217;m here now. I got the call Friday night, I had to get a lawyer. Saturday I got in the car, drove 2,000 miles to Albuquerque. I&#8217;m gonna confront these lies. They&#8217;re horrible.&#8221;
&#8220;They&#8217;re all lies and I did not do anything to those little boys and I&#8217;m gonna fight it,” he went on. “I&#8217;m gonna fight it with a great team, and I&#8217;m gonna be exonerated, I know I am, because this is all so wrong and all lies.&#8221;
&#8220;So hang in there and hopefully I&#8217;m out real soon and back to work,” Busfield continued. “I love everybody for supporting me, thank you.&#8221;

‘West Wing’ Actor Timothy Busfield Turns Himself In To Face Child Sex Abuse Charges

'West Wing' Actor Timothy Busfield Turns Himself In Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations

Child Sex Abuse

A Venezuelan illegal immigrant who allegedly took part in a violent strangling death that led to an individual being stuffed into a suitcase and buried in a “remote” part of New Mexico was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on January 8, <a href="https://www.fox21news.com/news/local/tren-de-aragua-member-arrested/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox 21 News Colorado</a> reported.
Yorvis Michel Carrascal Campo, an alleged Tren de Aragua gang member, is one of 11 people indicted by the Justice Department in December in the case, as the victim was allegedly kidnapped by the group that later tried to hide the evidence of the crime in June 2024, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Carrascal Campo is one of seven individuals facing charges for “conspiracy to conduct racketeering activity, murder in aid of racketeering and drug trafficking conspiracy,” according to a DOJ press release prior to the arrest. DHS said he crossed the southern border into the United States illegally in October 2023 during the Biden-era border crisis, and he had a final order to exit the country in June 2024, just days before the murder occurred.
“Carrascal Campo’s crimes shock the conscience and are yet another example of the failed border policies of Joe Biden that RELEASED TdA gang members into American communities,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement first shared with The Daily Wire.
&nbsp;
<div id="attachment_1027203" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1027203" class="size-medium wp-image-1027203" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/image001-300x300.png" alt=" Yorvis Michel Carrascal Campo" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/image001-300x300.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/image001-150x150.png 150w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/image001.png 360w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Yorvis Michel Carrascal Campo, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela. (Department of Homeland Security)</div>
He is one of five explicitly named in the indictment for “[carrying] out the TdA leader&#8217;s order to kill John Doe I by restraining and strangling John Doe I until John Doe I died” in Albuquerque. The victim was questioned regarding “his loyalty to TdA and his connections to rival gangs.”
The DOJ alleges that Carrascal Campo was one of three people who “cleaned up the scene of the murder to conceal the murder from law enforcement” and helped with burying the body.
In addition, the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-nm/media/1421321/dl?inline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">indictment</a> said that Carrascal Campo “supplied” ketamine between May and June 2024 to those involved with TdA in New Mexico as a way to “manufacture and distribute tusi.” Tusi is better known as pink cocaine.
“Just last week, two vicious Tren de Aragua gang members—also let loose on American streets by Joe Biden—weaponized their vehicle against Border Patrol in Portland. These are the types of monsters our law enforcement is targeting. We are working around the clock to clean up the chaos caused by the Biden administration who let untold millions of illegal aliens including murderers, pedophiles, rapists, terrorists, and gang members pour into our country,” DHS said in a statement.
The arrest comes as ICE continues to apprehend illegals nationwide and faces protests throughout the country.

Crime Scene at Night: Crime Scene Investigation Team Working on a Murder. Female Police Officer Briefing Detective on the Victim’s Body. Forensics and Paramedics Working. Cinematic Shot

