SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Democratic congressional candidates in New Mexico are taking creative approaches to political ads that illustrate their opposition to President Trump, including a new television spot that portrays a candidate imprisoned by a caravan of federal immigration agents.
An ad released on Wednesday from Damian Lara portrays the Albuquerque attorney initially locked within a metal cage in the back of a Homeland Security Department vehicle as it drives across a desert highway.
Lara has been highlighting his childhood background as an immigrant farmworker from Mexico who went on to earn U.S. citizenship and work as on federal legislation with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Now 40, he is competing in a six-way race for the Democratic nomination for an open Congressional seat.
"If Trump had his way, life might look different for an immigrant who worked in the fields," Lara says in the ad, before bounding out of the detention van in cowboy boots and jeans.
Democratic political contenders from the progressive-leaning district in Albuquerque are promising to stand up to Trump on issues from health care reform to gun control and the president's construction of a border wall.
Former U.S. attorney Damon Martinez is running an ad that highlights his defiance of Trump with spliced footage from the reality television show "The Apprentice."
Appointed as the top regional federal prosecutor by President Obama, Martinez was one of 46 U.S. attorneys abruptly fired by the Trump administration in early 2017.
The candidate's ad uses an old clip from the boardroom in "The Apprentice" to show Trump telling Martinez that he is fired.
Martinez replies, "When I'm in Congress, you're next to get fired."