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Race for Open New Mexico GOP Seat Draws Two-Party Rumble |
Washington, D.C. (CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS)
Feb. 19, 2008 – 12:29 a.m.
By Marie Horrigan, CQ Staff
It isn’t surprising that the Republican Party has drawn a crowded field of six candidates for the open-seat race in New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District. The southern New Mexico district is the only one in the state that is a steadfast Republican stronghold, and its past three elections have easily been won by GOP Rep. Steve Pearce — who, in an unusually statewide sweep, has joined the state’s other two House incumbents, 1st District Republican Heather A. Wilson and 3rd District Democrat Tom Udall , in pursuing the Senate seat left open by retiring Republican Pete V. Domenici .
But Democratic strategists think their party has a shot at competing for the 2nd District seat, too, with Pearce stepping aside. And they are joined in this thought by four candidates who make up a fairly hefty roster of Democratic candidates for the June 3 primary.
In fact, one of these Democrats, former local official Harry Teague, was the best-funded candidate of either party in the 2nd District race at the end of 2007, thanks in part to his willingness to reach into his own pockets. Teague, the former chairman of the Lea County Commission, reported a total of $409,000 in receipts, including a $200,000 loan he made to his campaign treasury, and ended the year with $203,000 still on hand.
In terms of self-funding, though, Teague is outdone by one of the Republican contenders: Aubrey Dunn Jr., a retired banker who loaned his campaign $300,000 and raised little else. Dunn reported he had $275,000 on hand as of Dec. 31. Joining Dunn as an early entrant in the Republican field is Ed Tinsley, restaurant chain owner and rancher, who raised $305,000 and had $284,000 on hand.
The newer Republican contenders, most of whom did not officially launch their campaigns until after Jan. 1, have not yet reported campaign finance numbers. They include former state Rep. Terry Marquardt; businessman Greg Sowards, who is running under the campaign slogan “Short, Bald and Honest”; Hobbs Mayor Monty Newman; and real estate agent C. Earl Greer.
Former Bernalillo County Republican Party Executive Director Bob Cornelius planned to run, but closed out his nascent campaign on the day of the filing deadline and threw his support behind Marquardt as the candidate who would fight to maintain “conservative vitality.”
The other candidate with significant money for the race is Democrat Bill McCamley, a Doña Ana County commissioner, who raised $272,000 in 2007 and had $212,000 in cash at year’s end. The Democratic field is rounded up by anti-nuclear energy activist Frank McKinnon and Presbyterian minister Al Kissling, who unsuccessfully challenged Pearce in 2006.
That contest underscores why the GOP appears to have a solid edge in a race that CQ Politics rates as Republican Favored. Pearce, despite his party’s national travails in 2006, took 59 percent of the vote — less than 1 percentage point below his 2004 vote share — and defeated Kissling by 19 points. President Bush took 58 percent of the district’s vote in 2004, in a state where he received 50 percent overall and just narrowly edged out Democrat John Kerry .
It is not certain that all of the candidates who applied to run will make it to the June 3 primary ballot. The Feb. 12 filing deadline was for candidates who want to compete in a district’s nominating convention, which by law must be held before the third Sunday in March (which is March 16 this year).
Any candidate who receives at least 20 percent of delegates’ votes at the district convention qualifies automatically for the primary. But candidates who fail to win automatic ballot access can get their names on the ballot by submitting twice the number of signatures required for their initial filing either 10 days after the convention or by March 18th, whichever is later.
(CQ © 2007 All Rights Reserved | Congressional Quarterly Inc.)
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