Demetrio Trujillo says that Solomon Peña, a Republican candidate for local elections in Albuquerque, New Mexico, hired him to carry out drive-by shootings at the home of Democrats after his defeat. Trujillo pleaded guilty to conspiracy, election interference and using a firearm; Peña goes on trial this summer.
In a statement, federal prosecutors said that in December 2022, Mr Peña paid Trujillo to shoot at the homes of three former election candidates to intimidate them. In January Mr Peña and Trujillo carried out one of the planned shootings, the statement added. Trujillo is due to be sentenced later. Mr Peña lost the election to the state legislature by nearly 50 percentage points, but alleges that the vote was "rigged". Police say he approached the four Democrats he later targeted to pressure them to overturn the results.
That triple tap of "losing 74-26" then "claiming it was rigged" then "setting out to kill my enemies"—what a wild series of data points. There's nothing here to debate or negotiate or reason with or even to explain meaningfully, just a mob of delusional, violent cultists who are ultimately going to slaughter everyone if they aren't stopped. Treating this as a normal horse race is really so close to marketing it.
Previously: Dem thrashes GOP candidate in local election some media treated like a close thing
