Frank McKinnon
After failing to win a spot on the ballot at the Democratic Party’s preprimary nominating convention on Saturday, Frank McKinnon said he was dropping out of the race, but he’s changed his mind.
The in-then-out-then-back-in shifting came in a series of Facebook posts. First this post from Sunday, after McKinnon won the support of 12 percent of delegates, falling short of the 20 percent needed:
“Because 88 percent of the delegates at the Democratic Pre-primary voted against my campaign being one of the choices for the Democratic voters in the Primary election, and because the time and expenses that would be required of me to continue my campaign without more the support from the Central Committee of the New Mexico Democratic Party is more than I can afford, I am ending my political career today, and will be sending all of the campaign contributions that I received back to each of the contributors in the near future. I will leave what I have written for this campaign on my web site just in case leaders in the Democratic Party are interested in pursuing any of my ideas. I would feel much better about our government if Evelyn Madrid Ehrhard is my representative in Congress than I would feel about having Steve Pearce as my representative.”
McKinnon posted a couple of additional positive notes about Madrid Erhard here and here.
He started thinking about changing his mind later Sunday:
“Left the Pre-Primary right after they announced the results of the votes, and arrived home in Roswell at about midnight. I was 23 Democratic delegates’ votes short of getting on the ballot for the Democratic Primary race. My understanding is that getting between 600 and 1200 more signatures on my Nomination Petition by March 20 would still get me on the Ballot. That would be impossible for me to do without a lot of help. I will leave it at that, for now, and think about it for a day or two or three….”
McKinnon jumped back in the race on Monday:
“Because I am not a quitter, and never have been. I have decided not quit the race. I will leave it up to the Democratic Party to determine whether or not my campaign will be one of the choices on the ballot in the Primary Election. If I receive enough signatures on copies of this Nomination Petition in the mail by March 19 for me to drive to Santa Fe to file them with the Office of the Secretary of State on March 20, I will continue this campaign. It is up to the Democratic Party.”
Madrid Earhard is on the ballot after winning 88 percent of the vote at the preprimary. The winner faces Republican Steve Pearce in November.