ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Former President Donald Trump was booed when he spoke at the Libertarian National Convention this weekend in Washington, D.C.

Among the chorus of boos, there was some support, specifically, from someone claiming New Mexico as home. But New Mexico didn’t send any official delegates to the national convention this year because the Libertarian Party of New Mexico separated from the national Libertarian party back in 2022.

So, when Brian Peotter claimed to be from New Mexico and nominated former President Trump to be the party’s candidate, it raised a few eyebrows.

“He (Trump) was thoroughly booed for 36 and a half minutes, out of the 37 minutes that he was on stage. It was continuous booing, it was one of the few things that united pretty much the entire convention,” said Chris Luchini, chair of the Libertarian Party of New Mexico. 

Luchini was in D.C. for a different convention this weekend, but he stopped by to say hi to some old friends when Trump took the stage.

“The fact that he was invited on the stage is an indictment of the leadership of the current party, national party. It heartens me that the reaction of the attendees at the convention booed him so long and so enthusiastically,” said Luchini. 

But let’s get back to Brian Peotter.

“He’s not even from New Mexico geographically, he may be part of the delegation sent by the free party to that convention. But again, not geographically from New Mexico,” said Luchini.  

According to Ballotpedia, Potter is actually from Broomfield, Colorado—a suburb of Denver. In 2022, he ran for the U.S. Senate as a Libertarian but lost to the incumbent by more than a million votes.

So if he’s from Colorado, why is he speaking for New Mexico?

“So it’s within the rules and the tradition of the Libertarian Party to allow out of state Libertarians to act as delegates for a state that doesn’t have enough delegates from their state to fill up their allocation for the national convention,” said Luchini. 

In the end, his nomination didn’t really go anywhere.

Luchini says the Libertarian Party of New Mexico is still finalizing who it wants as a presidential candidate on the ballot here in our state. While he wouldn’t say who, he did say they are nationally recognized.