Republican congressional candidate Didi Okpareke told federal regulators she raised and spent exactly nothing between July 1 and September 30, 2026. Meta's political ad library tells a different story, showing her campaign ran Facebook and Instagram ads that appeared on screens between 150,000 and 175,000 times during roughly the same stretch, with the vast majority of those views landing in New Mexico.
Okpareke, a Rio Rancho pharmacist running to unseat Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury in New Mexico's 1st Congressional District, filed her October quarterly report with the Federal Election Commission on October 15, according to nm.news. That filing listed $0 raised and $0 spent for the three-month period, no campaign debts, and $42,740.98 in cash on hand — the exact same balance the campaign reported holding on June 30, unchanged across the entire quarter.
The numbers clash with what shows up in Meta's own ad transparency tool. The outlet's review found Okpareke campaign ads running from August 24 through September 17, a period that falls inside the same reporting quarter in which her FEC filing claims zero spending occurred. Her campaign's earlier disclosures did report spending $500 to $599 on three Meta ads around August 24, but that modest sum does not appear to square with an ad run that, according to New Mexico Political Report, reportedly reached up to 175,000 screens, the vast majority of them in New Mexico.
What the Ads Actually Say
The ads lean heavily on Okpareke's day job. She pitches her background as a pharmacist directly to voters, arguing, in her words, that healthcare needs someone who has practiced it. It's a message aimed squarely at contrasting her resume with Stansbury's, and it's been visible enough that nm.news described her as running a highly visible campaign complete with social media ads and yard signs around the district.
Beyond the ad spending, Okpareke's fundraising has trailed her opponent by a wide margin. She reported raising $100,340 through June 30, while Stansbury, the Democratic incumbent, raised more than $1.3 million through that same date, per the same nm.news report. Both candidates have also done local radio and television interviews as the race has unfolded.
No Response, and No Clear Explanation Yet
The report notes that Okpareke's campaign did not respond to an email seeking comment sent Thursday, leaving the discrepancy between the FEC filing and the Meta ad data unexplained for now. Federal law requires congressional campaigns to report their fundraising and spending on a set schedule, and the Federal Election Commission confirms all authorized House and Senate committees were required to file their quarterly reports by October 15, 2026.
When a report contains incomplete or incorrect itemized information, the FEC's own guidance says a committee should file a corrected version of the affected schedule and, where appropriate, a revised Detailed Summary Page. Campaigns generally have the ability to fix reporting errors this way by filing amended reports, though it remains unclear whether Okpareke's campaign intends to do so.
The Road to Election Day
Okpareke won the Republican primary for the seat uncontested in June. She now faces Stansbury on the November 3 ballot, with early voting already underway and running through October 31. Whether the gap between her campaign's reported spending and what shows up in Meta's ad library gets resolved before then remains an open question.
