Fox News’ flagship “news” program tried to dirty up incumbent Sen. Martin Heinrich while pretending to objectively report the news.

Although Fox News loves to tout Special Report anchor Bret Baier as a top-notch journalist, we have reported many, many times how he slyly promotes Republican messaging (and when he’s overtly doing it behind the scenes).

He did it again on tonight’s Special Report. He opened with what purported to be a rundown of one of the races for U.S. Senate. But the description just happened to include a bio of Republican challenger Nella Domenici that could have come straight from her campaign. Baier said almost nothing about the impressive record of Sen. Heinrich.

BAIER: Our focus tonight is on the New Mexico Senate race, where Democratic incumbent Martin Heinrich’s Republican opponent comes from a political family very well known throughout the state. Nella Domenici is the daughter of the late Senator Pete Domenici, has a background in financial services sector, she was the CFO for Bridgewater Associates, the country's largest hedge fund, despite her access to broad fundraising and that network, Senator Heinrich has maintained a nearly three to one ratio in fundraising, according to the FEC.

Domenici argues she is uniquely qualified to improve New Mexico's economy because of her experience in the financial industry. Heinrich is seeking his third term. He was reelected handily in 2018, he's running on his and President Biden's record, saying he played a key role in getting the largest infrastructure bill in history passed. A recent poll from out there in New Mexico, The Albuquerque Journal, shows Heinrich leading by 12 points, with 9% saying they were undecided. Women by 22 points.

Apparently unable to find any more ways to hype Domenici, Fox did the next best thing: an obvious effort to undercut Heinrich. In this case, it was to suggest that Heinrich is lax on border policy and is thus endangering New Mexico. Never mind that none of Heinrich’s committee assignments have to do with immigration or the border. He did, however, vote in favor of the bipartisan border bill. That’s the same bill Donald Trump sabotaged in order that Republicans could campaign on border chaos.

And lo and behold, border chaos is exactly what Baier followed up with, coincidentally in New Mexico!

BAIER: Staying in New Mexico now tonight, we take you on an exclusive ride along with Customs and Border Patrol agents along the southern border. Fox received an up-close look at the dangerous and pervasive cartel activity there that sends drugs and criminals into the US.

Correspondent Brooke Taylor picked up the messaging: “Two illegal migrants busted by Border Patrol agents after crossing the border over Mount Cristo Rey, notorious for its cartel control,” she said. A Customs and Border Protection spokesperson continued, saying, “Illegal human smuggling is a multibillion-dollar per year criminal enterprise for these transnational criminal organizations.”

Taylor added, “Agents recognize this migrant as someone who had previously tried to cross the border illegally. They say he was smuggled by a so-called coyote who made a shocking confession to us on camera.” The “shocking confession” was that the migrant said he worked for the cartel because otherwise he’d “get in trouble with them.”

Taylor moved on to a family from Ecuador who said they paid thousands of dollars to be smuggled into the U.S. That was followed by footage of a hole in the border wall. “According to CBP data, border patrol agents arrested more than 15,000 illegal immigrants with criminal convictions this fiscal year. That's the highest for any single fiscal year since 2017 and a 265% spike from 2019,” Taylor said. She did not say whether that means more immigrants with criminal convictions were at the border or whether the agents are just doing a better job at catching them.

She closed by adding, “Just hours after our ride along, we got a call from Border Patrol that an illegal immigrant punched and then bit, one of the agents in the face while they were trying to detain him. The FBI is now involved, and he's been charged with assault, Bret.”

Here are a few facts Taylor and Baier left out. Data released yesterday by the FBI showed a remarkable decline in violent crime in New Mexico. From the Los Alamos Daily Post:

• Violent crimes, including homicide, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, fell from 16,339 reported incidents in 2022, to 15,300 in 2023. 
• The most notable decline was in homicides, which dropped by 10.26 percent, from 273 in 2022, to 245 in 2023. 
• Other violent crime categories also saw reductions, with rape down 7.50 percent and robbery seeing a dramatic 35.33 percent decrease. 
• Aggravated assaults remained relatively stable, dropping slightly by 0.74 percent.

With Heinrich having such a nice lead in the polls and the new crime statistics, Fox probably knew it didn’t have much to go on. But the propagandists did their best. You can watch GOP TV grasp at straws below, from the September 24, 2024 Special Report.