ArnoldJones in race for District 1 house seat
Republican formally announces candidacy
Janice Arnold-Jones — a former state lawmaker who led the push to broadcast legislative hearings online — has joined the wide open race to represent Albuquerque in Congress.
Arnold-Jones, 65, formally announced Monday that she’s seeking the Republican nomination to succeed U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat who’s running for governor rather than seek re-election.
The 1st Congressional District covers Albuquerque and central New Mexico.
ArnoldJones served from 2003 to 2010 in the state House, where she earned a reputation as an advocate for government transparency. She was once so frustrated that she took her own camera to a committee meeting — because her colleagues kept refusing to broadcast their work to people outside the Roundhouse.
Arnold-Jones also served on the Albuquerque City Council in 2013 to fill the unexpired term of a councilor who had resigned.
Her experience in state and local government would be an asset in Congress, ArnoldJones said.
“In Washington, D.C., the legislative process matters,” Arnold-Jones said in a written statement. “I am good at the legislative process. It makes a difference for New Mexico.
“Committees and actually showing up for the meetings matter, reading legislation before voting on it matters, the rules matter and listening to constituents matter — all things some have accused me of doing a little too much, but they obviously matter.”
Also competing for the GOP nomination in the 1st Congressional District is Michael Hendricks, a 34-year-old immigration lawyer.
On the Democratic side, seven people are running: Edgewood Town Councilor John Abrams; Albuquerque City Councilor Pat Davis; Albuquerque physicist Dennis Dinge; former state Democratic Party Chairwoman Debra Haaland; Albuquerque attorney Damian Lara; Damon Martinez, former U.S. attorney for New Mexico; and Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, former associate dean of the University of New Mexico Law School.
Arnold-Jones also ran for Congress in 2012, losing to Lujan Grisham.