In the end, it wasn't even close. After a 43-percentage point defeat by Farmington Republican Tom Mullins, Santa Fe's Adam Kokesh is blaming his loss, in part, on the "corrupt" Republican Party leadership that embraced his more traditional opponent.
It likely had as much to do with Kokesh's unorthodox positions and campaign organization—which was evidently stronger online than it was on the ground. As late as election eve, the Kokesh campaign was advertising for paid sign-wavers on Craigslist, suggesting a dearth of volunteers.
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And in the final months of the Republican primary campaign, Kokesh's volunteer field organizer, David Cortez, left the campaign to work for Democrat Carl Trujillo (who performed a bit better). Before the election, Cortez told SFR he saw these results coming:
"After the Republican [pre-primary] convention, I thought Adam should drop out of the race, and I advised him to fight another day," Cortez said. "I thought Adam was getting shafted by the Republican Party in general."
