{"id":3981,"date":"2008-11-12T12:53:00","date_gmt":"2008-11-12T18:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/11\/rawson-concedes-race-to-fischmann\/"},"modified":"2008-11-12T12:53:00","modified_gmt":"2008-11-12T18:53:00","slug":"rawson-concedes-race-to-fischmann","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/11\/rawson-concedes-race-to-fischmann\/","title":{"rendered":"Rawson concedes race to Fischmann"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This article has been updated.<\/p>\n

Republican Leonard Lee Rawson<\/a> sent an e-mail to supporters today conceding defeat in last week\u2019s District 37<\/a> state Senate race against Democrat Steve Fischmann<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur district, which is the third largest by number of registered voters, appears to have a new senator to represent us,\u201d Rawson wrote.<\/p>\n

With all but eight provisional ballots from Sierra County left to be considered, Fischmann leads the current Senate minority whip by 544 votes. Fischmann has 13,131 votes, or 51.1 percent, to Rawson\u2019s 12,587 votes, or 48.9 percent.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Rawson, who has served in the Senate since 1987, thanked his supporters in the e-mail and wrote that he has \u201cpoured my heart into serving each one of you in this unpaid capacity, often bearing your burdens with you, and it has been my joy to work diligently in your behalf.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fischmann could not immediately be reached for comment. His victory means there are no Republicans in the Legislature representing Do\u00f1a Ana County except Dianna Duran<\/a>, R-Tularosa, whose district is primarily in Otero Count but includes a small, rural area of eastern Do\u00f1a Ana County.<\/p>\n

Rawson made no mention in the e-mail of the concerns of potential voter fraud<\/a> that he raised before the election. He also didn\u2019t mention Do\u00f1a Ana County\u2019s absentee ballot snafu<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Rawson did write that he has focused on providing top-notch service to his constituents, doing pre-legislative surveys at his own expense, keeping in touch through e-mail, having top attendance and voting records, focusing on issues instead of partisanship and \u201crestoring the dignity and demeanor of the Senate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy successor would do well to build on these higher standards. I anticipate that you will keep him informed of your concerns and interests,\u201d Rawson wrote. \u201cI am confident that you will hold him accountable to accurately and diligently represent you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rawson wrote that he and his wife are looking forward to more time with family, friends and neighbors and to invest in their church and business. He said they have no regrets \u201cand we have joyfully served you wholeheartedly! Our Lord is leading us in a new direction, and we are excited about the opportunities ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 3:25 p.m.<\/p>\n

Fischmann said Rawson called him a couple of days ago and again today and was congratulatory.<\/p>\n

<\/span>\u201cI hope I do a good job for all the folks that put faith in me. Even for those folks that didn\u2019t vote for me, I hope I do a good job for them, too,\u201d Fischmann said. \u201cI see some real opportunities. Even if it\u2019s a tough budgetary session, if we use some imagination we can create some real educational and economic opportunities in Do\u00f1a Ana County, in particular in renewable energy.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article has been updated. Republican Leonard Lee Rawson sent an e-mail to supporters today conceding defeat in last week\u2019s District 37 state Senate race against Democrat Steve Fischmann. \u201cOur district, which is the third largest by number of registered voters, appears to have a new senator to represent us,\u201d Rawson wrote. With all but […]<\/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-3981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3981","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=3981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3981\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}