NM-Sen: Pearce Ekes Out GOP Primary Victory Over Wilson

Dem Tom Udall will be facing ultraconservative Repub Steve Pearce (right) in the U.S. Senate race in November. You can see Udall's primary night speech here, as he celebrated victory in a primary race where he was unopposed.

According to the AP, Heather Wilson has conceded the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate to Steve Pearce:

Congresswoman Heather Wilson has endorsed Congressman Steve Pearce in his bid for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Pete Domenici. ... Wilson said today in Albuquerque that Republicans have made their choice and she gladly accepts it. ... Wilson says she doesn't regret her decision to leave the U.S. House to seek the Senate seat. She says she doesn't know what she'll do next.

Pearce carried a steady 51-49% lead over Wilson into the wee hours last night, a margin that propelled him to victory this morning with 99% of precincts reporting.

According to the Albuquerque Journal:

As expected, Pearce dominated across his southern New Mexico district. The former owner of an oil services company in Lea County also won 57 percent of the vote in San Juan County, which is also home to the oil industry.

Wilson was strong in Bernalillo County, where she serves the 1st District, getting about 66 percent of the vote, but it was not enough to overcome Pearce's higher margins in his district. Wilson also had a strong showing in Los Alamos — home to the nuclear weapons lab where she accused Pearce of voting to cut federal funding and jobs — with 73 percent of the vote.

It's not clear whether retiring Sen. Pete Domenici's awkward and last-minute endorsement of Wilson did much to help her. If Domenici had come out earlier, appeared in TV ads with Wilson and worked at least parts of the state on her behalf, his endorsement probably would have packed some punch that could have made the difference in such a tight race. Thinking too much about his legacy, as many retiring politicos do, apparently caused Domenici to tread too lightly in this race. Not wanting to go out backing a loser, he ended up going out backing a loser because he waited too long to take a stand.

Now the battle begins. New Mexico's Senate race is expected to garner strong nationwide attention, with lots of nasty 527 action coming from the GOP side and millions spent on the campaigns. Pearce, though considered by many to be way too conservative for a statewide win, will fight tooth and nail for this seat with backing from the usual well-heeled donors on the right, as well as the DC Repub establishment.

If we want to turn this Senate seat Blue, we can't take anything for granted and we have to donate our time, our energy and our dollars to Tom Udall's campaign starting right now. Visit the Udall website and sign up today to be a part of one of the most important Senate campaigns in the nation this cycle.

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