Sandel won’t run for Congress

The recent death of his grandmother is one of the reasons Farmington City Councilor Jason Sandel cited this weekend in announcing that he won’t seek the Third Congressional District seat being vacated by Tom Udall, who is running for U.S. Senate.

“Enduring this experience provided me with a fresh perspective on my personal life in that it reinforced the importance of spending quality time with my family,” he said in a prepared statement. “I know that my time with those I love is relatively short and I really don’t want to squander it.”

Sandel, 33 and a Democrat, also cited the fact that he has a six-year-old daughter and a son who is due to be born in February. In addition, he is working on several major projects through the family business, Aztec Well Servicing, and was recently elected chairman of the Four Corners Safety Council.

“More importantly, our business model from day one has been for employees to be treated like family, and that is difficult to do from Washington D.C.,” he said.

Democrats Harry Montoya, a Santa Fe County commissioner, and Don Wiviott, a Santa Fe green builder, have already entered the race. Several others, including former Santa Fe County Commissioner Javier Gonzales, Public Regulation Commission Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, Española Mayor Joe Maestas, Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano and former state Rep. Patsy Trujillo are considering the race.

No Republicans have entered the race, but Los Alamos National Laboratory engineer Ron Dolin and state Rep. Brian Moore are considering running.

Sandel said he is happy to continue serving on the city council.

“In 2006 I ran for city council to serve Farmington, not as a stepping stone to some higher office,” he said. “While community service may take many different shapes in the future; there is plenty of time for something more and greater later. … We’ve made progress, but there is so much more to do. I do not believe that this chapter in Farmington’s history has been written yet, and I have a commitment to our community to help write this chapter.”