Chávez announces withdrawal from Senate race

Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chávez is confirming on his Web site that he’s dropping out of the U.S. Senate race. Here’s his entire message:

Thank you for your support

Today I am announcing that I will not seek the seat for U.S. Senate.

Traveling my home state over the past several weeks, I have been honored to spend time with my fellow New Mexicans to talk about the issues and challenges facing our state.

While I deeply appreciate all the support I have received, it has become very clear to me that Democrats should not be divided in the upcoming election. It is crucial to the future of New Mexico and this country that a Democrat become the next U.S. Senator. A hotly contested primary, as this one certainly could be, would likely dramatically weaken the Democratic nominee and place the general election in jeopardy.

It is far more critical to end the war in Iraq, reform our broken healthcare system, and provide educational opportunities to our youth to empower them to participate in a worldwide economy.

The war in Iraq was a mistake from the very beginning — one of the greatest foreign policy blunders our country has ever seen. Our brave men and women in uniform have served honorably. They’ve done everything they’ve been asked to do, and they’ve done it superbly. Now it’s time to honor them by ending the war and bringing them home.

Congress has a critical role to play. Unfortunately, Republicans in the House and Senate have stymied Democratic efforts to set benchmarks and timetables to begin a phased redeployment of our troops and start bringing them home. That’s unacceptable. That’s why we need to expand our Democratic majorities, especially achieving a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, to end this war.

To that end, I pledge my full support for Tom Udall for U.S. Senate, and I encourage all New Mexicans to support Tom as well. I hope you will visit Tom’s website at www.udallforusall.com and sign up to join his campaign.

I will work tirelessly to help Democrats get elected throughout our great State of New Mexico and our Nation. As Mayor, I have many new, exciting programs that I want to bring to fruition. I want to spend my remaining time in the Mayor’s office being the very best mayor possible for all of the citizens of my home town.

Thank you so much for your continued friendship and support.