Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham skated through her primary this week to become New Mexico Democrats’ nominee for governor. But the commanding victory came with questions about her health care record that could complicate the general election against GOP Rep. Steve Pearce.
Lujan Grisham was dogged by questions over the last week about whether she used political clout to keep a New Mexico health program for seriously ill patients open for personal financial gain, even as Obamacare rendered such programs around the country virtually obsolete.
Lujan Grisham, who was New Mexico’s top-ranking health official before she ran for Congress, says she did not do anything untoward. But as Democrats around the country aim to target Republicans over Obamacare repeal and spiking premiums that they blame on GOP moves to undermine the 2010 health law, New Mexico GOP operatives and political experts say health care could be riskier as a campaign issue for Lujan Grisham as she faces Pearce in the general election.
Republicans are eager to continue to bash Lujan Grisham over the high-risk health care program in the general election. A day after the New Mexico primary, the Republican Governors Association released a new ad and newly launched website attacking Lujan Grisham on her health care consulting work.
As most states were shuttering their subsidized health-insurance programs for people with pre-existing conditions because they could get coverage through Obamacare, a consulting firm co-founded by Lujan Grisham and a close political ally received millions of dollars to run New Mexico’s program for sick patients. Lujan Grisham sold her stake in the firm – the Delta Consulting Group – only last June. She earned roughly $376,000 in income from the company between 2013 and 2017, even as she served in Congress, according to her tax returns.
“I believe we have only scratched the surface of what has occurred with regards to these contracts, and I believe that an investigation has to come forth,” said New Mexico Republican Party Chairman Ryan Cangliosi, who also served as campaign manager for Gov. Susana Martinez.
Health care was a favorite cudgel for Lujan Grisham’s Democratic opponents during the primary. New Mexico state Sen. Joseph Cervantes and businessman Jeff Apodaca both criticized her for her tenure as New Mexico’s health secretary and her income from Delta, which she founded in 2008 with Debbie Armstrong, her campaign treasurer and a member of the New Mexico Legislature. Delta also contributed $11,000 to Lujan Grisham’s gubernatorial run in March 2017, according to state campaign contribution reports.
Still, Lujan Grisham’s victory in the primary was decisive.
“It was a very solid 65 percent that showed wide support among Hispanics, Anglos, Native Americans and throughout the state. It was a decisive victory,” former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who appointed Lujan Grisham as New Mexico’s health secretary before she ran for Congress, said of her victory.
And Obamacare backers say she can still capitalize on health issues against Pearce, who voted for the House’s Obamacare repeal bill last year. New Mexico under Martinez attempted to set up its own Obamacare exchange and expanded Medicaid coverage under the law, a move that granted benefits to roughly 300,000 low-income adults.
“Absolutely,” said Marjorie Connolly with Protect Our Care, an outside group staffed with several Obama-era HHS officials that has hammered Republicans over repeal. “Steve Pearce has a long track record of voting against the people of New Mexico.”
But attempts to tout her health record – whether it be her support of Obamacare or the health leadership roles she held at the highest levels of New Mexico government – could remind voters of the Delta scandal, observers say.
“If she goes there, it’s obviously going to heighten this concern,” said Gabriel Sanchez, a University of New Mexico political scientist.
Yet he argued that the congresswoman and former top New Mexico health official doesn’t really have the option of avoiding health care as an issue, in part because of how New Mexico benefited from Obamacare.
“It’s out there,” he said of Lujan Grisham’s ties to New Mexico’s high-risk pool. “You might as well play up the advantages you have. She has extensive experience overseeing the state health system.”
Colm O’Comartun, a former executive director of the Democratic Governors Association, also said that the story might not stick in voters’ minds simply because it’s complicated.
“It’s a complicated story, and I truly think people’s capacity for complicated stories is diminished,” O’Comartun said.
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