Johnson amendment challenge moves through courts after IRS filing
In mid-August, Smothermon, pastor of the nondenominational Legacy Church, announced his endorsement of Cunningham, telling his congregation: “Greg Cunningham has faithfully served our church for 14 years and shares our biblical values. Let’s pray for him, support his campaign, get registered, and vote to flip this seat for someone who will stand for God, our Constitution, and a better New Mexico!”
Two months later, in a 6 October social media post, Smothermon wrote that “Gregg Hull should be the next governor of New Mexico” and encouraged his followers to “Stand up and vote your biblical worldview.”
Cunningham is running to unseat Democratic Rep. Gabriel Vasquez, who led him 48% to 44% in recent polling. In 2024, Vasquez was one of 13 Democrats across the country who won his House race in a district that voted for Donald Trump. Trump endorsed Cunningham in a Truth Social post in April — the only New Mexico candidate he has weighed in on.
Republican congressional leaders have traveled to New Mexico to campaign for Cunningham in hopes of maintaining their narrow majorities. House Speaker Mike Johnson has stumped for Cunningham twice, including at a 26 August campaign stop in Albuquerque, and Senate Majority Leader Steve Scalise campaigned in southern New Mexico in late October.
The endorsements violate the Johnson amendment, the 1954 law barring tax-exempt nonprofits such as churches from making political endorsements. Trump promised in 2017 to “totally destroy” the amendment and signed an executive order that year limiting the Treasury Department’s enforcement of it. After his re-election in 2024, the administration renewed its push: in 2025, the Internal Revenue Service issued a court filing saying churches could endorse political candidates to their congregations. A court blocked the proposal, and the Justice Department appealed the ruling in September.
In a statement to the Guardian, Smothermon defended the endorsements: “For the last 2.5 centuries, resisting censorship has been a cornerstone of our republic, so we knew laws curtailing it were unconstitutional and therefore null and void – especially for political speech. Add to that a government manufactured health crisis as an excuse to shutter Churches and other institutions that rival or limit a pervasive overlord state and we realized very quickly that silence in the face of such tyranny was not an option. Further, in stark contrast to most government programs, we do social work that actually works rather than enabling social ills, so we earn every bit of our tax status.”
Smothermon has drawn criticism for years for endorsing candidates in state and local elections. His disputes with local politicians have made headlines since at least 2011. In 2014, the church gave parishioners sample ballots with the names of the candidates it supported highlighted; in 2021, he told parishioners who to vote for in a city council race; and in 2022, he told members of his church to vote for Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Ronchetti, calling the current Democratic governor “demonic.” The Freedom from Religion Foundation, a nonprofit focused on the separation of church and state, filed a complaint with the IRS over Legacy’s involvement in the 2022 election.
That year, Legacy made headlines when Smothermon said Ronchetti had confided in him that, if elected, he would ban abortion in the state. After the 2022 election, it emerged that Solomon Peña, a state House candidate who hired hitmen to fire at the homes of several New Mexico Democratic leaders after he lost his race, had attended Legacy Church.
The church has also faced other controversies. In 2020, Smothermon’s nephew was sentenced to 45 years in prison for abducting two men and mutilating and dismembering one of them, after he believed they stole money and drugs from his home. In 2024, a patient of a residential drug treatment facility operated by the church sued the facility for sexual abuse; the facility and Legacy Church both deny the claims, saying the lawsuit was “riddled with spurious allegations.”
Legacy has otherwise made headlines for protesting same-sex marriage, school bathroom policies and Covid-19 precautions, and it hosted Charlie Kirk for one of his last public appearances in August 2025. Cunningham, who saw Kirk speak at Legacy Church and called the church “a home away from home” in a campaign video, told the Republican National Convention in September: “I very literally would not be here if not for Charlie. He visited my church and he inspired me to take a stand and answer a call to serve on this new battlefield.”
Religious institutions, particularly evangelical churches, are increasingly testing the limits of federal laws barring electioneering. A recent analysis from researchers at the University of Notre Dame, Dartmouth and the University of Pennsylvania found that 14.7% of churches engaged in direct political advocacy and endorsements during the three months surrounding the 2024 election.