{"id":33452,"date":"2011-10-31T07:15:22","date_gmt":"2011-10-31T13:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=33452"},"modified":"2011-11-01T07:53:22","modified_gmt":"2011-11-01T13:53:22","slug":"barela-steinborn-might-join-congressional-races","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/10\/barela-steinborn-might-join-congressional-races\/","title":{"rendered":"Barela, Steinborn might join congressional races"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Jon Barela, left, and Jeff Steinborn<\/p><\/div>\n

The playing fields are set for many 2012 U.S. House and Senate races across the nation, but the dynamics might still change dramatically in the 1st and 2nd congressional district races in New Mexico.<\/p>\n

Jon Barela<\/a>, the Republican Party\u2019s 2010 nominee for the Albuquerque-area 1st Congressional District seat, confirmed Friday that he\u2019s still considering making another attempt at winning the seat next year.<\/p>\n

And former State Rep. Jeff Steinborn<\/a>, D-Las Cruces, confirmed Friday that he\u2019s seriously considering running against U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce<\/a>, the Republican who represents the Southern New Mexico 2nd Congressional District. Steinborn said that\u2019s not the only race he\u2019s looking at.<\/p>\n

The entrance of either into a congressional race would reshape that contest.<\/p>\n

A lackluster CD1 GOP primary<\/h3>\n

The most recent finance reports revealed competitive Democratic and Republican primaries in the race for the open 1st District seat \u2013 but on the Republican side, many are unhappy with their choices. Janice Arnold-Jones<\/a>\u00a0ended the last quarter with just under $25,000 in the bank, while Dan Lewis<\/a> had more than $82,000. Neither toped $50,000 in fundraising during the last quarter \u2013 which some say is a sign that donors are waiting to see what Barela does or are hoping for another strong candidate to enter the race.<\/p>\n

During a visit to Las Cruces, Barela, the state\u2019s economic development secretary, said Friday he\u2019s still \u201cvery much looking at\u201d the 1st District race but said he\u2019s waiting to see what redistricting does to the makeup of the district. That process is currently in the courts.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Barela said he\u2019s \u201claser-focused\u201d on his current job and won\u2019t be distracted from it, but he acknowledged that many are encouraging him to run for Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m humbled by the ongoing support and encouragement of those who are urging me to get into the race,\u201d Barela said.<\/p>\n

On the Democratic side, the 1st District candidates are former Albuquerque Mayor Marty Ch\u00e1vez<\/a>, State Sen. Eric Griego<\/a>, and Bernalillo County Commissioner Michelle Lujan Grisham<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Barela would likely be able to raise money quickly and possibly establish himself as the frontrunner in the GOP primary if he decided to run. Until he decides whether to do that, the race remains fluid. Arnold-Jones and Lewis won\u2019t go down without a fight. Lewis has already hired Barela\u2019s 2010 finance director to fill that job for his campaign.<\/p>\n

A serious challenge for Pearce?<\/h3>\n

Meanwhile, Pearce currently isn\u2019t facing a serious challenge. Though two Democrats are launching long-shot bids to unseat him \u2013\u00a0Evelyn Madrid Erhard<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Frank McKinnon<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 neither had reached the $5,000 fundraising limit by Sept. 30 that required the filing of an FEC report.<\/p>\n

The race would change dramatically if Steinborn runs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point in time I am looking at that, as well as other options,\u201d Steinborn said. \u201cSteve Pearce is, without question, one of the worst congressmen in America, and a person who has continually put his own interests and his political interests above the interests of our country. It\u2019s time that he goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steinborn, who lost his re-election bid for his state House seat last year, has a strong and active base in Las Cruces. Many doubt a Democrat has a shot against Pearce next year, but Steinborn isn\u2019t one of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we\u2019ve seen the last several elections, anything can happen,\u201d he said. \u201cI think when politicians start pigeonholing citizens, saying they\u2019re only going to vote this way, they\u2019re only going to vote that way, that doesn\u2019t give them enough credit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo-called safe seats have changed parties all across America when voters think we need change. I believe this is one of those years,\u201d Steinborn said. \u201cSteve Pearce has brought special distinction to himself through his extreme and destructive behavior as a congressman, and I think voters can see that. It is especially time for a change here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether you\u2019re part of the tea party or part of the 99 percent \u2013 wherever you fall on that spectrum \u2013 people are ready for change,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re ready for Washington to start dealing with the biggest problems in this country in a bipartisan way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steinborn ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2004, before he was elected to the state Legislature, so he\u2019s familiar with the district. He said he\u2019s committed to making sure Pearce is defeated, even if he\u2019s not the candidate challenging Pearce.<\/p>\n

He said he\u2019s also looking at running for a seat in the state Legislature and waiting to see how redistricting affects things.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a range of things being looked at, and, candidly, I\u2019ve gotten a fair amount of encouragement from different quarters for various offices,\u201d Steinborn said.<\/p>\n

Pearce\u2019s last finance report showed that he had more than $433,000 on hand on Sept. 30.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The playing fields are set for many 2012 U.S. House and Senate races across the nation, but the dynamics might still change dramatically in the 1st and 2nd congressional district races in New Mexico.<\/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":[228,156,229,107,116],"class_list":["post-33452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-1st-congressional-district-race","tag-2012-election","tag-2nd-congressional-district-race","tag-roundhouse","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33452","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=33452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33452\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}