{"id":2447,"date":"2007-10-30T14:24:00","date_gmt":"2007-10-30T20:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/10\/cervantes-appears-headed-toward-congressional-run\/"},"modified":"2007-10-30T14:24:00","modified_gmt":"2007-10-30T20:24:00","slug":"cervantes-appears-headed-toward-congressional-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/10\/cervantes-appears-headed-toward-congressional-run\/","title":{"rendered":"Cervantes appears headed toward congressional run"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Though he isn\u2019t confirming it, state Rep. Joseph Cervantes<\/a>, D-Las Cruces, appears to be headed toward a congressional run. <\/p>\n

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

Since news leaked two weeks ago that U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce<\/a>, R-N.M., would vacate his seat to run for U.S. Senate, Cervantes has been actively considering whether to run for the open seat. He told me last week that he would announce his decision before Sunday.<\/p>\n

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

That has changed. Cervantes told me today that he will make the decision shortly after the Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> municipal election being held a week from today.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWe think the public is focused on the city election and we want to wait until after that. We\u2019ll have an announcement immediately after the city election,\u201d Cervantes said. \u201cI have made the decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

He would not say what the decision is.<\/p>\n

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

\n

\n

However, here\u2019s the conventional wisdom: You don\u2019t worry about the public\u2019s attention if you\u2019re planning to announce that you\u2019re not running. You also don\u2019t wait more than a week to get it out there. You get it done and get on with business. And, once you\u2019ve publicly set a date, you don\u2019t change the date unless you\u2019re worried about your big announcement being overshadowed by something else.<\/p>\n

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

Cervantes\u2019 words appear to indicate a larger plan. This is pure speculation on my part, but it sounds as though he\u2019s running. In addition, many Democrats \u2013 some of them after having conversations with Cervantes \u2013 have said they believe he is running.<\/p>\n

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

We may know more on Saturday. The Democratic Party\u2019s State Central Committee<\/a> will gather for its fall meeting. Candidates for federal races will be given time to speak. Don\u2019t expect Cervantes to give a speech \u2013 if he says it will happen after the city election, that\u2019s when it will happen \u2013 but expect him to be bombarded with questions. If he\u2019s decided to run, he may quietly tell that to at least some Democrats at the meeting.<\/p>\n

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

Cervantes would join Al Kissling<\/a>, Do\u00f1a Ana County Commissioner Bill McCamley<\/a> and former Lea County Commissioner Harry Teague<\/a> in the primary.<\/p>\n

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

No Republican has entered the race, but a number are considering it. Sierra County Republican Party Chair C. Earl Greer<\/a> told me today that he has taken the next step toward a run by forming an exploratory committee.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean that I\u2019m running, and I\u2019m not collecting any money at this point,\u201d Greer said. \u201cBut we are moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Greer said he didn\u2019t expect to enter another race this soon after losing a hot Public Regulation Commission race in 2006, but he found that, because there\u2019s no obvious Republican candidate to replace Pearce, \u201cthere\u2019s a lot of support for me out there, and it\u2019s got me rethinking things.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Other Republicans considering running include Ed Tinsley and Phelps Anderson, who both ran unsuccessfully against Pearce in the 2002 primary; state Rep. Don Bratton<\/a> of Hobbs; Roswell Public Schools Assistant Superintendent Mike Kakuska; and former Roswell Mayor Bill Owen.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 3:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

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

Tinsley released this statement about his consideration of the race:<\/p>\n

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

\u201cMeredith and I will have time to visit about the race and its impact on our family this week since she has just returned from her trip. I anticipate a decision within a week, or close to it,\u201d he said. \u201cHowever, out of respect for Steve\u2019s announcement tour scheduled for this weekend, I will wait to say anything further until next week.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

He\u2019s referring to Pearce\u2019s Friday announcement in Hobbs<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> that he\u2019s running for Senate, and a trip that will follow to cities around the state.<\/p>\n

\n

A prior version of this posting incorrectly stated that Pearce is running for Congress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Though he isn\u2019t confirming it, state Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, appears to be headed toward a congressional run. Since news leaked two weeks ago that U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., would vacate his seat to run for U.S. Senate, Cervantes has been actively considering whether to run for the open seat. He told me […]<\/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-2447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447","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=2447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}