After a year at Guantanamo Bay, the Republican says more time away from his family ‘is just not acceptable’
Republican Greg Zanetti, for months the only declared 2010 Republican candidate for governor, dropped out of the race today.
The Albuquerque financial adviser and Army National Guard brigadier general recently completed a year as deputy commander at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Upon returning, he began considering running for governor and traveling around the state.
“These travels only increased my love of New Mexico and my fellow citizens,” Zanetti said in a prepared statement. “But to myself and to my family these travels seemed like another deployment. I missed a number of important family events.”
“I have concluded that another year away from my family is just not acceptable, so today I notified GOP Chairman Harvey Yates and other potential Republican candidates that I will not seek our party’s nomination,” Zanetti said.
That leaves the GOP with one official candidate for governor: Doña Ana County District Attorney Susana Martinez, who is formally announcing her candidacy later today. But several other Republicans are also considering running.
Former state GOP Chairman Allen Weh and state Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones have formed exploratory committees. Former U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson and Doug Turner, CEO of the Albuquerque-based public relations firm DW Turner, say they are seriously considering running for the GOP nomination. All are Albuquerque residents.
Asked how Zanetti’s withdrawal changes the dynamic of the race, Christine Sierra, a political science professor at the University of New Mexico, said Wilson is looming large over the process.
“I think the Republicans are probably just jockeying for position and the one who really holds the cards right now is former Congresswoman Heather Wilson,” she said, noting that Wilson has name recognition and the experience of running a statewide campaign that the others don’t.
Wilson has given no timeline for announcing a decision. She’s currently in Africa doing political and elections training.
Arnold-Jones wrote in an e-mail that she is “so sorry” to hear about Zanetti’s withdrawal from the race.
“The state would benefit from his vast financial acumen,” she said.
On the Democratic side, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish is the only declared candidate for governor, though Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez says he’s formed an exploratory committee.