News coverage of failed GOP candidate Solomon Peña's arrest for allegedly orchestrating a plot to shoot up the homes of various elected Democrats has consistently highlighted one key detail: His claims to be the "real" winner of the race for New Mexico House District 14 are so ridiculous that it's hard not to laugh. Ever since Donald Trump's Big Lie about the 2020 election, there's been an assumption that election denialists would at least try to make their claims a little plausible by only crying "fraud" in relatively close elections. Failed Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, for instance, continues to proclaim herself the "real" winner of an election she lost last cycle by less than a percentage point. Peña, on the other hand, lost his bid for the New Mexico House of Representatives in the deep blue city of Albuquerque to Democrat Miguel Garcia by over 47 percentage points, garnering only 26.4% of the vote.
Prior to allegedly paying people to drive stolen cars to shoot at the homes of four Democratic officials, Peña was reported harassing various officials and insisting that he was the real winner of the race. Chilling video from the doorbell camera of former Bernalillo Commissioner Debbie O'Malley, whose home was later the target of an attempted shooting, shows an agitated Peña at her door, demanding a conversation about his delusions.
