The 1980 United States House of Representatives election in New Mexico was held on Tuesday November 4, 1980 to elect the state's two representatives to serve in the 97th United States Congress. Primary elections were held on June 3, 1980.
At the beginning of 1980, Harold Runnels was a popular five-term member of Congress. No Democrat had filed to run against him in the primary since 1970, and his support among Republicans was so strong that no Republican bothered to run against him in either 1978 or 1980. Runnels was sending out feelers about a possible candidacy for NM Governor in 1982.
In 1980, however, a Democrat chose to run against Runnels. The manager of Sierra County, Gil M. Olguin, announced his candidacy on February 2nd, 1980 and began to collect signatures. He filed his candidacy papers the same day as Runnels.[2]Harold Runnels in the end won the primary 80-20%.[3]
US Rep. Harold Runnels was a popular Democrat who had severe health problems in his final two years of life. He had cancer surgery in 1979, and he only agreed to run for another term after tests showed he was cancer-free.[4] Just a week after defeating his only opponent in 1980 in the Democratic primary, however, Runnels began to suffer from lung congestion.[5] He went to the Sloane-Kettering Hospital in NYC twice to see specialists, and he died there on August 5th 1980. [6]
Replacement Candidate
Speculation began immediately about a replacement candidate. The NM Attorney General issued an opinion that since no Republican filed for the primary, it was too late for them to list a nominee on the ballot. Dorothy Runnels, widow of the deceased congressman, was interested in running, and Republicans in general believed she would be to their liking[7] The Democrats scheduled a meeting to select their nominee on August 23rd. Dorothy Runnels announced her candidacy on August 9th.[8] The nephew of Gov Bruce King, David King (then serving as state finance secretary), changed his official residence to the second congressional district just after Rep. Runnels's funeral and announced his candidacy, which seemed inappropriate to many Democrats.[9] Democrats found this a good opportunity to increase the number of women in Congress, and on August 19th. more than half of Democrats in the US House, along with the entire party leadership, signed a letter endorsing her.[10] When the Democrats met, however, political pressure from the governor was too great; King was nominated with 55 votes to 27 for Runnels and 4 for Olguin.[11]
Campaign
Dorothy runnels decided to run a Write in campaign as she had not expected to gain ballot access. Her attorney continued to seek ballot status through litigation but failed. A poll by KOAT-TV released on September 24th showed Runnels leading with 36% to Skeen 28%, King 18%, and State Sen. Aubrey Dunn with 7%. [12] However, in the end Republican Joe Skeen won the election with just 38% of the vote.[13]
Results
New Mexico's 2nd congressional district election, 1980
