NM land commissioner to run for 2nd Congressional seat
LAS CRUCES - Republican State Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn announced Tuesday he'll run for the 2nd Congressional District seat in 2018.
Dunn, 62, becomes the second Republican to run for seat, which will be vacated by Congressman Steve Pearce, R-N.M., who is running for New Mexico governor. The expansive district covers southern New Mexico, including Doña Ana County.
“With Steve Pearce running for governor, the stakes are simply too high for southern New Mexicans to lose an experienced, pro-jobs representative in Congress,” Dunn said in a news release. “With my decades of experience in business, agriculture and public service, I will fight to create jobs, improve our economy, reform healthcare and protect our border.”
Dunn, a rancher and former bank president, was elected as state land commissioner in 2014. Also seeking the Republican nomination for the 2nd Congressional District is state Rep. Yvette Herrell, 53, who's represented Alamogordo’s District 51 since 2010.
Alamogordo native
Dunn was born in Alamogordo and raised on an apple farm in the small mountain community of High Rolls in Otero County, according to a news release from his campaign. He's been in the banking industry for 25 years, the last 10 of which he served as CEO and president of First Federal Bank of New Mexico in Roswell before retiring from that job in 2007. He is also a cattle rancher "with a lifetime of experience supporting agriculture," according to the news release. He and his wife own the Gran Quivira Ranch near Corona, where he lives when he's not in Santa Fe.
As commissioner of public lands, Dunn oversees state trust lands spanning 14,000 square miles that help fund schools, universities, hospitals and other public institutions.
“By setting the right tone at the top, I’ve worked hand-in-hand with exemplary staff to enhance customer service, direct more money to education and the Land Grant Permanent Fund, and bring a common-sense approach to the conservation of our
public lands," Dunn said in a statement.
National monuments
Dunn in late June attended a high-profile Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners meeting in Las Cruces about the nearly 500,000-acre Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument. He declined to state support for or opposition to the monument, but said he did have concerns about state trust lands encircled by two national monuments, including OMDP. He's seeking to trade those state trust land for public lands outside the monument's area. He told federal officials that if the exchanges aren't allowed to take place, the monuments should be shrunk, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican.
The Democratic Party of New Mexico criticized his stance on the monuments and other issues in a statement Tuesday, contending Dunn is "at odds" with southern New Mexico. The lands designations are a tourism boost, which creates jobs, the news release stated.
"Aubrey Dunn is another Republican with an extreme record that works against New Mexicans and won't benefit in our economy," said Richard Ellenberg, chair of the Democratic Party of New Mexico. "Democrats have renewed energy in the second congressional district and we're going to do everything we can to take that seat."
President Donald Trump and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke have initiated a review of the two monuments, which has sparked controversy in Doña Ana County. Pearce has supported a much smaller monument, which focuses upon the Organ Mountains only.
'Very encouraging'
Roman Jimenez, chairman of the Doña Ana County Republican Party, said he's not allowed to state support for a specific candidate until after the winner of the June 2018 primary election. But he said it's "very encouraging" that there are already two candidates in the congressional race, particularly because federal health care reform has floundered in recent days.
"What we need is people who are going to get into office who are going to put the concerns of the people here in New Mexico first before themselves. I believe they're in there for the right reasons," he said of the two GOP candidates. "I believe and hope they're going to do what's best for the people of New Mexico."
Dunn serves on the board of directors for the New Mexico Coalition of Conservation Districts and is a district supervisor and past chairman of the Chaves County Soil and Water Conservation District, according to his news release. He is a past board member of the Alamogordo Chamber of Commerce and the Roswell Chamber of Commerce, among many other organizations.
“At this very moment, Congress is mired down in the same kind of bureaucratic gridlock that I confronted at the Land Office,” Dunn said in his announcement. “I won’t pull any punches when it comes to turning up the heat and getting results for southern New Mexicans in D.C.”
Dunn and his wife of 38 years, Robin, have three children and three grandchildren.
Democrats in the running
Four Democrats have already announced their intentions to enter the race for that party's 2nd Congressional District primary race.
David Baake, a Harvard Law School graduate who previously worked for the Natural Resources Defense Council; Tony Martinez, head of the Doña Ana County Indivisible public advocacy group; Ronald Fitzherbert, a Las Cruces resident who has been involved in several community groups; and Madeleine Hildebrandt, a Coast Guard veteran and college history instructor from Socorro, are all seeking the seat.
Diana Alba Soular may be reached at 575-541-5443, dalba@lcsun-news.com or @AlbaSoular on Twitter. The Associated Press contributed to this report.