{"id":2754,"date":"2008-01-17T14:34:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-17T20:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/01\/marquardt-will-run-for-pearces-house-seat\/"},"modified":"2008-01-17T14:34:00","modified_gmt":"2008-01-17T20:34:00","slug":"marquardt-will-run-for-pearces-house-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/01\/marquardt-will-run-for-pearces-house-seat\/","title":{"rendered":"Marquardt will run for Pearce’s House seat"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Former state Rep. Terry Marquardt will announce today that he\u2019s running for the Second Congressional District seat being vacated by Steve Pearce<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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

Marquardt, 58 and a Republican, is the former state House minority leader and an optometrist in Alamogordo<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>. He was defeated in 2006 \u2013 after serving 12 years in the state House \u2013 by Nate Cote<\/a>, D-Las Cruces.<\/p>\n

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

I was unable to immediately reach Marquardt for comment, but Otero County GOP Chairwoman Sassy Tinling confirmed that Marquardt plans to officially enter the race today. In addition, the Las Cruces Sun-News<\/a> is reporting that Marquardt confirmed his candidacy.<\/p>\n

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

Marquardt had previously announced that he was considering running, and he took part in a forum for actual and potential GOP candidates for the congressional seat in December in Alamogordo<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>.<\/p>\n

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

Marquardt is the seventh Republican to enter the race for his party\u2019s nomination for the seat. The others are former Bernalillo County GOP Executive Director Bob Cornelius<\/a>, rancher and retired banker Aubrey L. Dunn Jr.<\/a>, Sierra County GOP Chair C. Earl Greer<\/a>, Hobbs Mayor Monty Newman, Las Cruces daycare center owner Greg Sowards<\/a> and restaurant-chain owner and rancher Ed Tinsley<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

The Democrats in the race are retired Presbyterian pastor Al Kissling<\/a>, Do\u00f1a Ana County Commissioner Bill McCamley<\/a>, Roswell<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> businessman and retired teacher Frank McKinnon<\/a> and former Lea County Commissioner Harry Teague<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 3:10 p.m.<\/p>\n

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

In a speech he gave today in Alamogordo<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> announcing his candidacy, Marquardt talked about the importance of this election.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThis is an important election because we have a Congress that is totally unresponsive to the people,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Democrats and the Republicans alike are so consumed with party warfare that Congress is in gridlock and stalemate. Each side works harder to make the other side look bad than to represent working Americans and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cIt will take strong leadership to overcome this caustic and vile environment in our nation\u2019s capitol,\u201d Marquardt said, according to prepared remarks released by his campaign. \u201cAnd, unfortunately, the radical liberals who now control our Congress have not proven up to the task.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

In a news release announcing his candidacy, Marquardt talked about favoring \u201cfree-market\u201d solutions to improving the health-care system instead of government intervention. He also called for a federal balanced-budget act, saying that would lead to \u201cmore pressure for real innovation, better outcomes at lower costs, greater productivity and a spirit of entrepreneurial public management.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Marquardt also spoke about limited government, low taxes and low interest rates to spur economic growth, and he talked about the importance of education, which he said was his focus during six terms in the state House.<\/p>\n

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

The former state representative highlighted the fact that he\u2019s the only candidate for the Second Congressional District seat \u2013 Republican or Democrat \u2013 with legislative experience.<\/p>\n

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

Marquardt has two adult sons. Todd is an attorney and Tyrone is a financial advisor. He has operated his medical vision practice in Alamogordo<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> since 1974 and holds bachelor\u2019s and doctorate degrees in optometry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former state Rep. Terry Marquardt will announce today that he\u2019s running for the Second Congressional District seat being vacated by Steve Pearce. Marquardt, 58 and a Republican, is the former state House minority leader and an optometrist in Alamogordo. He was defeated in 2006 \u2013 after serving 12 years in the state House \u2013 by […]<\/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-2754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2754","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=2754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2754\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}