The chairman of
Carlos Provencio announced his candidacy over the weekend.
“My motive is to give the people of
Lt. Gov. Diane Denish has already raised more than $1.5 million for her 2010 gubernatorial run. Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chávez is also raising money and traveling the state, though he has not formally announced his candidacy and says he’s still considering whether to run.
Provencio, 53, pledged in his e-mail that he won’t accept corporate money for his campaign.
Provencio, who lives in Bayard, is a community activist with a bachelor’s degree in social work who has been involved in voter registration projects and a congressional campaign. He has also worked for unionization at
He has coordinated a union boycott in
He was also a cofounder of the Albuquerque Interfaith Council.
Provencio acknowledged the tough task ahead.
“Obviously, I am going up against big money and I will be going door-to-door. We have a big state as far as distance. I am the people’s candidate and I will not accept any corporate money,” he wrote in an e-mail to me. “…The southern part of the state gets neglected in
Provencio’s chances are slim but his candidacy is interesting. Chávez was 20 points behind Denish in a recent Albuquerque Journal poll, so the mayor can’t be happy to have another Hispanic man enter the race.
At the same time, Provencio’s politics are more in line, in many ways, with those of Denish, so it will be interesting to see, as the election gets closer, the impact of Provencio’s candidacy.
A prior version of this positing incorrectly stated that Provencio has a master’s degree.