Congressional Landscape Changing for New Mexico Bread members

Would you believe that we're only a little more than two months away from our presidential primary election on Feb. 5?

But that's the presidential primary. The New Mexico congressional primary is scheduled for June 3, 2008. Even though we have a little more than half-a-year until then, this election is the first step in the huge makeover of our congressional delegation. Bread for the World members in New Mexico are facing an unprecedented situation, with all three of the seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and one seat in the U.S. Senate up for grabs in the federal election in November 2008.

All three of our incumbents, Reps. Heather Wilson, Steve Pearce and Tom Udall have decided to abandon their seats in the House to seek the seat in the Senate left open with the retirement of Sen. Pete Domenici.

What this means is that we will certainly have three brand new representatives in the House and the likelihood of having a familiar face in an unfamiliar position in the Senate.

Even though the general election is almost a year away, we have to start doing our homework about the potential candidates. Perhaps there may be an opportunity to bring up issues supported by Bread for the World and The ONE Campaign at candidate forums. But my guess is that there probably will only be a couple of these forums. So what else do we do?

Here are a few suggestions:
1) Find out who is running in the Democratic and Republican primaries. At the bottom of this post is a partial list of the candidates who have officially thrown their hat into the ring for each of the seats. Keep in mind that there is still about a month for others to jump into the congressional races before the January deadline set by the New Mexico Secretary of State. And there is a chance that some of those who declared may decide to withdraw.


2) Read about the candidate's positions in the newspaper or monitor television and radio coverage. One very good source here in New Mexico is the blog New Mexico Politics With Joe Monahan
Other good blogs are Democracy for New Mexico, New Mexico FBIHOP and Heath Haussamen on New Mexico Politics.

3) Try to make contact with the candidates, either personally, through a letter, or through their campaigns. It's important to know where they stand on hunger and poverty-related issues. But just as important is to let them know about the work of our organization. Name recognition is going to be very important when this candidate is already in office. (Those candidates who are highlighted have campaign websites with a link or address for their campaign).

4) Vote in the primary and the general election.

2008 Candidates
Senate: It looks like we have two very competitive primaries. The race for the Republican nomination will pit Rep. Heather Wilson against Rep. Steve Pearce. Read article in Albuquerque Tribune about this race.

The two top candidates seeking to represent the Democratic party are Rep. Tom Udall and Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez. The Trib also has an article about this election.

Two other Democrats seeking the seat are Santa Fe Community Housing Trust officer Jim Hannan and Taos publisher Leland Lehman. And high-school teacher Zach Boatman is in the process of gathering the 16,000 signatures needed to qualify for the ballot. He would run as an independent.

Since Wilson, Pearce and Udall are coming from the House side, we have a track record on their support for Bread issues. Wilson and Udall have tended to vote with Bread on many issues. Both added their names to the list of cosponsors of the Hunger-Free Communities Act of 2005. In the House vote on the farm bill in June 2007, Udall supported the Kind amendment that would have cut farm subsidies for the five major commodities in order to invest the money in conservation, nutrition, rural development and deficit reduction. Wilson and Pearce opposed the amendment, which failed 117-309. Pearce has supported some Bread issues. According to Project Vote Smart, Pearce received a 75% support rating from Bread in 2003-2004. Pearce, Wilson and Udall all voted that year for legislation to create the Millennium Challenge Account. This was the subject of our 2003 Offering of Letters, Rise to the Challenge: End World Hunger.

















First Congressional District:
Republicans: Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White
Democrats: Former New Mexico Health Secretary Michelle Lujan Grisham
Albuquerque City Councilor Martin Heinrich
Attorney Jon Adams
High School Teacher Jason Call

The Democratic Primary will likely be a race between Lujan Grisham and Heinrich. In the Republican primary, State Sen. Joe Carraro and State Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones may join the race against White.

Second Congressional District:
Republican: Capitan, N.M., businessman Ed Tinsley

Democrats:
State Rep. Joe Cervantes
Doña Ana County Commissioner Bill McCamley
Retired Presbyterian Minister Albert Kissling
Roswell businessman and retired teacher Frank McKinnon
Former Lea County Commissioner Harry Teague

Believe or not, two other Democrats are pondering whether to join the already crowded field, including state Sen. John Arthur Smith, who lost to Pearce in the general election in 2002. The other is state Rep. Jeff Steinborn. Members in the Second Congressional District don't have to convince Al Kissling about our issues; he is already a Bread for the World member. But Kissling, who lost to Pearce in the 2006 election, faces an uphill battle against better-known and well-funded politicans in the 2008 Democratic primary.

Tinsley, who lost the Republican primary to Pearce in 2002, is likely to face some opposition in the 2008 primary. According to New Mexico politics blogger Heath Haussamen, the potential challengers include former Roswell Mayor Bill Owen, ex-Domenici staffer Clint Chandler, former Bernalillo County Republican executive director Bob Cornelius, rancher Aubrey L. Dunn Jr., and Sierra County Republican chair C. Earl Greer.

Third Congressional District:
Democrat: Green Developer Don Wiviott (Santa Fe)
Republicans: None declared

Commitments are less solid at this point because it was only recently that Rep. Udall decided to give up the seat to run for Senate. Wiviott was originally planning to run for Senate, but left that race when Udall announced his candidacy. Wiviott is likely to face a primary challenge in the heavily Democratic district. Among those who are looking very closely at the race are former Santa Fe County commissioner Javier Gonzales and Public Regulation Commission chair Ben Ray Lujan. The race could become even more crowded if Española mayor Joe Maestas, Farmington city councilor Jason Sandel, Santa Fe County sheriff Greg Solano, and former state representative Patsy Trujillo decide to seek the seat.

On the Republican side, Ron Dolin of Los Alamos is pondering the race. He lost to Udall in the 2006 election.

So we have our work cut out in 2008. Perhaps we can start by asking the candidates about their positions on our 2008 Offering of Letters, which will probably deal with the Millennium Development Goals (check your e-mails from Bread and the BFW website for updates on this).

(Note: Top photograph shows Bread for the World member Art Meyer of Farmington in front of Capitol building).