3RD CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: Democratic incumbent faces challenge from Republican, Libertarian
Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of election stories about 2018 New Mexico races and candidates that started Sunday. Look for more stories in the coming days and weeks leading up to Election Day, including profiles in Wednesday’s paper of the candidates running for U.S. Senate.
SANTA FE — Democrat Ben Ray Luján has coasted to victory in his previous five campaigns for a U.S. House of Representatives seat.
The incumbent from Nambé, just north of Santa Fe, is running again in the 3rd Congressional District, the state’s most Democratic. A majority — 51 percent — of the district’s voters are registered Democrats, making it a comfortable political home for Luján, who serves as chairman of the national Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).
He’s never received less than 56 percent of the vote and has garnered at last 61 percent in each of his past three elections.
But Luján is not getting a free pass to another term. Two candidates — Republican Jerald Steve McFall and Libertarian Chris Manning — are also on the November general election ballot.
“Everybody has a chance,” insists McFall, even as he acknowledges he may be the biggest underdog among the nation’s House candidates.
McFall, a farmer (mostly alfalfa), ski area tech and ski instructor, said that in many parts of the district, his “Make America Great Again” Trump hat draws cheers and that even in the heavily Democratic Rio Grande Valley, people look around to make sure no one’s watching, then tell him, “I like your hat.”
Manning, an Iraq War veteran who works in his family’s business that audits nonprofits and school districts, said most people are tired of the politics and partisanship in Washington, D.C., and that he’s among those who believe “you can’t complain if you don’t try and change things.”
Winning against Luján would be “a huge upset,” Manning said. But he implied that he’s got a long-term plan.
“I think eventually you have to be willing to run more than once,” he said, after building name recognition and a campaign infrastructure the first time around.
Luján, as expected, has an immense fundraising advantage. The Federal Election Commission website shows Luján has received nearly $1.5 million in total contributions since January 2017 and has spent $1.42 million, including $600,000 in transfers to the DCCC. As of June 30, he had $839,000 in cash on hand.
Neither McFall nor Manning shows up as filing any FEC campaign finance reports. The reports aren’t required if less than $5,000 is raised or spent.
Manning said he recently passed the $5,000 threshold and soon will be filing a report showing he’s spent about $5,900.
McFall said he’ll exceed the reporting threshold some time this month.
Luján said he’s not assuming re-election is in the bag.
“I have never taken an election for granted, and I have always run my campaign as a competitive race,” he said in an email response to Journal questions. “This year alone, I have traveled thousands of miles across the district to speak directly to constituents and voters.”
“This is one of the most important elections in our lifetimes,” he added, “and it is up to all of us to elect leaders that are ready to restore checks and balances in our nation, build our economy, ensure middle-class families have access to affordable, quality health care, and protect our precious land, air, and water that are part of our heritage and economy in New Mexico.”
Following a path
Republican McFall said God put him on the path to run for Congress.
He said he believes God used state government to knock him down into homelessness and poverty a decade ago in a child custody dispute, but he fought his way back to a middle-class life by taking multiple jobs and going to school, as a single parent.
“This path just lit up … and I just followed it,” he said.
McFall started campaigns in prior election cycles, but didn’t end up on the ballot. He said now it’s time for a change in New Mexico and that a growing “silent majority” supports that idea and knows how well the country is doing under President Trump.
He said Democrats have been in charge of the state for nearly a century and as a result “we’re on the bottom of every good list and top of every bad list.”
He also said he believes there’s a lot of dislike of Luján, in part because of his role in the Democratic Party leadership.
McFall said education, poverty and jobs are key issues.
“We have an army of social workers in this state” he said, “… and they help people get help. They’re really excellent at that, but what we don’t do is help people get off help.”
Those resources should be retooled to help people get education and training, including help with day care, he said. “For those that refuse, there has to be a line where you cut them off,” he said.
“There will always be people in poverty, but it doesn’t need to be for generations and for long periods of time,” he said.
Fiscal conservative
Libertarian Manning said he’d be willing to work with both Democrats and Republicans to get things done if he’s elected.
But he said both major parties have been fiscally irresponsible.
He said Republicans are supposed to be fiscal conservatives, but have controlled the House for six years and in that time the government deficit has averaged $700 billion.
“The Democrats, some of them are using that as a talking point … yet when they’re in power, they’ll have the same thing, a $700- or $800-billion deficit,” said Manning.
“To me, that’s an important issue. Every dollar that the government spends, they took that from you in taxes,” he said.
Manning said he’s gotten a good reception on the campaign trail, but “a lot of people don’t really know what the Libertarian platform is.”
He said meeting with small groups isn’t the most efficient way to get out a message, but sometimes it works. “A guy related to Luján said he was going to vote for me,” Manning said.
Manning said voters tell him the biggest issue is education. He would support block grant funding for schools that would allow for local control and change to take place without federal and state restrictions.
Manning has filed a complaint against Luján with the House Ethics Committee over financial allegations, including whether the congressman failed to report on required disclosure forms interest income from loans he made to his own campaign. He said he is hiring a forensic accountant to look into that and other issues.
“When I have stronger footing, I plan on putting (more) out publicly,” he said.