A 1980 U.S. Supreme Court ruling will keep the Republicans from running a candidate for the New Mexico House seat being vacated by Hector Balderas, the secretary of state’s office says.
Balderas withdrew his name from the Northern-New Mexico House race after the Democratic Party placed him on the ballot to run for state auditor. The Republicans attempted to place Roger Gonzales of Mora on the ballot, but their request was denied by the secretary of state’s office.
Before Balderas withdrew, he was running unopposed because the Republicans placed no one on the ballot for the primary. A vacancy on the Democratic side does not give the Republicans a second change to field a candidate and “two bites of the apple,” said Ray Baray, spokesman for the secretary of state’s office.
If he’s right, no one is on the ballot in that House race. Sources say Democrats planned that so that, if Balderas is unsuccessful in his bid for auditor, he can be reappointed to the House seat by the governor.
The 1980 death of Congressman Harold Runnels, who was running unopposed in that year’s general election, created a similar situation. The Democrats placed the name of David King on the ballot to replace that of Democrat Runnels. Republicans tried to put Joe Skeen on the ballot, but their request was denied because their party did not run a candidate in the primary.
Republicans sued all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which denied Skeen a spot on the ballot. Incidentally, Skeen went on to become the third write-in candidate elected in the history of Congress.
That case answers the question about whether Gonzales gets a spot on the ballot, Baray said.
“We’re very confident,” he said. “Because the Republicans did not have a nominee, there was no vacancy created.”
Republicans are upset over Democrat Jeff Armijo’s removal from the ballot in the auditor race (which you can read about by clicking here). This issue irks them even more, said the party’s spokesman, Jonah Cohen, on Friday. I’ve been unable to reach him for comment today.
The party wrote a letter to the secretary of state’s office Friday demanding by the end of the day an explanation of its rejection of Gonzales’ candidacy. Cohen said there was no response.
“Our lawyers are still discussing the situation and no decision has yet been made, but a lawsuit is becoming more and more likely,” Cohen said in an e-mail. “There’s now a groundswell of feeling that (Attorney General Patricia)