Luján wins 3rd District House race
By Kate Nash
November 5, 2008
At just 6:45 p.m., the woman on the phone was calling to congratulate Ben Ray Luján.
He was in an interview with reporters, so his campaign manager grabbed the BlackBerry.
"Ben Ray Luján's phone," was how Carlos Trujillo answered.
That might be a common scenario for the phone of Luján, who heard plenty of congratulations early on but wasn't declared the official winner until late in the evening.
Luján ended the night with 54 percent of the vote, against about 32 percent for Republican Dan East and 13 percent for Carol Miller.
While it seems likely Luján would have someone else answering his phone in the future, in an interview and during his acceptance speech he pledged to stay connected to New Mexico.
Judging by the crowd gathered at Hotel Santa Fe to watch election results, Luján indeed has the connections. Several in the audience said they were related to Luján or were family friends.
Luján, 36, who graduated last year from New Mexico Highlands University and is the son of state House Speaker Ben Luján, waded through a crowd of supporters to the tune of "Small Town" by John Mellencamp — a staple of Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign. After his speech, U2's "Beautiful Day" blared from the loudspeakers, a song the Obama camp played repeatedly during rallies in New Mexico.
"We have never feared change; we must embrace it because change is on its way," Luján said.
While Luján spoke on a small stage in the front of a ballroom inside the hotel, he was at times drowned out by cheers of "Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, goodbye," a song sung by a group gathered around a TV and watching Sen. John McCain.
Luján's supporters included state employees; Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano; state Rep. Ray Begaye; at least two of the Democrats who challenged him in the primary; and a cadre of other well-wishers.
Many in the group got to the hotel before polls closed in hopes of getting a coveted green polyester-covered seat from which to watch the night's election results on flat screens around the room.
The celebration had a homemade feel, with tamales, taquitos, guacamole and fresh salsa among the offerings for volunteers and supporters. The table decorations were handmade, too — wedding-party-styled red decorations with small "I'm with Ben R. Luján" stickers at the top.
A cloth banner tacked to the wall had the big words "We Believe," and still smelled of fresh Magic Markers.
"Love and prayers, Uncle Rosendo, Aunt Mary Lou, Ross and Laurie, Richard and Jessica and boys," read one of the many inscriptions for Luján, who's from Nambé.
Another handmade sign said "Lujánamos," reflecting both the connection to the Obama campaign and Northern New Mexico's Hispanic population.
Luján said he expected to represent possibly the one seat in Congress picked up by a Hispanic this year — a fit for a district with a giant Hispanic population.
He'll also be among the youngest new members, and said he anticipated joining just a few other 30-somethings moving to Capitol Hill.
If preliminary results hold true, Luján will be part of New Mexico's new, entirely Democratic coalition, which will include Sen. Tom Udall and Reps. Harry Teague of New Mexico's 2nd District and Martin Heinrich in the 1st. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, also a Democrat, was not up for re-election this year. It will be the first time since the 1960s that the state will be represented entirely by Democrats.
Luján said he looked forward to working on alternative energy, services for veterans and Native Americans, and water, some of which he worked on during his time on the Public Regulation Commission.
So what is Gov. Bill Richardson, who held the seat from 1982 to 1997, hoping Luján can accomplish?
"Stay there for a long time, develop seniority for the state ... We've got to get some seniority back," the governor said in an interview earlier in the day at the state Capitol.
Many state officials have fretted that the newness of the state's congressional delegation could cost New Mexico clout on key committees.
But new or not, 19-year-old Darian Gonzales, whose dad knows the new representative, was glad to see Luján heading to Washington.
"We need change. The last thing I wanted to see is another Great Depression," said Gonzales, who is studying criminal justice at both Northern New Mexico College and Western New Mexico University.
Luján graduated from Pojoaque High School 1990. In the 18 years since, he shot to one of the state's highest-paying elected jobs: Public Regulation Commission member. Elected in 2004, he started the $90,000-a-year job in 2005, serving as chairman from 2005 through 2007.
The win seemed a sure thing for Luján, once he cleared the primary. According to current secretary of state numbers, the other candidates faced tough odds. Fifty percent of the voters in the district are registered Democrats, while 32 percent are Republicans. Another 15 percent declined to choose a party affiliation, while the remaining 3 percent chose another party.
The district includes a diverse group of cities, ranging from Farmington and Clovis to Rio Rancho and Santa Fe.
It's been represented by a Democrat — starting with then-Congressman Richardson — since it was created in 1982, except for Republican Bill Redmond.
Redmond won in 1997 when Miller also was a candidate, that time as a Green Party member. Many say Miller split the vote between her, Democrat Eric Serna and Redmond. A year later, Udall won the seat.
East, a Rio Rancho construction company owner, remained optimistic until the end. Early in the evening, he said he had done all he could do. He couldn't be reached for comment later Tuesday night.
Miller, a public health advocate from Ojo Sarco, said she was proud of the campaign she ran and the issues she was able to raise, including health care for all.
"I think I'm going to end up with a sizable vote that shows a lot of people believed in the ideals I was able to represent to them," she said. "I feel good."
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