Bill Richardson, a New Mexico Democrat who served as governor from 2003 to 2011 after serving in the U.S. House and Clinton administration, died Friday at the age of 75. Richardson is largely remembered for his work negotiating the release of Americans detained overseas, a service that continued into this year when he helped free a Navy veteran who crossed from Poland into Russia. As is our wont at Daily Kos Elections, though, we'll be focusing on the Democrat's electoral career.
Richardson, who grew up in California and Massachusetts, moved to New Mexico in 1978, a decision the New York Times says he made because he believed the state's large Latino electorate would be open to backing a Mexican American politician like himself. But Richardson's start in local Democratic politics was turbulent, and he spent just six weeks as state party executive director before the post was eliminated in what the Sante Fe New Mexican calls "a party leadership shuffle." Richardson quickly found a new post as party executive director in Bernalillo County, which has long been the state's largest county, and he tried running for office himself in 1980 when he challenged GOP Rep. Manuel Lujan in the 1st District.
The six-term incumbent, who hailed from a prominent local political family, had won his last campaign with 63% of the vote, and he later acknowledged that he didn't see the Democrat as a threat. However, as Lujan told NPR in 2007, "He is a tireless worker—works early morning to late at night." Former Gov. Jerry Apodaca also recounted, "Anywhere you went there was Bill Richardson shaking hands." Lujan fended off Richardson just 51-49 even as, according to political analyst Kiernan Park-Egan, Ronald Reagan defeated President Jimmy Carter 52-39 in the 1st.
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