Heath Haussamen / NMPolitics.net
The U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.
The Gary Johnson thing didn’t happen.
Moments after the polls closed, the Albuquerque Journal and NBC News declared Democrat Martin Heinrich the winner of New Mexico’s U.S. Senate race.
Heinrich defeated Republican Mick Rich and Libertarian Gary Johnson — a former governor and presidential candidate whose late entry into the race generated a lot of buzz but failed to gain Johnson any traction in the polls.
Early returns had Heinrich getting nearly 89,000 votes to Rich’s 47,000 and Johnson’s 23,000.
Heinrich, a former U.S. representative, was first elected to the Senate in 2012 and will begin his second term in January.
Also no surprise: U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján, a Democrat who represents the 3rd Congressional District in northern New Mexico, cruised to re-election. And in the open 1st Congressional District race, Democrat Deb Haaland was declared the winner by KOAT-TV in Albuquerque.
The only open question as far as who New Mexico will send to Washington in January is the 2nd Congressional District race between Republican Yvette Herrell and Democrat Xochitl Torres Small. As of 8 p.m. there were still people in line at 11 of 40 polling places in Doña Ana County, the Democratic stronghold in the district, so don’t expect to know the winner of this neck-and-neck race for some time.