High-school teacher Jason Call is dropping out of the First Congressional District race.
The Democrat’s decision, announced late Thursday on his Web site, came after the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees on Tuesday endorsed fellow Democrat Martin Heinrich in the race.
“I’ve pushed this thing about as far as it can go, and I’m officially pulling the plug,” Call wrote on his Web site. “…As someone who has been a union member his entire professional career, I completely understand AFSCME’s decision to endorse a ‘winner,’ as opposed to a fringe candidate like myself. I think that they made the right choice, and I hope that Martin goes on to trounce whichever nutjob the GOP chooses to prop up.”
Call pledged to return the $1,000 he raised for the race, saying he spent only $277 and would “take the hit on that.” He also plans to keep his Web site operational and wrote that, if the next member of Congress from the Albuquerque area doesn’t actively work toward goals including single-payer health care, public financing for elections and immediate withdrawal from Iraq, “then I will continue this campaign for the 2010 congressional election.”
“I have been a peace and justice activist for near 20 years,” he wrote. “I intend to continue doing just that, and I will be a thorn in the side of my elected representative if they do not represent those same ideals.”
“As evidenced by the last year of Democratic capitulation, we must not consider a Democrat ‘win’ in CD1 to be a ‘win’ for truth, or peace or justice,” Call wrote. “That ‘win’ will only be evidenced vote by vote, issue by issue. To think that a Democratic win automatically equates to a win for progressive values is a recipe for disaster. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”
His withdrawal leaves Heinrich and Michelle Lujan-Grisham, former state health secretary, vying for the Democratic Party’s nomination for the seat. On the GOP side, state Sen. Joe Carraro and Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White are running.