Dan Lewis
As expected, Albuquerque City Councilor Dan Lewis formally entered the race to replace Martin Heinrich in the U.S. House on Sunday.
The Republican vowed to help “stop the insanity of rampant government spending” and
“protect and promote job-creating small businesses” in Congress, according to a news release.
He described his main priorities as creating jobs and assisting small businesses, confronting the looming national debt, and strengthening national security.
Lewis is the first candidate to enter the race. One other Republican, former gubernatorial candidate and state Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones, has formed a congressional exploratory committee.
On the Democratic side, State Sen. Eric Griego has formed an exploratory committee as he considers the race. In addition, State Rep. Antonio “Moe” Maestas, D-Albuquerque, announced that he is seriously considering running for the seat. So is Terry Brunner, U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman’s former state director who now heads USDA Rural Development in New Mexico.
Heinrich, a Democrat, is vacating the Albuquerque-area 1st Congressional District seat to run for the Senate seat that is open next year because of Bingaman’s retirement.
Update, 9:05 a.m.
Democratic Party of New Mexico Chairman Javier Gonzales had this to say about Lewis:
“This is more of the same from yet another out-of-touch Republican who has decided to run for Congress. Instead of focusing on New Mexico’s working families Dan Lewis has decided to openly support the same failed economic policies that led to the historic recession that has put so many thousands of New Mexicans out of work, blindly cutting commonsense safeguards meant to keep Wall Street in line without pausing to consider the consequences is what caused the great recession and cost us millions of jobs.”