Trump thaws on New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, asks for endorsement
Donald Trump, who criticized New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez during a rally in her home state last week, is now asking for her endorsement ahead of New Mexico's June 7 primary.
"I'd like to have it," Trump said in a Thursday phone interview with Santa Fe's The New Mexican paper, when asked whether he wanted Martinez's endorsement. "I respect her. I have always liked her."
Last week, during a campaign event in Albuquerque that turned violent when protesters gathered outside the venue, Trump had slammed Martinez as an ineffective chief executive.
"Since 2000, the number of people on food stamps in New Mexico has tripled," Trump told supporters. "We have to get your governor to get going. She's got to do a better job. Okay? Your governor has got to do a better job. She's not doing the job."
Martinez's office came back with a blistering response to Trump's attacks the next day, with a spokesperson declaring that the governor would "not be bullied into supporting a candidate until she is convinced that candidate will fight for New Mexicans." Martinez, the nation's only Latina Republican governor and the head of the Republican Governor's Association, had previously been critical of Trump's inflammatory rhetoric about Mexican immigrants and declined to attend his Albuquerque rally.
But Trump's recent warming to Martinez reportedly came after a New Mexico paper published a story that said she hadn't ruled out backing the presumptive nominee.
"I am where I have always been," Martinez told The New Mexican Thursday. "It's very important that he address what is needed in New Mexico, in reference to our labs and our military bases. He's not addressed it yet."
Trump later told the paper that he supports bolstering U.S. military might and that "New Mexico is a very powerful component of that."
"I will be adding to New Mexico greatly, building up our military capability in New Mexico ... so New Mexico is totally protected," Trump said.
Trump is also lacking support among other prominent Republican governors, like Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, who declined to endorse the billionaire for president Wednesday.
"I've stayed out of the whole thing, and I'm going to continue to," Snyder said during an interview with The Detroit News Editorial Board. "I've got important things I want to work on in Michigan."