Results from the Democratic State Convention

How the Day Started

The morning started early. I took Rt. 528 out to the Santa Ana Star Center so I missed the bad car accident on I-25. I arrived by 7:10 am and found a parking space close to the door. I was an alternate but had been asked to take the place of a delegate that could not make it to the convention. By 9:00 am the place was packed. I went up to the second floor for snacks that were kindly provided by Congressman Tom Udall’s campaign. I ran into Jason Call who is running for State Senate. We had a nice talk. I am glad that he decided to run for the state senate seat in his area of the city. He will do a good job for that area of the city. I also ran into Justice Charlie Daniels. He was very happy to be running unopposed but still valued the input from the public. I also ran into Judge Carl Butkus who is running for reelection to the Bernalillo County District Court. Judge Butkus is a good friend but I am always awed by how talented he is when it comes to being a judge for the district court. More later on all of the people I talked to during the morning.

The Results:

For U.S. Senate:

Tom Udall took 100% of the vote. It is clear that the whole state is overjoyed and totally in love with our candidate for the U.S. Senate. We are very lucky to have been able to talk him into running for the U.S. Senate seat. No one in this state is more suited for the job then Congressman Tom Udall.

For State Supreme Court:

Charlie Daniels took 100% of the vote. Justice Daniels is running unopposed in November and will make a valuable addition to the State Supreme Court System.

For U.S. House:

Congressional District 1

Martin Heinrich took 56% of the vote. Martin Heinrich has every reason to be thrilled with the results of this vote. He took the stage with the energy and support that he will need to win in a district that has never before had a democratic candidate win. It is clear that he leads all of the other candidates in this race. His group worked very hard to get his message out to the democratic voters and they deserve credit for what can only be called the best organized group in the race. Martin Heinrich is the only candidate that can beat Darren White in November.

The only other candidate to get more than 20% of the vote was Michelle Lujan-Grisham but she did not get more than 30% which puts her well behind the leader in this race.

Congressional District 2

I am now going to eat my words on this subject. I like most of the democratic voters in this state had given up on the southern part of New Mexico. But credit must be given to Chairman Brian Colon for reaching out to the southern part of New Mexico when everyone else had long since lost hope. I was sitting in my chair listen to the CD2 candidates speak not really hearing anything that impressed me. Thinking ok another year of no hope from the South but knock me over with a feather. The South has risen in a big way. He took the stage as a young energetic candidate but he was by no means alone. He had lots of supporters with him. When he opened his mouth, I felt like Simon Cowell on American Idol. This young man will be a star of our party in the very near future. I don’t even think he begins to know just how talented he is when it comes to politics. Bill McCamley is a natural and a find that we can not let get away. He took the highest vote count from CD2 with over 40% of the vote. Even if he is young this man gets it in a way that no other candidate from CD2 has gotten it in years. The democratic voters in CD2 need to listen to this man speak.

Congressional District 3

No surprise in this district. Ben R. Lujan has the support, the organization and the talent that only growing up in a family that is in politics can give a young man. He took the most votes in this district.

Second is also a good solid candidate with a solid support group. That would be Donald Wiviott.

Either of these candidates would be a good fit for a district that is known to product good solid democratic candidates for our state.

Finally:

I spoke to each of the winning candidates during the day and I am in the process of setting up interviews with each candidate for this blog. I hope to be able to provide more information for the voters in this state from the candidates that gained the most votes from our party’s state convention delegates.

Credit should be given to Chairman Brian Colon and his staff for a well ran election which ran smoothly and where the results came back in on a very timely base. It is clear that our party elections will never look like February 5, 2008 ever again even if they do take place in Rio Rancho. Yes, I got that line from Chairman Colon. Chairman Colon is doing a great job and we are all happy that we have him leading our state party.