Santa Fe New Mexican – After nearly 30 years as a major player in New Mexico politics, U.S. Sen. Tom Udall announced Monday that he will not seek a third term in 2020.
The imminent departure of Udall, who is 70 but looks years if not decades younger, will almost certainly set off a scramble to succeed him — particularly among Democrats, who are fresh from an election cycle they dominated and may see no obvious Republican hopefuls.
Udall, who served five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives before winning his first Senate term in 2008, did not give a clear reason for his decision.
“The worst thing anyone in public office can do is believe the office belongs to them, rather than to the people they represent,” he said in a statement. “Now, I’m most certainly not retiring. I intend to find new ways to serve New Mexico and our country after I finish this term. There will be more chapters in my public service to do what needs to be done.”
His statement listed a series of priorities for the remainder of his term, including climate change, election reform and an overhaul of campaign finance laws.
“Without the distraction of another campaign, I can get so much more done to help reverse the damage done to our planet, end the scourge of war, and to stop this president’s assault on our democracy and our communities,” Udall said.
The statement did not mention any specific plans for Udall’s future.
Udall championed a variety of pro-environment issues during his time in Congress.
“Colleagues are likely to remember him for shepherding through Congress an overhaul of the nation’s chemical regulation law, the Toxic Substances Control Act,” a story in Bloomberg Environment said Monday. “Udall also has been a leading voice for a federal renewable energy standard requiring states to get a portion of their electricity from renewable sources.”
Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund, also lauded Udall’s work on issues that included toxic chemicals and federal methane rules, noting his willingness to work toward compromise.
Referring to Udall’s late father, former Interior Secretary Stewart Udall, who served during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, Krupp said: “Like his father before him, Tom Udall brought American idealism and Western pragmatism to Washington — and left our nation a stronger, healthier, and more beautiful place.”
Shortly after Udall’s announcement hit the news, tributes from across the state’s political spectrum started pouring in.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement that Udall “has been a consistent beacon of leadership and moral clarity in turbulent times.”
New Mexico’s other senator, Martin Heinrich, also a Democrat, also praised his colleague. “Everyone who knows Tom Udall knows that he will never stop fighting for what he believes in,” Heinrich said.
Even former U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, vanquished by Udall in the 2008 Senate race and now chairman of the state Republican Party, had kind words.
“Tom was my colleague in the Congress and also a worthy opponent when I challenged him for the Senate seat he won in 2008,” Pearce said in a statement issued by the party. “He’s been a devoted public servant and advocate for his constituents in New Mexico and I am proud to call Tom my friend.”
National Republicans were not so gracious about Udall’s decision. “The Democratic Party’s lurch toward socialism has even longtime party leaders running for the hills,” said a statement from the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Udall was born in Tucson, Ariz., into a long-established Western political family. His grandfather, Levi, was an Arizona Supreme Court justice. His uncle Morris “Mo” Udall was a longtime Arizona congressman and sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1976. A cousin, Mark Udall, served as a congressman and senator from Colorado.
“The Udall name in the West is a positive,” Lonna Atkeson, a political science professor at the University of New Mexico, observed during the 2008 Senate campaign. “A Udall in the West is like a Kennedy.”
Tom Udall moved to New Mexico in 1975 after earning a law degree from Cambridge University in England. He later graduated from the University of New Mexico School of Law.
It didn’t take long for him to get into politics, but his first two races were unsuccessful.
In 1982 he ran in the Democratic primary for the new 3rd Congressional District, an overwhelmingly Democratic district created after the 1980 census. The Democratic primary attracted three other candidates, including a relative newcomer, Bill Richardson, who had come close to winning the 1st District race in 1980.
Udall finished last in that primary.
He lived in Albuquerque for a time and made another unsuccessful run for Congress, losing in the general election to Republican Steve Schiff.
But that was the last election he lost.
Two years later, Udall rebounded, winning the statewide race for attorney general, a position to which he was re-elected in 1994.
After Richardson left his congressional seat in 1997 to serve in President Bill Clinton’s administration, the state Democratic Party Central Committee nominated Corporation Commissioner Eric Serna for a special re-election to fill Richardson’s 3rd District seat. That choice proved to be a disaster for the Democrats. Green Party candidate Carol Miller won enough votes to allow the Republican Bill Redmond of Los Alamos to win a plurality.
Ineligible to run for a third term as attorney general, Udall in 1998 made another move for Congress. He defeated Serna in the Democratic primary, then, even with Miller on the ballot again, Udall went on to easily beat Redmond in the 1998 general election.
Once in Congress, Udall was a loyal vote for the administration during Clinton’s last two years in office. He then became a reliable critic of Republican George W. Bush. In 2001, he voted against the Patriot Act — an issue on which he was in the minority even within his own party. The controversial bill expanded law enforcement powers to fight terrorism, and critics say it’s an assault on civil liberties.
He remained a critic of the controversial law. In 2011, after Congress reauthorized the Patriot Act, Udall released a statement calling the law a “far-reaching piece of legislation with the power to undermine the Constitutional right to privacy of law-abiding citizens.” Of his vote in 2001, he said, “It was an unpopular vote at the time, but when the details of the new law were examined, the breaches on our civil liberties became clearer.”
Also in 2001, he voted against the Iraq War resolution, as did a majority of House Democrats.
When six-term U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici announced in 2007 he wouldn’t seek re-election, the pressure was on Udall to give up his safe House seat and his coveted seat on the House Appropriations Committee assignment. At first, he said he wasn’t interested. Later, however, he relented. He went on to defeat Pearce in the 2008 general election.
Source: US Government Class
