{"id":2951,"date":"2008-03-06T09:10:00","date_gmt":"2008-03-06T15:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/03\/wiviott-ups-the-ante-in-congressional-race\/"},"modified":"2008-03-06T09:10:00","modified_gmt":"2008-03-06T15:10:00","slug":"wiviott-ups-the-ante-in-congressional-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/03\/wiviott-ups-the-ante-in-congressional-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Wiviott ups the ante in congressional race"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Third Congressional District candidate Don Wiviott<\/a>, who had already given $325,000 to jumpstart his campaign, has pitched in another $250,000, giving him a huge amount of money and triggering a federal rule that triples contribution limits for all candidates in the race. <\/p>\n

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

It doesn\u2019t make him the frontrunner in the race \u2013 that position is held by Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n<\/a> \u2013 but it does indicate that Wiviott\u2019s campaign believes he has a serious shot at being Northern New Mexico<\/st1:place>\u2019s next congressman if he can improve his name recognition and craft a positive image among voters.<\/p>\n

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

Wiviott spokeswoman Caroline Buerkle confirmed the new contribution Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThe support Don has received these last few months has only emboldened his belief that New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> voters want change,\u201d she said. \u201cAs the only outsider in the race, Don intends to make sure change is on the ballot by mounting a primary campaign that has all the resources it will need.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Candidates can give up to $350,000 without triggering the so-called Millionaires\u2019 Amendment<\/a>. Now that Wiviott has crossed that threshold, all candidates in the race can collect contributions as large as $6,900, instead of the usual limit of $2,300.<\/p>\n

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

That will help Luj\u00e1n raise a respectable amount of money. He is in the midst of several fundraisers hosted by his father, who is the speaker of the House, and other legislators, lobbyists and politicos. But Wiviott will likely outspend him in the Democratic primary.<\/p>\n

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

Wiviott became last week the first U.S. House candidate in the state to air television ads<\/a>. He also had produced a five-minute video<\/a> introducing him to voters, so he\u2019s clearly spending a lot of money. Many analysts expect him to stay on television through the June primary.<\/p>\n

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

One question is whether Wiviott is able to raise outside money or is contributing so much of his personal wealth because he is having trouble raising cash. In the fourth quarter of 2007, Wiviott raised about $20,000 in individual contributions, while Luj\u00e1n raised about $53,000. It was both candidates\u2019 first quarter in the race.<\/p>\n

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

The totals are a little difficult to analyze because Wiviott began as a candidate for U.S. Senate, before Tom Udall<\/a> jumped into the Senate race and vacated the congressional race. Wiviott raised about $154,000 in individual contributions before he switched races.<\/p>\n

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

The finance reports due April 15 will be a good indicator of the financial health of both campaigns, and those of the other candidates in the race.<\/p>\n

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

Wiviott told me when he jumped into the U.S. Senate race that he would spend whatever it took to be competitive. When he moved to the House race, he reiterated that in a second interview.<\/p>\n

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

\n

I can tell you that Wiviott has raised almost $29,000 on ActBlue<\/a> \u2013 by far the most of any Democratic candidate for the Third Congressional District seat, but less than that raised by First Congressional District candidate Martin Heinrich<\/a> and Second Congressional District candidate Bill McCamley<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

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

For more on the Third Congressional District race, check out this article<\/a> from the Santa Fe New Mexican.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Third Congressional District candidate Don Wiviott, who had already given $325,000 to jumpstart his campaign, has pitched in another $250,000, giving him a huge amount of money and triggering a federal rule that triples contribution limits for all candidates in the race. It doesn\u2019t make him the frontrunner in the race \u2013 that position is […]<\/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-2951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2951","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=2951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2951\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}