GOP lawmaker says he's 'still kicking' after death hoax on social media

Aug. 10—An account on X, formerly Twitter, falsely claiming to be "the official Twitter page of the Republican Party of Bernalillo County" maliciously tweeted late Wednesday that former New Mexico House Minority Leader Jim Townsend of Artesia had died.

"Groucho Marx said one time when somebody had reported that he had died that his demise had been prematurely reported — I guess I'm in the same boat," Townsend, who has served in the state House of Representatives since 2015, said in a telephone interview Thursday.

"My demise has been prematurely reported," he said. "I'm still kicking."

The post, which labeled the phony claim of Townsend's death as "breaking" news, stirred sadness and shock among people who know the Republican lawmaker.

It has generated more than 400 impressions — and counting. It was sent at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and remained on Twitter on Thursday despite comments it was false.

"Just spoke to Jim. Alive and well," former state Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones, R-Albuquerque, wrote in the thread at 8:21 a.m.

"Why post such mean, false information?" she asked.

State Republican Party Chairman Steve Pearce condemned the "cowardly and malicious tweet" claiming Townsend was dead.

"I was relieved to speak to Representative Townsend this morning and hear he is fine and well," Pearce said in a statement. "I hope this page is removed for impersonating the Bernalillo County GOP and causing the representative's friends and followers so much worry and confusion."

House Republican spokesman Matthew Garcia-Sierra said the account has been reported for sharing false information.

"Why someone would decide to falsely announce that anyone died is beyond reasoning," he said in a statement. "It is our hope that whoever is using this account instead of their own personal account to launch incredulous attacks like this, seeks the much-needed mental health help that they clearly need."

It's unclear who is behind the hoax or why, but the Republican Party of Bernalillo County has its suspicions.

"We believe that someone who used to be affiliated with the party ... may be managing that account and still putting stuff up [on X], but that is not us," said Joshua Neal, secretary of the Bernalillo County GOP.

"I'm not sure why they would try [to] smear Representative Townsend," Neal said. "The [person] that we believe is managing that account does have some animosity with some of the leadership in the Bernalillo County Republican Party and so we believe that he may be trying to smear us and make us look bad, like we're putting out bad information, but we're not sure."

The account had not been active until recent days. Only one tweet was sent in July, and it was a retweet of the right-wing group Libs of TikTok. In June, the account tweeted twice — a retweet of a 13-minute video of former Fox News host Tucker Carlson discussing the arrest of former President Donald Trump and a TV story about Democratic U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández advocating for stronger gun safety laws. The account called the congresswoman a "scatterbrained marxist."

Efforts to reach whoever is operating the account were unsuccessful as the account does not allow direct messages.

The account doesn't have a huge reach — it has only 525 followers — but it is followed by familiar names in the GOP, including former U.S. Rep. Yvette Herrell; state House Minority Leader Ryan Lane, R-Aztec; Mark Ronchetti, who ran unsuccessfully for governor last year; and Anthony "Ant" Thornton, who was Ronchetti's running mate.

Other followers include state Rep. Stefani Lord, R-Sandia Park; the official X account for Bernalillo County; the New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association; the New Mexico Department of Veterans' Services; and the Piñon Post, a conservative news website.

Neal said he believes the account had been deactivated "a while back" and was reactivated for some unknown reason.

"The picture in the profile actually uses an old logo that we used to use years ago," he said. "That's how I know that it was an old account that had been revived. If you go to our website ... you'll see that we have a new logo and a new background that we incorporated several years ago."

Neal said the Bernalillo County GOP does not presently have an X account.

"This may be an incentive to get one set up so that we can verify what people are saying or putting out there," he said, adding the group is trying to figure out who is managing the account and why they would put out false information.

"We have been proactive about sending out notices to our followers on other social media platforms and coordinating with ... the Republican Party of New Mexico, to make sure that everyone knows that that's not us and we're not actually saying that," he said. "We know that Jim Townsend is alive and well, that everything is good."

Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter @danieljchacon.