Wilson touts new endorsements in Senate race

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Heather Wilson has announced new endorsements in recent days that include the Albuquerque city council president, the Tijeras mayor and a New York newspaper.

Albuquerque’s Brad Winter, in his endorsement of Wilson, said she has done “an excellent job” as the representative of the 1st Congressional District.

“There’s a reason she gets re-elected every cycle in a Democratic district. Heather Wilson cares about the people and the families she represents,” Winter said in a release from the Wilson campaign. “She doesn’t vote the way special interests tell her to; she votes the way she knows is right.”

Wilson said she was “very pleased” to have Winter’s endorsement, saying he has fought to keep city taxes low and government open and honest.

In a news release announcing her endorsement, Tijeras Mayor Gloria Chavez said Wilson “has worked hard to ensure that small municipalities like the Village of Tijeras don’t fall through the cracks.”

“Like Senator Domenici, Heather has been a champion for the needs of rural New Mexico,” she said. “She is the best fit to succeed Senator Domenici and will continue to address the needs of rural New Mexico in the U.S. Senate.”

And the New York Sun, in its endorsement of Wilson, called her “one of our favorite members of Congress.”

“Our view is that if the Republican Party of 2008 would prefer to lose with Mr. Pearce than win with Ms. Wilson, it deserves its fate,” the endorsement states. “… She has built a reputation for doing her homework. She’s a supporter of a hard-line in the war on terror, is a stickler for command accountability in the military, backs making permanent President Bush’s supply-side tax cuts, has never voted against a free trade agreement, and has emerged as a pro-family leader informed by her experience in this area in state government.”

“She has achieved all this while representing a relatively liberal congressional district and managing to earn respect across a wide swath of the New Mexico polity,” the endorsement states. “We would suggest that she’s the natural heir to Senator Domenici save for the fact that it would under-state her potential somewhere down the line on a national ticket.”