In 2021, Dr. Anthony “Ant” Thornton retained CMS to assist him on his race for Lt. Governor of New Mexico. Previously, he had been a political activist, but had never held political office, which made winning a statewide nomination more difficult.

Dr. Thornton was an intelligent candidate with a powerful backstory, an astute observer of the political process, and extremely coachable—a great combination.

His opponent was an elected official who had built up a political reputation in Albuquerque, the state’s largest metro center and therefore had better name ID—in effect was the “incumbent” in the race.

The nominating contest was two stages: first a statewide party convention and then a statewide primary, which meant needing to win in two stages.

CMS turned his weakness (being an “outsider”) into a strength and combined it with his strength (being highly intelligent and intellectually curious), promoting Thornton as a conservative with new energy and new ideas.

As a result, Dr. Thornton dominated the state convention, and then went on to win the primary by 60% of the vote.