Former New Mexico congresswoman Heather Wilson will announce her Senate candidacy Monday, two Republicans inform POLITICO.
Wilson is expected to be the first official candidate in the race since five-term Democrat Sen. Jeff Bingaman announced his retirement on Feb. 18.
I’d be shocked if Wilson were not the recipient of a mighty teabagging. In comments, I saw someone suggesting she could run for her old seat in NM-01 if Rep. Martin Heinrich got into the senate race. Do you think that drop-down could happen?
why not again? it’d be hilarious it’s it’s steve pearce, or more likely a candidate pearce endorses.
for Jim DeMint and the TPX to work their magic here.
Wilson is definitely one of the stronger New Mexico candidates the Republicans can field, but then again, that’s more a commentary on how weak the Republican bench in New Mexico is rather than how strong Heather Wilson is (she’s taken a hit in popularity since 2008, losing to Steve Pearce and the David Iglesias thing hurt her). She and Pearce definitely have bad blood between them, and I don’t doubt for a second that Pearce, if it comes down to it, would jump in himself if someone else doesn’t challenge Wilson from the right.
With the House seat, I doubt Wilson would go to the House seat, if someone like Balderas or Heinrich wins now, Wilson won’t have another chance to run again (running against Udall would be a suicide run and he won’t retire anytime soon anyways) but even if she does, I still like our chances of retaining the seat (the district has moved away from her, she would have lost in 2008, I say that pretty confidently given Obama’s performance).
The republicans have not trouble doing this.
against Heinrich? Because, IMO, that’s probably the whole race.
And how many depends on how much Obama wins the state by. She is a moderate, which would help, but unless the Democratic nominee is a mess, not many are going to see a reason to split their ticket.
Given his ’08 thumping in the general election, I think Pearce’s statewide stock has fallen considerably. Sanchez, on the flip side, is an Hispanic Tea Partier, and, given Martinez’s success, I suspect the Tea Party could coalesce pretty firmly behind him. With Pearce, though, I don’t think the enthusiasm would be there and I think Wilson would probably win rather comfortably. If Pearce somehow won the nod, this would be Safe D. With Sanchez, I’d wager Lean D and with Wilson, I’d say toss-up, at least for the time being. I think she’s as good as it gets for them.