{"id":28622,"date":"2011-04-21T12:07:18","date_gmt":"2011-04-21T18:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=28622"},"modified":"2011-04-22T08:02:24","modified_gmt":"2011-04-22T14:02:24","slug":"denish-chavez-consider-running-for-u-s-house-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/04\/denish-chavez-consider-running-for-u-s-house-seat\/","title":{"rendered":"Denish, Ch\u00e1vez consider running for U.S. House seat"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Diane Denish (left, photo by Heath Haussamen) and Martin Ch\u00e1vez (right, courtesy photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

Former Lt. Gov. Diane Denish<\/a> and former Albuquerque Mayor Martin Ch\u00e1vez<\/a> are considering running for the 1st Congressional District seat being vacated by Martin Heinrich<\/a>, NMPolitics.net has learned.<\/p>\n

Denish and Ch\u00e1vez, both former gubernatorial nominees, are the best-known Democrats to publicly surface as potential candidates thus far.<\/p>\n

Ch\u00e1vez is meeting this week with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee<\/a>, the fundraising arm of Democrats in the U.S. House, to talk about the possibility of running, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed.<\/p>\n

Another source said Denish \u201chas been getting a lot of encouragement from inside the district, and with solid name ID and a strong base there, she has time to test the waters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denish had been considering running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Jeff Bingaman<\/a>. Whether she is still considering the Senate race isn\u2019t clear.<\/p>\n

Heinrich is the best-known Democrat to have entered the Senate race. His departure from the U.S. House has led many to consider running for the seat.<\/p>\n

No Democrats have formally entered the race to replace Heinrich, but state Sen.\u00a0Eric Griego<\/a> of Albuquerque has\u00a0formed an exploratory committee<\/a>. In addition, state Rep.\u00a0Antonio \u201cMoe\u201d Maestas<\/a> of Albuquerque and Terry Brunner, Bingaman\u2019s\u00a0former state director who now heads USDA Rural Development in New Mexico, say they are seriously considering running.<\/p>\n

On the Republican side, Albuquerque City Councilor\u00a0Dan Lewis<\/a> has\u00a0entered the race<\/a>, and\u00a0former gubernatorial candidate and state Rep.\u00a0Janice Arnold-Jones<\/a> of Albuquerque has\u00a0formed an exploratory committee<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Denish and Ch\u00e1vez both lost their last elections. Ch\u00e1vez was booted from office<\/a> by voters in 2009, and Denish lost the governor\u2019s race<\/a> last year to Republican Susana Martinez.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re also former running mates. When Ch\u00e1vez unsuccessfully challenged then-Gov. Gary Johnson in 1998, Denish was the Democratic Party\u2019s nominee for lieutenant governor.<\/p>\n

Both have strong bases and the ability to raise money, and could be formidable candidates. But sources say there might also be room in the Democratic primary for a rising star.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Lt. Gov. Diane Denish and former Albuquerque Mayor Martin Ch\u00e1vez are considering running for the 1st Congressional District seat being vacated by Martin Heinrich, NMPolitics.net has learned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[156,139,107,116],"class_list":["post-28622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2012-election","tag-albuquerque","tag-roundhouse","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28622","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=28622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28622\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}