{"id":26393,"date":"2011-02-22T08:13:56","date_gmt":"2011-02-22T15:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=26393"},"modified":"2011-02-23T06:51:11","modified_gmt":"2011-02-23T13:51:11","slug":"nm-political-deck-to-be-reshuffled-once-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/02\/nm-political-deck-to-be-reshuffled-once-again\/","title":{"rendered":"NM political deck to be reshuffled once again"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n

When former U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici announced his retirement<\/a> in 2007, it led to a remaking of New Mexico\u2019s political map that I called the Domenici dominoes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Bingaman dominoes\u201d doesn\u2019t quite have the same ring, but look for a similar reshuffling of the political deck now that U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman<\/a> is retiring. That\u2019s especially true if any of New Mexico\u2019s U.S. House members jump into the Senate race, and all three \u2013 Democrats Martin Heinrich<\/a> and Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n<\/a> and Republican Steve Pearce<\/a> \u2013 are thinking about it.<\/p>\n

So are some other big-name politicians, including former Lt. Gov. Diane Denish<\/a> and current state Auditor Hector Balderas<\/a>, both Democrats. Politico reports that Balderas is \u201c95 percent in\u201d<\/a> the Senate race.<\/p>\n

Balderas may have nothing to lose \u2013 as long as he runs a competitive race. If he isn\u2019t elected to the Senate, he keeps his job as auditor.<\/p>\n

Many politicos are considering running for Senate, or for additional seats that might open up because of others deciding to run for Senate.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny Dem with statewide name ID and a potentially more rosy electoral landscape would be a fool to not take a look at it,\u201d said one Democratic insider who spoke on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s plenty of activity on the Republican side as well, as others ponder the possibility of running for Senate if Pearce and former U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson<\/a> opt against running \u2013 or perhaps even if they do run.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnybody interested in policy and serving the nation has to look, and I\u2019m among them,\u201d said former state Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones<\/a>, R-Albuquerque. Someone has anonymously started a website<\/a> to encourage Arnold-Jones to run for Senate.<\/p>\n

Down-ballot races<\/h3>\n

Many will consider Arnold-Jones a long-shot candidate if some of the more high-profile politicos mentioned above get in the race. Another potential long-shot candidate is Democrat Terry Brunner<\/a>, Bingaman\u2019s former state director who now heads USDA Rural Development in New Mexico.<\/p>\n

Such potential candidates may be pushed to instead run for U.S. House seats or in other races as the deck is reshuffled, but Arnold-Jones said she\u2019s not sure she\u2019s interested in running for Heinrich\u2019s seat even if he vacates it to run for Senate. She said a person can have a greater impact in the Senate.<\/p>\n

One politico who is considering entering a House race is Edgar Lopez of Las Cruces, a Democrat. The head of a real estate company<\/a> and longtime political insider said he received some calls from Washington encouraging him to run for Senate, but he\u2019s more interested in considering running for Pearce\u2019s House seat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am humbled and flattered to be mentioned,\u201d he said, adding that he will wait to see what redistricting does to the boundaries of the 2nd Congressional District before deciding whether to run.<\/p>\n

Of course, there are already two Republicans in the Senate race, candidates who jumped into the fray before Bingaman announced his retirement. They are Greg Sowards of Las Cruces and William S. English of Alamogordo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Only the beginning<\/h3>\n

This is only the beginning. As the highest-profile politicos decide what they\u2019re doing, their choices will help others make decisions, and the reshuffling could continue all the way down to local races.<\/p>\n

New Mexico was a high-profile state during the 2008 election because of the presidential contest, the race to replace Domenici, and the down-ballot contests that resulted from the domino effect. Once again, New Mexico is a swing state in a presidential contest and has an open Senate seat that will be hotly contested. The Land of Enchantment is going to get a lot of attention during this election cycle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Bingaman dominoes\u201d doesn\u2019t quite have the same ring as \u201cthe Domenici dominoes\u201d did during the 2008 election cycle, but look for a similar reshuffling of New Mexico\u2019s political deck now that U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman is retiring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[156,116],"class_list":["post-26393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-2012-election","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26393","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=26393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26393\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}