{"id":30344,"date":"2011-06-29T02:52:37","date_gmt":"2011-06-29T08:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=30344"},"modified":"2011-06-30T02:23:34","modified_gmt":"2011-06-30T08:23:34","slug":"chavez-is-running-for-congress-denish-isn%e2%80%99t","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/06\/chavez-is-running-for-congress-denish-isn%e2%80%99t\/","title":{"rendered":"Ch\u00e1vez is running for Congress; Denish isn\u2019t"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

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

Former Albuquerque Mayor Martin Ch\u00e1vez<\/a> is running for the 1st Congressional District seat being vacated by Martin Heinrich<\/a>; meanwhile, former Lt. Gov. Diane Denish<\/a> has decided against running.<\/p>\n

Ch\u00e1vez, a Democrat, declared his candidacy late Tuesday in an Albuquerque Journal article<\/a>. The newspaper also referred to a video it said was posted on Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s website<\/a>, but as of the publication of this article, the video and any announcement of his congressional campaign had not been posted.<\/p>\n

From the Journal:<\/p>\n

\u201cCh\u00e1vez said Tuesday that as a House member, he would seek to balance the federal budget while supporting programs such as Medicare and Social Security to protect society\u2019s \u2018most vulnerable.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018It really is about the economy and how perilous it is,\u2019 he said. \u2018And you can\u2019t have a strong economy unless you balance the budget.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ch\u00e1vez served three terms as Albuquerque\u2019s mayor before losing a three-way race to Richard Berry in 2009. Since then, he\u2019s worked as the director of a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C. He was quoted as saying that work has shown him how the federal government operates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have watched the way the federal government works, and, frankly, it doesn\u2019t work,\u201d the Journal quoted Ch\u00e1vez as saying. \u201cThis is one of the most dysfunctional places I\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denish: Skills best suited for an executive position<\/h3>\n

Meanwhile, Denish told NMPolitics.net on Tuesday evening that she\u2019s decided against running for the Albuquerque-area congressional seat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve gotten lots of encouragement from people both inside and outside the district,\u201d the Democrat said. \u201cI\u2019ve given it a lot of through and reflection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Denish said two things made her decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always said that I wanted to stay home and work hard in New Mexico, and that\u2019s still true,\u201d she said. \u201cI think my skills are best suited to another kind of position, more of an executive, either an executive in the private sector or in the public sector.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denish said she would continue to look for such opportunities in Albuquerque or around New Mexico.<\/p>\n

Denish said Ch\u00e1vez called her last week to tell her he was running. His decision to enter the race didn\u2019t influence her decision, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel very confident about my ability to have won a primary and to go on and have faced a very tough general, but ultimately, it\u2019s just not the right time for me,\u201d Denish said.<\/p>\n

The status of the race<\/h3>\n

Ch\u00e1vez joins State Sen. Eric Griego<\/a>, a former Albuquerque city councilor, in the Democratic primary. Terry Brunner, U.S. Sen.\u00a0Jeff Bingaman\u2019s<\/a> former state director who now heads USDA Rural Development in New Mexico, has told NMPolitics.net that he is also considering running.<\/p>\n

The Journal identified Bernalillo County Commissioner Michelle Lujan Grisham, former Sandia Pueblo Gov. Stuart Paisano, and state Treasurer James Lewis as other Democrats who are considering running.<\/p>\n

On the Republican side, Albuquerque City Councilor\u00a0Dan Lewis<\/a> is the only declared candidate. Former State Rep. and gubernatorial candidate\u00a0Janice Arnold-Jones<\/a> has formed an exploratory committee, and Economic Development Secretary\u00a0Jon Barela<\/a>, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2010, is considering joining the race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Albuquerque Mayor Martin Ch\u00e1vez is running for the 1st Congressional District seat being vacated by Martin Heinrich; meanwhile, former Lt. Gov. Diane Denish has decided against running.<\/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-30344","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\/30344","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=30344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30344\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}