How CMS Secured Dr. Ant Thornton’s NM Lt. Governor Nomination
New Mexico Lt Governor
From Activist to Lt Governor Nominee
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.
