Udall Takes New Mexico Senate Seat
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – Tom Udall still wears cowboy boots under his business suits, a habit that reflects his upbringing in a ranching family that once drove cattle across territorial New Mexico.
Udall helped extend his family’s long tradition of environmentalism and public service Tuesday by defeating Republican Rep. Steve Pearce in the race to represent New Mexico in the Senate.
“Conservation is the legacy of the Udall family,” Udall said when he entered the race with his father watching from across the podium.
The Udalls have been called the Kennedys of the West. Udall is the son of Stewart Udall, who headed the Interior Department under Presidents Johnson and Kennedy, and the nephew of Arizona Rep. Mo Udall, who served in the House for three decades.
And he’s the cousin of Mark Udall, a Colorado Democrat who battled Repubican Bob Schaffer for a Senate seat there on Tuesday.
Tom Udall succeeds New Mexico’s longest-serving senator, Republican Pete Domenici, who announced his retirement after 36 years in the Senate when he was diagnosed with a degenerative brain disease.
With Udall’s election, New Mexico will be represented by two Democratic senators for the first time since 1973.
Born in Tucson, Udall grew up in Arizona and in the Washington, D.C., area. Now 60, he has lived in New Mexico since 1975.
He spent a decade in Congress representing the northern part of the state, and he served as New Mexico’s attorney general from 1991 to 1998.
Throughout the Senate campaign, Pearce tried to link Udall to extreme environmentalists and liberal big spenders.
Udall gained traction toward the end of the campaign by voting twice against a federal bailout package designed to save the troubled economy.
He also proposed an ambitious energy plan that included domestic drilling, nuclear power, alternative energy and conservation to make America energy independent.
Udall also argued that Pearce voted with the Bush administration 91 percent of the time and supported for tax credits for big oil companies.
By HEATHER CLARK, Associated Press Writer
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
