GOP candidate blasts group's effort to get progressive women, nonbinary people elected, but hails its success
Mar. 21—A Republican candidate for the New Mexico Senate is putting on blast an organization whose mission is to get more Democratic women and nonbinary people into public office while simultaneously praising its effectiveness, saying the GOP should mimic the model to get conservatives elected.
In a video posted Thursday on social media, Ant Thornton, who ran for lieutenant governor on the Republican ticket in 2022 and is now running for an open Senate seat, describes Emerge New Mexico as an extremist organization that discriminates against men and white women.
"They're an exclusive organization," says Thornton, who is Black, in the nearly 31-minute video with his wife, Glenna, who is white.
"The women that they are targeting, and it's only women, [are] minority women, LGBTQ women, single and unmarried women, and so this is not like an inclusive organization," Thornton says.
He also takes aim at the term "nonbinary."
"Over 60% of their alum now are women or ... nonbinary," he says in the video after initially mispronouncing the word.
"I hate using that term because that's a word that we don't use here," Thornton adds, referring to his home. "They're women, OK? They're women. Let's just say that."
Thornton, a retired aerospace engineer who said he used to serve as director of diversity at Sandia National Laboratories, is running for the Senate District 19 seat being vacated by Gregg Schmedes; it includes Sandia Heights, Four Hills Village, Tijeras, Cedar Crest, Sandia Park, Edgewood, Moriarty, Stanley and Clines Corners.
Barbara Jordan, interim executive director of Emerge New Mexico, said in a statement the organization is proud of the work it does to "inspire and train America's next leaders while centering on women of color, non-binary, and LGBTQIA+ members."
The organization won't "respond to any harmful or hateful rhetoric," Jordan added.
State Rep. Reena Szczepanski, a Santa Fe Democrat who served as the organization's executive director for a number of years, said in a statement, "This is just another page from the Republican misinformation playbook, and it speaks volumes that they have chosen to fear-monger about an organization built by women for women interested in running for office."
The New Mexico organization is one of 27 state affiliates of Emerge, which has trained thousands of women and nonbinary individuals to run for office nationwide since 2002, according to its website.
The state branch boasts a 97% win rate in the 2022 general election and lists among its alumni Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, state Supreme Court Chief Justice C. Shannon Bacon, State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard, 20 state representatives, five state senators and seven of 10 state Court of Appeals judges.
Thornton said in an interview he wanted to shine a light on the organization and its growing influence in pushing a progressive agenda that he doesn't believe reflects the values of most New Mexicans.
"It's clear that they've been effective, and it's clear that the people that they are putting in place are impacting the politics in New Mexico, and I thought that people should know how that's occurring and why it's occurring," he said.
"It seems to me that if we're going to combat something like that, we have to be just as effective and maybe come up with an alternative that does the same thing for the Republican side of the house," Thornton added. "We've been lax in that ability."
He says in the video, "I don't have any problems with women in power."
"Honey, you live with one," his wife interjects, generating laughter from both of them.
"Well, to some extent, yes, she is the queen, as long as she understands I'm the king," he says.
Thornton then says he disagrees with Emerge New Mexico's assertion on its website it has no issue-based litmus test for candidates as long as they're Democratic.
"I don't think I've seen any candidates coming out of there who are either pro-life or pro-gun or pro-charter school, so I think there is a litmus test," he says.
Marshall Martinez, executive director of Equality New Mexico, said he found Thornton's comments about nonbinary people "shocking but not surprising."
"I say that because we see the political atmosphere and environment all over the place and what we have seen is just continued attacks on LGBTQ people, but especially trans and nonbinary folks," he said.
Martinez said national surveys on New Mexico demographics have found somewhere between 9% and 14% of the population identifies as LGBTQ in some way.
"The thing that makes this frustrating to me is that ... when you're seeking a public office to represent 20,000-plus people, you don't get to decide other people's identities, and if you just don't believe those people exist inherently, then in my view, you're not fit to serve in that office," he said.
In the video, Thornton says of Emerge, "They're saying they promote diversity, but they're hypocrites because diversity includes, in their view, only the outside external, you know — race, gender, you know, Black, brown, whatever."
"Diversity, in my view, is talking about diversity of thought, which is not what they're promoting," he says.
Thornton also says equity "is not something that we as Americans support — we support equality of opportunity."
He contends Emerge New Mexico is "actually pushing an agenda that doesn't necessarily represent the people of New Mexico."
However, he lauds the organization for being "very, very strategic" and "very, very effective."
"How do we as conservatives fight this?" his wife asks.
"I don't have the full answer to that right now," he responds.
Later, Thornton says the GOP should copy Emerge New Mexico's model.
"What we need to do is figure out how to counter that here in New Mexico and start putting in people that represent the conservative side and who represent what I feel are truly the values of New Mexico and have the best interest of the New Mexico people in mind," he says.
Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter @danieljchacon.