Suspected Tren De Aragua Member Arrested In Brutal New Mexico Strangling Case

Illegal Immigration

Immigration

Tren De Aragua

Venezuela

The search is on for actor Timothy Busfield, 68, who has been accused of child sex abuse by minors who say the alleged misconduct occurred when they were working with him.
The prolific star is on the run as the Albuquerque Police Department teamed up with US Marshals to bring him into custody, per a <a href="https://deadline.com/2026/01/timothy-busfield-arrest-warrant-child-sexual-abuse-1236681301/">statement</a> APD issued on Monday. 
Busfield was served with an arrest warrant on Friday. The alleged crimes included two counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor and child abuse.
The actor worked with twin boys, born in 2014, on the set of “The Cleaning Lady,” which aired on Fox from 2022 to 2025. Busfield directed some episodes and was named as an executive producer, per Deadline. One of the boys identified in court documents as “SL” told APD Officer Marvin Brown that Busfield touched his “penis and buttocks, masking it as play” more than once. The alleged abuse is said to have started with the boys when they were 7 years old.
An investigation began in November 2024 when a University of New Mexico Hospital doctor reported his suspicions of sexual abuse and grooming to authorities, as <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/01/13/us-news/us-marshals-join-search-to-locate-west-wing-actor-timothy-busfield-following-child-sex-abuse-charges/?utm_sf_post_ref=650479766&amp;utm_campaign=nypost&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_sf_cserv_ref=17469289">reported</a> by The New York Post. 
The actor allegedly had the boys refer to him as “Uncle Tim” and tickled them on their stomachs and legs. Busfield responded to these allegations in November and confirmed it was “highly likely” he engaged in “physical contact” with them.
“I don’t remember those boys,” Busfield said, per the affidavit. “No, I don’t. I don’t actually, I don’t remember it, if it happened. I don’t remember overtly tickling the boys ever, but it wouldn’t be uncommon for me.” The actor also indicated that the twins’ mother was making the claims as a form of revenge for the child stars not being part of the last season of “The Cleaning Lady,” which has since been canceled.
Investigators initially didn’t press charges, but the case was reopened in September 2025 when one of the boys reported the alleged abuse to his doctor.
The actor was accused but never charged in two previous sexual assault allegations in 1994 and 2012, Deadline noted.
&#8220;First allegation occurred in 1994. A seventeen-year-old extra on Little Big League sued in Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming Busfield assaulted her, served her alcohol, groped her, atempted [sic] sex in a trailer,&#8221; Officer Marvin Kirk Brown wrote in the arrest warrant <a href="https://people.com/timothy-busfield-ordered-pay-150k-case-involving-sexual-assault-allegations-report-11883012">obtained by</a> People. No charges were filed, and both parties settled.
The second allegation is from March 2012. &#8220;A twenty-eight-year-old woman accused Busfield of battery in an LA movie theater—alleging he slipped hands under clothes, touched genitals for four minutes,&#8221; the arrest warrant said, noting that there was no lawsuit filed due to “slim evidence.” Busfield described the encounter as “consensual.”
Busfield has a long and successful Hollywood career, with credits in major projects such as “Field of Dreams,” “Revenge of the Nerds,” and “The West Wing.” He won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 1991 for his role on the ABC series “Thirtysomething.” 
The actor is married to “Little House on the Prairie” actress Melissa Gilbert. They have no children. Busfield has three children from two previous marriages.

‘West Wing’ Actor Remains At Large After Child Sex Abuse Accusations

'West Wing' Actor Timothy Busfield, Who Was Accused Of Child Sex Abuse, Remains At Large

The Trump administration on Tuesday took action against six blue states that it says have failed to comply with requests to produce their voter rolls. 
The Justice Department <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-six-additional-states-failure-provide-voter-registration-rolls">announced</a> suits against Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington for not producing statewide registration lists. Without these lists, the Justice Department said that they cannot certify that the states are maintaining an accurate count of eligible voters. 
&#8220;Accurate voter rolls are the cornerstone of fair and free elections, and too many states have fallen into a pattern of noncompliance with basic voter roll maintenance,&#8221; said Attorney General Pam Bondi. &#8220;The Department of Justice will continue filing proactive election integrity litigation until states comply with basic election safeguards.&#8221;
The suits come amid a push from Republicans nationwide to crack down on non-citizen voting and maintain clean voter registration lists.
The lawsuits say that the states are not acting in accordance with the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act, which compel states to maintain accurate voter lists. The attorney general is empowered to enforce those laws and has a right to access the lists under the Civil Rights Act of 1960, the suits say.
&#8220;States that continue to defy federal voting laws interfere with our mission of ensuring that Americans have accurate voter lists as they go to the polls, that every vote counts equally, and that all voters have confidence in election results. At this Department of Justice, we will not stand for this open defiance of federal civil rights laws,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon.
The <a href="https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1419811/dl?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=govdelivery">lawsuit</a> against Rhode Island says that on September 16 Rhode Island sent a letter to the Justice Department refusing a September 8 request for voter roll information. The letter said that the states “objects to providing” the requested information, according to the suit. This requested information includes driver license information and the last four digits of Social Security numbers used to register for voting. 
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Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha claimed the suit was an example of Trump weaponizing the Justice Department. 
“We stand with and will defend the secretary, and win, because lawsuits concerning lawful conduct are largely unsuccessful,” he said. “But I’m not surprised that this administration is confused about what it means to behave lawfully.”
In September, the Justice Department <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/justice-dept-sues-six-states-for-refusing-to-hand-over-key-voter-data">announced</a> suits against Michigan, California, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Minnesota, and New York over the same issue.

Justice Department Announces Federal Enforcement Action Against International Criminal Organization

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