Luján, East to face off in November in CD3

Ben R. Luján won the Democratic 3rd Congressional District Democratic primary tonight, and Daniel East won the Republican primary.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Luján had 42 percent of the vote to 26 percent for Don Wiviott. Four other Democrats were far behind. East won what the Albuquerque Journal called “a pretty surprising” victory with 53 percent of the vote to 47 percent for Marco Gonzales.

“My campaign is about the people of New Mexico,” Luján said in a statement released by his campaign. “I will never forget that, and as your next congressman I will work every single day for the people of this district.”

Wiviott, meanwhile, said his campaign was about changing “politics as usual” in northern New Mexico.

“What we saw tonight was not the defeat of one candidate, but the triumph of thousands of New Mexicans who made their voice loud and clear: Change is needed in Northern New Mexico,” Wiviott said. “This campaign ends, but we hope that the people of northern New Mexico will both demand and receive greater opportunity from our political leadership.”

Update, 8:15 a.m.

Independent Carol Miller reminded me in an e-mail that she’s also in this race. She said she will file 11,000 signatures today to appear on the ballot in November. She said, with nearly 60 percent of Democrats voting against Luján, “I can guarantee an interesting and exciting summer and fall.”