A Virginia-based political action committee that supports renewable energy has spent an unclear amount of its substantial funding to support Democrat Juan de Jesus Sanchez III for his bid to become New Mexico’s next commissioner of public lands. 

Sanchez is in a three-way primary race against state Rep. Matthew McQueen (D-Galisteo) and Jonas Moya. The winner will face Republican Michael Jack Perry in the Nov. 3 general election.

The American Energy Action Fund, a Virginia-based “super PAC” that focuses on renewable energy, has paid for mailers and text message campaigns in support of Sanchez that arrived in mailboxes earlier this month. Under federal and state law, super PACs can dedicate basically unlimited funding to support a cause or candidate, as long as they don’t coordinate with a candidate. 

Sanchez, a conservationist and former political director for U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, is a “New Mexican who knows this land,” the mailer states. The advertisement also touts Sanchez’s history with the New Mexico Acequia Commission and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

McQueen told Source NM he is “not happy” about a “dark money group” from out-of-state that is trying to influence the race. He said he’d like to know more about where its money is coming from. 

Another opponent, Jonas Moya, said the PAC’s arrival is evidence that Sanchez is beholden to special interests. 

“Juan is not going to be an independent thinker with those kinds of groups behind him,” Moya told Source NM. 

Sanchez told Source NM on Thursday that he had no prior knowledge of the fund supporting him in New Mexico and learned of the mailers and text messages along with everyone else. 

“I don’t know anything about this. They’re obviously acting on their own,” Sanchez said. “I can’t say that I’ve even had conversations with anyone who is behind this.”

The New Energy Action Fund did not respond to Source NM’s request for comment Thursday about why it is supporting Sanchez and how much money it has spent. 

On its website, the group says it supports and funds candidates who would bring about “forward-thinking renewable energy policies at all levels of government, paving the way for impactful climate action.” 

The fund’s website notes it financially supports federal congressional candidates as well as candidates for state legislatures in races where “wind, solar, and renewable energy is important.”

According to federal filings, the organization reported providing $700,000 in early February to a South Carolina company for a “non-federal” campaign that includes digital advertising, text messages and mail. The federal records do not specify which race the campaign sought to influence. 

Democratic NM land commissioner candidates differ on oil and gas donations, data centers

Out-of-state organizations like the American Energy Action Fund are not required to submit spending records with the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office, as long as they register with the Federal Election Commission, said Lindsey Bachman, the office’s director of Communications, Legislative and Executive Affairs.

However, under state law, the American Energy Action Fund is required to submit a copy of its federal filings to the Secretary of State’s Office within 10 days of filing with the FEC, Bachman said, including information about expenditures and contributions made to New Mexico candidates. 

“I can confirm that we have not received any such filings from ‘American Energy Action Fund,’’” Bachman told Source NM on Friday. 

All three Democratic candidates have said they support renewable energy as a way to diversify revenue for the land office, which currently receives the vast majority of the roughly $2 billion in revenue it receives annually from oil and gas.