| IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 1, 2026 Party of Teresa Leger Fernandez brands a third-generation farmer “corrupt” for using the same USDA programs New Mexico producers have relied on for generations ALBUQUERQUE — Teresa Leger Fernandez has made her contempt for rural New Mexico official. This week, her mouthpiece put out a graphic calling Rep. Martin Zamora “corrupt.” Zamora is a third-generation farmer and rancher from Curry County, and his offense is participating in federal farm programs that have anchored American agriculture for decades. She couldn’t get the facts straight even with the receipt in hand. The graphic claims $880,000. The database they linked shows $810,361, spread over 26 years of farming, from 1998 to 2023. That’s an average of about $31,000 a year to a working family operation growing sorghum, wheat and corn and raising cattle on the eastern plains. More than one dollar in five was disaster assistance, paid out when drought hit. The programs Democrats are smearing were written into law and run under presidents of both parties, including Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Zamora’s records include Price Loss Coverage from the 2014 Farm Bill, disaster aid tied to the 2009 Recovery Act, and the Emergency Relief Program run by the Biden Administration’s USDA. Are Democrats now calling their own farm programs corrupt? “I’m proud of every acre my family has worked,” said Zamora. “These programs exist because farming is the only business where you can do everything right and still lose a whole year to drought, hail, or a market collapse you had no hand in. And when New Mexico families needed food assistance during the shutdown, I voted to deliver it. The people who wrote this attack know that. They just didn’t want you to.” This is the Teresa Leger Fernandez worldview in a single graphic. Leger Fernandez voted against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which strengthened the farm safety net that New Mexico producers depend on. Now her party is attacking a farmer for using it. “Teresa Leger Fernandez owes every farmer and rancher in this district an answer,” said RPNM 2nd Vice Chair, Rachel Martinez. “Does she agree with her party that they’re corrupt for accepting farm subsidies?” The graphic also claims Zamora “voted against food assistance.” What Democrats left out is that on November 10, 2025, the Legislature met in special session to pass a stand-alone bill keeping SNAP benefits flowing to New Mexico families during the federal shutdown, and Martin Zamora voted YES. The vote Democrats chose to highlight instead was a different bill. House Bill 1 from the October 2025 special session was a $162 million omnibus appropriations package jammed through in two days. It bundled food aid with millions for public broadcasting, insurance subsidies and state agency budget shortfalls, and Republican lawmakers said they were given only minutes to read it. When families needed food assistance on its own, without the Santa Fe add-ons, Zamora was there. “Democrats knew exactly how Martin Zamora voted when New Mexico families needed food on the table, and they hid it,” said Rachel Martinez. “Then they went after him for being a farmer. If participating in the farm safety net makes you corrupt, Democrats just called every family that has ever signed up at the FSA office corrupt. That’s not an attack on Martin Zamora. It’s an attack on rural New Mexico.” ### |
