New Mexico’s 2nd District race is already heating up

The primary has just ended, but New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District general-election race between Democrat Harry Teague and Republican Ed Tinsley is already heating up.

The fundraising group for House Democrats has set its sights on electing Teague. And a nonpartisan political analysis group has recently shifted its rating of the race from one Tinsley is likely to win to one that leans in his favor, but not as strongly.

There’s good reason for that. The district is conservative and one where outgoing Republican Rep. Steve Pearce has had few difficulties winning re-election. At the same time, the majority of the district’s registered voters are Democrats, and analysts across the nation agree that there’s a strong Democratic trend this year.

That sets the stage for a hotly contested race. The day after winning the Democratic primary, Teague fired the first shot by alleging that Tinsley, a rancher and restaurant-chain owner, doesn’t live in the district.

“I would think that the people of the 2nd Congressional District would want their representative to live in the 2nd Congressional District, and he doesn’t,” The Associated Press quoted Teague as saying.

It’s not a new allegation against Tinsley, who owns a ranch in Capitan in the 2nd District and what he calls a “second home” in Santa Fe in the 3rd District. Tinsley says he spends most of his time at the ranch and pays taxes and votes using that address.

But it’s a point on which Democrats believe Tinsley is vulnerable. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) sent out a news release bringing attention to The Associated Press article about the issue. And a DCCC spokesman, in a statement for this article, also referred to Tinsley’s residency:

“We’re excited about the campaign of Harry Teague, a moderate businessman who has created thousands of jobs in New Mexico and is a great fit for the district,” DCCC spokesman Yoni Cohen said. “Ed Tinsley prefers to spend much of his time in Santa Fe and is out of touch with the economic challenges facing middle-class families in southern New Mexico.”

The DCCC recently put out another news release highlighting the fact that the nonpartisan Cook Political Report has changed its ranking of the 2nd District race from “likely Republican” to “lean Republican” — a ranking that’s still favorable to Tinsley but not quite as definite.

The money

Involvement of the DCCC in the race is good for Teague. According to the Washington Post blog The Fix, the DCCC had $45 million on hand at the end of April, while its Republican counterpart, the National Republican Congressional Committee, had just $6.7 million. Often, DCCC backing includes financial support and other help, though Cohen wouldn’t say whether the group plans to provide more than verbal support to Teague because the DCCC doesn’t discuss such strategy.

Tinsley had some help during the primary from the National Restaurant Association, of which he is a past president. It spent $200,000 to promote Tinsley, and he could get more help in the general election.

Both candidates contributed personal wealth to their campaigns during the primary and have the ability to do it again. Teague loaned his campaign about $767,000 during the primary, while Tinsley loaned his campaign $235,000.

In response to questions about money, including whether Tinsley plans to loan his campaign more for the general election, spokesman Christopher Maloney said Tinsley “will work tirelessly to keep pace with what we expect to be record onslaught of funds emanating from liberal special-interest groups, the DCCC and Mr. Teague’s bank account during the general-election campaign.”

“The Democratic nomination for this seat may have been for sale to the highest bidder, but the 2nd Congressional District’s seat in Congress is one that Mr. Teague won’t be able to buy,” he said.

Teague’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment for this article. But he told the Las Cruces Sun-News last week that his campaign is planning to “get out and work for this like nobody has ever worked for it before and put a Democrat in Congress in the 2nd Congressional District.”

The rhetoric

Maloney said Tinsley “remains committed to discussing and debating the critical issues affecting New Mexico and our country.” He said those issues range from “fighting for tax relief and affordable health care for middle-class families and small businesses, to fixing our nation’s broken immigration system, to decreasing the obsessive and unreasonable government regulations which hamstring our nation’s ability to become independent from foreign-energy producers.”

Tinsley also opposes “a timetable for defeat in Iraq,” Maloney said.

“Ed Tinsley will continue to outline the conservative policies which will lead to real reform in Washington,” he said. “Mr. Teague represents the liberal Washington, D.C., big-government, tax-and-spend approach which has proven time and time again to be detrimental to New Mexico and our nation’s economy.”

Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, one of Teague’s most visible supporters, said in an interview that Teague is in a strong position to draw independent and Republican votes in November.

“I think people’s desire to see something different for the country is really going to prevail and people are going to want to send different people to Congress,” she said. “… Harry has a much stronger record in public service than Ed Tinsley does.”