Roxanne Lara and Steve Pearce will tangle in November for the U.S. House of Representatives seat in New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District.
By Rob Nikolewski │ New Mexico Watchdog
SANTA FE – Prepare for Rocky vs. Steve this November in the battle for the 2nd Congressional District in southern New Mexico.
On Wednesday, Democratic challenger Leslie Endean-Singh dropped out of the race after losing to Roxanne “Rocky” Lara in the Democratic Party pre-primary convention. Endean-Singh received 14.82 percent of the vote from delegates, falling below the 20 percent threshold that automatically puts candidates on the ballot.
At noon Wednesday, Singh bowed out and threw her support to Lara, saying in a statement, “The delegates to our pre-primary convention have made their decision, and, in the spirit of Democratic unity, I believe it is best if we unite behind our party’s nominee.”
That means no primary election for Lara on June 3 and the Las Cruces attorney will face Rep. Steve Pearce, a well-known political figure in New Mexico politics who won the CD-2 race in 2012 by nearly 19 points, in November’s general election.
Responding to the news, Pearce campaign spokesman Todd Willens said in an email, “What matters is that Steve Pearce is focused on standing up for New Mexico families against Washington’s job-killing policies and to rein in reckless federal deficit spending.”
“People have been excited, coming to me and talking about the changes they want to see happen,” Lara told New Mexico Watchdog after her win last Saturday. “Washington’s broken and people are looking for folks to try to help fix it.”
Contact Rob Nikolewski at rnikolewski@watchdog.org and follow him on Twitter @robnikolewski
