{"id":2337,"date":"2007-10-05T16:27:00","date_gmt":"2007-10-05T22:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/10\/wilson-confirms-run-hasnt-sought-domenici-backing\/"},"modified":"2007-10-05T16:27:00","modified_gmt":"2007-10-05T22:27:00","slug":"wilson-confirms-run-hasnt-sought-domenici-backing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/10\/wilson-confirms-run-hasnt-sought-domenici-backing\/","title":{"rendered":"Wilson confirms run, hasn’t sought Domenici backing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson<\/a>, R-N.M., formally announced today that she will give up her House seat to run for the Senate seat coming open next year because of the retirement of U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici<\/a>. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been so fortunate to have Sen. Pete Domenici working for us for the last 35 years,\u201d Wilson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said. \u201c\u2026 I will treasure the next 15 months working with Sen. Pete Domenici in the United States Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

She talked about what she believes are the nation\u2019s most pressing needs \u2013 better schools and health care and increased security \u2013 and said New Mexicans \u201cdeserve leaders who will fight for these things.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cFor these reasons I want the people of New Mexico<\/st1:state> to know that I will run for the United States Senate,\u201d Wilson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The news was first leaked on Thursday that Wilson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> would seek the seat, so today\u2019s announcement was a formality. Wilson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, 46, also indicated that today\u2019s event, at which she was joined by her husband and children, wasn\u2019t her formal announcement or campaign kickoff. She said there will be time for that later and \u201cthis just didn\u2019t seem the day for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The announcement came 24 hours after Domenici formally announced he was retiring at the end of 2008. Wilson, who has been in the House for nine years and is Domenici\u2019s prot\u00e9g\u00e9, said she spoke with the senator before he made the announcement on Thursday but didn\u2019t ask for his endorsement.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a hard week. I think it\u2019s a hard week for him and his family and everyone who cares about him,\u201d she said. \u201cThere will be time for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The moderate Republican is a veteran campaigner who has survived tough challenges to win election several times in a Democratic district. She beat former Attorney General Patricia Madrid<\/a> last year by 861 votes out of more than 211,000.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Since that victory, Wilson<\/st1:city> has come under attack for her role in the U.S. attorney scandal<\/a>, and it\u2019s unclear how that might affect her strength. Like Domenici, she\u2019s accused by former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias<\/a> of pressuring him in October 2006 to speed indictments in a public corruption probe involving high-ranking Democrats to influence voters in the November 2006 election.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s news conference was an indication that the scandal hasn\u2019t passed. The final question for Wilson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> was about the call to Iglesias.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cMy call to David Iglesias was entirely appropriate,\u201d Wilson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

She was also asked if she had spoken with U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce<\/a>, R-N.M., who is considering running against her in the GOP primary.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to call Steve this morning,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s traveling today and I hope to talk to him over the weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Three lesser-known Democrats entered the race before news of Domenici\u2019s retirement \u2013 Santa Fe<\/st1:city> developer Don Wiviott<\/a> and Jim Hannan<\/a> of Santa Fe<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> and Leland Lehrman<\/a> of Lamy. Wiviott remains committed to the race, but Hannan has said he may reconsider depending on which well-known Democrat enters the race and Lehrman hasn\u2019t commented.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\n

Several well-known Democrats, including Albuquerque Mayor Martin Ch\u00e1vez<\/a>, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish<\/a> and Madrid<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, are considering the race.<\/p>\n

\n

Wilson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s announcement creates an open seat in the U.S. House. Democrats Martin Heinrich<\/a> and Jon Adams<\/a> have been in the race for months. Several other Democrats and Republicans are considering the race now that it\u2019s an open seat.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 4:50 p.m.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Heinrich sought to deter other Democrats from entering the House race by releasing this statement:<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cSince I entered the race for Congress over five months ago, I\u2019ve spoken with countless voters who share my vision and are just as eager to bring change to Washington<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> as I am,\u201d he said. \u201cI am running for Congress to bring a change in leadership for New Mexico\u2019s First District \u2013 to find a new direction in Iraq, to make New Mexico a leader in the drive toward energy independence and to bring integrity to Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIn Congress, I will focus on getting results \u2013 just as I have in my four years on the Albuquerque City Council, where I have led the effort to increase the minimum wage, worked to bring new jobs to our city, cracked down on crime and the methamphetamine epidemic and always stood up for our environment and the wilderness areas that make New Mexico such a special place to call home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI have been honored by the many endorsements I have received from community leaders and elected officials, but nothing has honored me more than the many voters across this district who have told me they believe that I am the Democrat who can win this seat and bring about the change we all want to see in Washington<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>,\u201d he concluded. \u201cTogether, we will continue to build on that momentum and unite New Mexicans around our campaign for change.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., formally announced today that she will give up her House seat to run for the Senate seat coming open next year because of the retirement of U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici. \u201cWe\u2019ve been so fortunate to have Sen. Pete Domenici working for us for the last 35 years,\u201d Wilson said. \u201c\u2026 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2337\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}