{"id":28833,"date":"2011-04-28T10:14:14","date_gmt":"2011-04-28T16:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=28833"},"modified":"2011-10-10T08:36:40","modified_gmt":"2011-10-10T14:36:40","slug":"pearce-says-abq-visit-isn%e2%80%99t-about-senate-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/04\/pearce-says-abq-visit-isn%e2%80%99t-about-senate-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Pearce says ABQ visit isn\u2019t about Senate race"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n

U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce<\/a> will travel out of his district on Friday to speak to a tea party group in Albuquerque, but his spokesman says that shouldn\u2019t be taken as a sign that Southern New Mexico\u2019s congressman is gearing up for a U.S. Senate run.<\/p>\n

Pearce, a Republican, will speak at a tea party meeting<\/a> at 7 p.m. Friday at a Golden Corral restaurant on Albuquerque\u2019s west side<\/a>. Spokesman Eric Layer had this to say about it:<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was invited to attend, and it fit into his schedule \u2013 he\u2019ll be in the northern part of the 2nd District for much of that day.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Asked if the visit is a sign that Pearce is testing the waters for a possible Senate run or simply a matter of Pearce being in the neighborhood, Layer said, \u201cjust a matter of being in the neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can see from this map<\/a> of New Mexico\u2019s congressional districts that Pearce\u2019s \u2013 the 2nd District in Southern New Mexico \u2013 stretches north to includes areas south and west of Albuquerque.<\/p>\n

Albuquerque itself is located in the 1st Congressional District and currently represented by Democrat Martin Heinrich<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pearce, a tea party favorite, said in mid-February that he would \u201ctake a serious look\u201d<\/a> at the Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Jeff Bingaman<\/a>. Here\u2019s the last statement Pearce released about the race, in early March<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cPolitics can wait. The business at hand \u2013 addressing devastating unemployment rates, obstacles to small business, and a looming debt crisis \u2013 cannot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, I am working hard at the job that the people of New Mexico sent me to Congress to do. The filing deadline is still nine months away, and I have plenty of time to make decisions. I\u2019ll reach out to my supporters, but now, for New Mexicans, the stakes are higher than personal ambition.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, Pearce is plagued by the fact that he was trounced in a Senate race in 2008 by Democrat Tom Udall<\/a>. In addition, he represents a district that favors his political views, and many suspect redistricting later this year will make the 2nd District even more favorable to Pearce, which could encourage him to stay put.<\/p>\n

On the Republican side, former U.S. Rep.\u00a0Heather Wilson<\/a> and two lesser-known candidates \u2013\u00a0Greg Sowards<\/a> and\u00a0William S. English<\/a> \u2013 have entered the Senate race. Lt. Gov.\u00a0John Sanchez<\/a> is\u00a0seriously considering<\/a> entering the race and expected by many to run.<\/p>\n

On the Democratic side, Heinrich<\/a> and State Auditor Hector Balderas<\/a> have entered the race, as has little-known community activist\u00a0Andres Valdez<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce will travel out of his district on Friday to speak to a tea party group in Albuquerque, but his spokesman says that shouldn\u2019t be taken as a sign that Southern New Mexico\u2019s congressman is gearing up for a U.S. Senate run.<\/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":[156,219,199,116],"class_list":["post-28833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2012-election","tag-2nd-congressional-district","tag-tea-party","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28833","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=28833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28833\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}