V.P. Harris coming to New Mexico to campaign for Lujan Grisham, speak about abortion rights

Oct. 21—Vice President Kamala Harris, who officiated Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's wedding in May, will visit New Mexico next week to campaign for the governor and speak about abortion rights — a big issue in Lujan Grisham's hotly contested race to retain her office.

Harris will be in Albuquerque on Tuesday to participate "in a moderated conversation on protecting reproductive rights," according to a media advisory. She will then attend a fundraiser for the incumbent Democrat's reelection campaign.

Harris' visit will come less than three weeks after former Vice President Mike Pence campaigned for Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Ronchetti in Roswell and 15 days before the Nov. 8 midterm election.

Lujan Grisham has cast herself as a champion of abortion rights, pointing to the repeal of a 1969 law that criminalized abortion in New Mexico among her accomplishments, while insisting her GOP challenger, a former TV weatherman, is out to ban abortion in the state.

Ronchetti calls himself pro-life, but after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, he said he would seek a "middle ground" with the Legislature to end abortion later in pregnancy.

"I believe permitting abortion up to 15 weeks and in cases involving rape, incest, and when a mother's life is at risk is a very reasonable position that most in New Mexico will support regardless of party affiliation," Ronchetti said in a statement at the time.

He has since proposed a constitutional amendment to allow voters to directly decide abortion rights in New Mexico.

"We can work together to fit something that more appropriately meets the values of the people of the state of New Mexico," Ronchetti said during a televised debate earlier this month. "What better way is there to do that than to let everyone have a say on it."

Ronchetti's proposal has drawn criticism from the governor, who says women already have the right to choose in New Mexico.

"Abortion access is on the ballot this year — and there's only one pro-choice candidate for governor," Lujan Grisham's campaign wrote in a recent fundraising email.

Ronchetti's more moderate stance on abortion since winning the primary has been met with skepticism, especially after the pastor of a megachurch in Albuquerque told his congregation that Ronchetti had told him privately his goal is to end abortion but that he needs to get elected first.

Ronchetti has been featured in news stories and opinion pieces about Republicans who have tried to soften their stance on abortion before Election Day.

New York Times columnist Gail Collins included Ronchetti in a piece published Wednesday.

"Mark Ronchetti, who's running for governor in New Mexico, was 'strongly pro-life' until the uproar following the Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe," Collins wrote. "Now, his campaign website says he's looking for a 'middle ground' that would allow abortions 'in cases involving rape, incest and when a mother's life is at risk.' "

Collins wrote Republicans are in a tough spot on the abortion issue.

"The public's rejection of the court's ruling, plus the stunning vote for abortion rights in a recent statewide referendum in Kansas, has left politicians looking for some way to dodge the anti-choice label. Without, um, actually changing," she wrote.

Ronchetti's campaign, meanwhile, used Harris' upcoming visit to New Mexico to attack Lujan Grisham over a years-old sexual harassment complaint lodged against the governor by James Hallinan, her spokesman during her first campaign for governor. Lujan Grisham settled the complaint with Hallinan, who accused the governor of grabbing his crotch, for $150,000. The settlement included a nondisclosure agreement.

In a series of tweets, Ronchetti's campaign highlighted statements the vice president made in the past about sexual assault.

"I want to just speak to all of the survivors of sexual assault, and I want to thank you for speaking your truth, for sharing your stories, for having the courage to require people to understand and to hear ... and you will not be silenced," Harris said in a 2018 video the Ronchetti campaign retweeted Thursday. "You deserve to have all of the dignity and respect that you rightly have earned because you spoke out and your voices have mattered, guys."

"I wonder if @KamalaHarris extends this message to @Michelle4NM's victim?" the campaign wrote in one of its tweets.

Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter @danieljchacon.