Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez says he’s considering running for governor in 2010, according to an article in the New Mexico Independent.
The Friday announcement that the Democratic senator from Belen is thinking about the state’s top job came more than two years before the election and a week before the Legislature convenes in special session to consider health-care reform, tax relief and road funding proposals made by Gov. Bill Richardson.
Sanchez and other Senate leaders have been at odds with the governor for some time. It’s also no secret that Richardson and Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, who is running for governor in 2010, aren’t the best of friends.
“At this point, I’ve been approached and asked to consider it and I’m considering it,” the Independent quoted Sanchez as saying, but the article didn’t state who asked Sanchez to consider running.
Denish responded in an interview with the Independent by saying it is “too early to be commenting on the 2010 race.”
“Right now, what I’m focused on is how are we going to help New Mexico survive this Republican economy, what are we going to do in the special session to help New Mexico families,” Denish said. “… I’m not going to comment on Michael Sanchez or anybody. I just think it’s too early for that.”
Sanchez also wouldn’t speculate about running against Denish in the Democratic primary.
“I wouldn’t be considering it unless I thought I could do a good job,” the Independent quoted him as saying. “I think I would make a good governor.”
Sanchez has been a state senator since 1993.