Luján, Heinrich leading in ABQ Journal polls

Two polls conducted for the Albuquerque Journal find that Ben R. Luján has the edge in the 3rd Congressional District Democratic primary and Martin Heinrich has the edge in the 1st Congressional District Democratic primary.

In the 3rd District, Luján led his closest opponent, Don Wiviott, 29 percent to 23 percent in the Journal poll, which was released today. The article on the poll said Harry Montoya came in third, Benny Shendo Jr. was fourth, Jon Adams was fifth and Rudy Martin was sixth, but it did not give percentages.

The survey of 500 registered Democrats in the district who said they were likely to vote was conducted Tuesday through Thursday and has a margin of error of 4.5 percent.

Meanwhile, Heinrich was leading his closest opponent, Rebecca Vigil-Giron, 34 percent to 23 percent, according to the Journal poll. Michelle Lujan Grisham came in third and Robert Pidcock came in fourth, but the Journal did not include their percentages in its article on the poll.

That survey, conducted Tuesday through Thursday, quizzed 402 registered Democrats in the district who have a record of primary voting. The margin of error was 5 percent.

The Journal said it will release polling on the Republican 1st Congressional District race next Sunday, but gave no indication that it will poll the 3rd District GOP race or either primary race in the 2nd Congressional District. There’s been a dearth of independent polling on New Mexico’s congressional races, so we can only hope there’s more to come.

It’s not surprising that Luján has a lead over Wiviott but that Wiviott is within striking distance. Look for a very interesting conclusion to that race as we begin the final days.

In the 1st District, I was somewhat surprised that Vigil-Giron, not Grisham, was in second. Vigil-Giron is well known, and that may be the explanation, but Grisham has been in the race much longer and has run a credible campaign.

Regardless, that race appears to be Heinrich’s to lose.

Update, May 26, 6:40 a.m.

Though the Journal didn’t publish the full poll results on its Web site, Democracy for New Mexico did. Click here to get the scoop.

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