The Republican Party of New Mexico says the news media are prohibited from attending its election-year state convention at a Native American-owned casino outside Albuquerque.
A spokesman for the state GOP says Sandia Pueblo has banned journalists from the convention at Sandia Resort & Casino, but it will reconsider the matter Wednesday.
State political conventions from Alaska to Georgia have opened their doors to the media with few restrictions in a tumultuous presidential primary year.
The convention will resolve a heated contest for a seat on the Republican National Committee that has veered into recriminations about the state economy.
Martin Salazar of the New Mexico Press Association says the refusal to allow reporters strikes him as convenient for a party in the midst of a divisive leadership struggle.
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