Attorney General Gary King, long talked about as a potential candidate for governor, is now saying he will indeed run for governor in 2014.
In an interview on Albuquerque radio station KANW Monday, King said he's decided to run for the Democratic nomination and has formed a campaign committee.
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| Gary King Talks to State Democrats Last Year |
King, serving his second term as attorney general. is a former state representative. He's also the son of New Mexico’s longest-serving governor, the late Bruce King, who served three non-consecutive four-year terms between 1971 and 1994.
King is the first Democrat to say he's running. Assumedly the Republican nominee will be Gov. Susana Martinez, who is serving her first term as governor.
Martinez hasn't formally announced she's seeking re-election. But last year, during a controversy about her 2010 campaign committee paying for radio ads about driver's licenses for illegal immigrants, her campaign committee argued that it now serves as Martinez's re-election committee. The committee argued that "... radio spots to promote the governor's issues and ideas and that the promotion of such issues and ideas are standard campaign activity."
This will be the third time Gary King has sought the governor's office. He ran in 1998, losing the Democratic primary to Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez. Four years later he tried again, but dropped out of the race before the primary after a poor showing against Bill Richardson in the pre-primary convention and difficulty with findraising..
Gary King also ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2004 against Republican incumbent Steve Pearce in the southern 2nd Congressional District.
King and Martinez recently have been feuding over the use of private email for state business. King's office recently has been investigating Martinez's Public Education Department over the practice and for compiling lists for Martinez's political director.
The state Republican Party has blasted the attorney general as "King of Hypocrisy" for using his campaign email to communicate with a campaign contributor about an official legal opinion being sought.
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