{"id":614309,"date":"2018-08-14T17:54:06","date_gmt":"2018-08-14T23:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=614309"},"modified":"2018-08-15T15:05:44","modified_gmt":"2018-08-15T21:05:44","slug":"former-gov-johnson-joins-u-s-senate-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/08\/former-gov-johnson-joins-u-s-senate-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Gov. Johnson joins U.S. Senate race"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_170271\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/gageskidmore\/6184191171\/in\/photolist-aqtAzH-5HjvMe-deJnJ6-rt58on-8tMSps-9iovXJ-89x3aK-9WvN3E-9Sbh6k-9WvLnd-bUwRS4-9iowF3-dj6yWV-6JBB31-9iowoJ-8uX6mM-9PJUsi-deJne8-6terHX-r7KbQA-9RgcQ9-9Q2wrD-dBmSuv-dBsidw-r7HVbw-9Qvb1L-9KuiYK-dBmTs4-deJniX-6tum9T-9iow37-deJg5y-aquL4J-rpbtct-azBnSM-deJgxj-azBnoD-aquLmW-azE41W-dBsffy-vm32Ek-8xhKLX-deJgRg-deJnLY-dBsgwy-r7HGtq-dpNFun-deJh2p-deJo5t-dySraQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-170271 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Johnson-Gary-771x540.jpg\" alt=\"Gary Johnson\" width=\"771\" height=\"540\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Johnson-Gary.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Johnson-Gary-336x235.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Johnson-Gary-768x538.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Gage Skidmore \/ Creative Commons<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gary Johnson<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The Libertarian Party of New Mexico has filed paperwork to officially name former governor Gary Johnson as its nominee for U.S. Senate.<\/p>\n<p>The Secretary of State updated\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/candidateportal.servis.sos.state.nm.us\/CandidateList.aspx?eid=2698&amp;cty=99\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the listing of candidates<\/a>\u00a0to include Johnson on Tuesday morning after the party filed at 9:30 p.m. on Monday, the office said. Johnson will face incumbent Democrat Martin Heinrich and Republican contractor Mick Rich in the November general election.<\/p>\n<p>The Libertarian Party of New Mexico Central Committee voted Johnson as its candidate\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmpoliticalreport.com\/866936\/nm-libertarian-party-picks-gary-johnson-as-us-senate-nominee\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">earlier this month<\/a>\u00a0after State Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn, the original nominee, withdrew from the race. For about a week after the nomination, while supporters anticipated a run, Johnson stayed silent on his plans.<\/p>\n<p>But days after his nomination, Johnson\u2019s former presidential campaign manager started Elect Liberty PAC in support of Johnson.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmpoliticalreport.com\/869396\/former-gov-johnson-in-senate-race\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Mexico Political Report<\/a>,\u00a0a nonprofit news organization\u00a0focused on promoting a greater public understanding of politics and policy in the state of New Mexico.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Johnson\u2019s campaign did not respond to a request for comment from\u00a0<i>NM Political Report<\/i>\u00a0before publication.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson served two terms as governor while a member of the Republican Party. He also ran for president as a Republican in 2012. Frustrated he couldn\u2019t participate in the presidential debates, Johnson switched to the Libertarian Party and ran as that party\u2019s presidential nominee in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>By receiving the support of 9 percent of voters in New Mexico in 2016, he helped the Libertarian Party gain major party status.<\/p>\n<p>After his 2016 campaign, Johnson repeatedly said he would not run for office again. But last month, he changed his mind.<\/p>\n<p>Some Libertarians have said Rich should drop out because\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmpoliticalreport.com\/867992\/as-johnson-ponders-run-for-senate-some-call-for-republican-candidate-to-drop-out\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a poll showed Johnson leading Heinrich in a two-candidate race<\/a>. Heinrich\u2019s campaign released polling numbers that showed Heinrich leading in both a three-way race involving Rich and Johnson and a two-way race between Heinrich and Johnson.<\/p>\n<p>Also on Tuesday,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GovGaryJohnson\/status\/1029430549214056448\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Johnson\u2019s verified Twitter account<\/a>\u00a0sent out a video from Elect Liberty PAC that touted the former governor\u2019s candidacy. The ad called Johnson \u201cfiscally conservative and socially cool.\u201d<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Democratic Party of New Mexico chairwoman Marg Elliston slammed Johnson in a statement, saying his \u201cextreme positions would take us backward\u201d and mentioning the PAC\u2019s ad.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s telling of his character that in his first move to run for Senate, Gary Johnson coordinated his campaign launch with a Utah-based Super PAC run by his former campaign manager,\u201d she said. \u201cNot only is he circumventing federal election law so wealthy donors can tip the scales in this Senate race, no New Mexico voter actually voted for him to be on the ballot.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Republican candidate Mick Rich\u2019s campaign also criticized Johnson.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHard-working taxpayers are fed up with career politicians,\u201d campaign spokesman Nathan James said. \u201cWe need a senator who will work for everyday families. Mick Rich has helped to build New Mexico\u2019s communities, and employed hundreds of New Mexicans in good-paying jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The election takes place Nov. 6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Libertarian Party of New Mexico has filed paperwork to officially name former governor Gary Johnson as its nominee for U.S. Senate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":170271,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2238,297,3310,267,116],"class_list":["post-614309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2018-election","tag-gary-johnson","tag-libertarian-party","tag-u-s-senate","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614309","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=614309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}