New Mexico’s Open Senate Seat:  Free for All?

By Emily Esterson, 11-02-07

	Caption: Denish: Governor, not Senator.

Now we know who won’t be running for retiring Senator Pete Domenici’s seat: New Mexico Lt. Gov. Diane Denish. In a letter to supporters today, Denish said I am flattered and honored by everyone’s interest in my considering the Senate race. I appreciate the encouragement of everyone I’ve heard from in Washington, but most of all I appreciate the support, counsel and friendship of people like you ... For all the progress we’ve made, keeping that progress going is a fight I can’t leave now.  My heart and soul are in New Mexico. Therefore, it’s clear to me that I best serve New Mexico by continuing as Lieutenant Governor, and I hope one day as your Governor. In the meantime, I’ll be working hard to elect a Democratic Senator and President in 2008.

Denish might be the only New Mexico politician not running for the seat. Here’s a rundown, so far, of Senate candidates:
Republican Rep. Heather Wilson: Largely seen as an independent-minded Republican, she’s tried to distance herself from the Bush Administration. Wilson is appealingly down-to-earth, but her hawkish stance on Iraq and her involvement in the firing of U.S. Attorney David Iglesias hurt her in 2006. She won against former Attorney General Patricia Madrid by only a squeak of a margin.
Republican Rep. Steve Pearce:  From the state’s very conservative southern oil patch, Pearce will have a hard time getting the nomination, Wilson, who’s popular with Republicans in the more populous northern part of the state, and is seen as a Domenici protege.

Democrat Tom Udall, wildly popular CD3 congressman, Udall says he is reconsidering an earlier statement that he won’t run. Democrats pushed for Udall to enter the race, because…
Democrat Martin Chavez, not-so-popular Mayor of Albuquerque, isn’t popular with progressives.
Don Wiviott: Santa Fe business man who has a number of unique and environmentally friendly real estate projects in Santa Fe.
Jim Hannan: Activist from Santa Fe, former chair of the New Mexico chapter of the Sierra Club and co-author of Santa Fe’s green building guidelines.
Leland Lehrman: Activist from Santa Fe.

Since Wilson is running for Senate, the influential CD1 seat is also a completely open book. So far, the only announced candidate is former Albuquerque City Councilor Martin Heinrich. The Democrats briefly considered floating Madrid again for the seat, but that tide seems to have gone back out to sea. Heinrich is an articulate and appealing candidate, who’s worked in developing bi-partisan support for a number of large scale New Mexico conservation projects.

The Republicans have not yet floated a candidate for the open CD1 seat, although several names, none of which are terribly well-known, have been tossed around.