The 2012 United States Senate election in New Mexico took place on November 6, 2012, concurrently with the

2012 U.S. presidential election The 2012 United States presidential election was the 57th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. Incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, incumbent Vice President Joe Biden, were r ...

as well as other elections to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and ...

and

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

as well as various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator

Jeff Bingaman Jesse Francis "Jeff" Bingaman Jr. (born October 3, 1943) is an American politician who served as a United States Senator from New Mexico from 1983 to 2013, for 5 terms. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as Chairman of Committee Outreach ...

decided to retire instead of running for reelection to a sixth term. Democratic U.S. Representative

Martin Heinrich Martin Trevor Heinrich (; born October 17, 1971) is an American businessman and politician serving as the senior United States senator from New Mexico, a seat he has held since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Heinrich served as the U.S ...

won the open seat.

Background

Incumbent

won re-election to a fifth term with 70.61% of the vote against

Allen McCulloch The 2006 United States Senate election in New Mexico took place on November 7, 2006. The primaries were held June 6, 2006. Incumbent Democrat Jeff Bingaman won re-election to a fifth term in a landslide victory, landslide. Democratic primary ...

in the 2006 U.S. senatorial election in New Mexico.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

Hector Balderas Hector Hugo Balderas Jr. (born August 16, 1973) is an American lawyer and former prosecutor who has been the attorney general of New Mexico since 2015. In 2006, Balderas became the youngest statewide Hispanic elected official in the nation when h ...

, state Auditor *

, U.S. Representative

Withdrew

Martin Chávez Martin Joseph "Marty" Chávez (born March 2, 1952) is an American politician, businessman, and attorney who served as a member of the New Mexico Senate from 1987 to 1993 and as the 26th and 28th mayor of Albuquerque, New Mexico. He served as t ...

, former

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding i ...

mayor and 1998 Democratic gubernatorial nominee (withdrew to run for U.S. House) * Andres Valdez, anti-police brutality

Social Justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, Equal opportunity, opportunities, and Social privilege, privileges within a society. In Western Civilization, Western and Culture of Asia, Asian cultures, the concept of social ...

activist

Declined

, incumbent U.S. senator *

Diane Denish Diane Daniels Denish ( ; born March 7, 1949) is an American politician, who was the 28th lieutenant governor of New Mexico. She was elected in 2002, running on the same ticket as Governor Bill Richardson, and was re-elected in 2006. Denish is t ...

, former New Mexico lieutenant governor and 2010 Democratic gubernatorial nominee *

Ben Ray Luján Ben Ray Luján ( ; born June 7, 1972) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from New Mexico since 2021. He served as the U.S. representative for from 2009 to 2021 and the assistant House Democratic leader ...

, U.S. representative

Polling

Endorsements

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared

* Greg Sowards, businessman *

Heather Wilson Heather Ann Wilson (born December 30, 1960) is the 11th President of the University of Texas at El Paso. She previously served as the 24th Secretary of the United States Air Force from 2017 through 2019. Wilson was the 12th president of the ...

, former U.S. Representative and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2008

Withdrew

* Bill English, businessman *

John Sanchez John A. Sanchez (born January 11, 1963) is an American politician who served as the 29th lieutenant governor of New Mexico from 2011 to 2019. Early life Sanchez, the youngest of eight children, was born and raised in North Valley, New Mexico. S ...

Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico The lieutenant governor of New Mexico ( es, Lista de Vicegobernadores de Nuevo México) is an elected official in the state of New Mexico that ranks just below the governor of New Mexico. The lieutenant governor is the first person in the order of ...

an nominee for Governor in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains independence from Indonesia and ...

Declined

Janice Arnold-Jones Janice E. Arnold-Jones (born March 20, 1952) is an American politician who served as the New Mexico State Representative for the 24th district from 2003 to 2011. She is a member of the Republican Party. Early life, education, and business caree ...

, former state representative *

Gary Johnson Gary Earl Johnson (born January 1, 1953) is an American businessman, author, and politician. He served as the 29th governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party. He was the Libertarian Party nominee for Presid ...

, former governor (ran for

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

) * Steve Pearce, U.S. Representative, candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2000, and nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2008

Polling

Endorsements

Results

General election

Candidates

(D), U.S. Representative *

(R), former U.S. Representative and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2008
Jon Barrie
(Independent American Party), alternative medicine practitioner and

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ar ...

veteran

Debates

Complete video of debate
October 17, 2012 -

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United Stat ...

Complete video of debate
October 25, 2012 -

Fundraising

Top contributors

Top industries

Donors by Industries (opensecrets.org)
/ref>

Predictions

Polling

;with Jeff Bingaman ;with Hector Balderas ;with Ben Ray Luján ;with Martin Heinrich

Results

References

External links

Elections
from the New Mexico secretary of state
Financial information
from

OpenSecrets.org OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. It was created from a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP). ...

Outside spending
at

Sunlight Foundation The Sunlight Foundation was an American 501(c)(3) nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that advocated for open government. The organization was founded in April 2006 with the goal of increasing transparency and accountability in the United State ...

Candidate issue positions
at On the Issues ;Official campaign websites (Archived)
Jon Barrie for U.S. Senate

Martin Heinrich for U.S. Senate

Heather Wilson for U.S. Senate
{{2012 United States elections

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex , Offi ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

Background

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

Withdrew

Declined

Polling

Endorsements

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared

Withdrew

Declined

Polling

Endorsements

Results

General election

Candidates

Debates

Fundraising

Top contributors

Top industries

Predictions

Polling

Results

See also

References

External links