Losing Republican candidate arrested for alleged shooting spree
Solomon Peña, a Republican who mounted an unsuccessful candidacy for a New Mexico state House seat was arrested Monday. Peña is facing charges of conspiracy to commit a felony, shooting at dwellings or occupied buildings, and shooting from a vehicle. He allegedly paid four men to shoot at the homes and businesses of Democratic elected officials, and Peña allegedly participated in one of the shootings himself. Fortunately, no one was injured in the shootings and there was only property damage.
Peña ran last year against Democrat Miguel Garcia for the District 14 seat in the New Mexico House. It wasn’t even a close election with Garcia receiving 73.6% of the vote. Instead of being an adult about the matter Peña refused to concede. Of course, Peña is a supporter of the Orange Florida Man (OFM) Donald Trump, and tweeted that he stood with OFM when OFM announced his “candidacy” for 2024. This is not Peña’s first brush with the law, and he served several years in prison for stealing goods in a smash and grab scheme.
These were acts of terrorism, and the media and other Republicans cannot be allowed to equivocate or try to pretend these were the actions of one disturbed individual. These terrorist attacks show why election denialism is so dangerous to our democracy and that it inevitable leads to acts of violence and terrorism. We saw it on January 6 and we’re seeing it again now. And the Republican party has a problem on its hands in that it invites the likes of MTG, Santos, Boebert, and now Peña to run for elected office and supports their wild and unsubstantiated claims of fraud when they lose elections.
