Maggie Oliver will not run for Congress next year to represent the district that includes the Sandia National Laboratory, the New Mexico’s secretary of state tweeted before the holidays.
Oliver, a Democrat in Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s (D) administration, was seen as a possible candidate to replace Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) who is leaving Congress to join President-elect Joe Biden’s (D) cabinet as Secretary of the Interior.
New Mexico “has responsibility to choose new U.S. Rep when @DebHaalandNM takes historic @USInterior job . I look forward to a robust campaign, but I will not be a candidate,” Oliver tweeted Dec. 20.
New Mexico’s first district is the most populous in the state and, in addition to Sandia, includes the neighboring Kirtland Air Force Base, which stores nuclear weapons.
New Mexico’s congressional delegation has gotten a major facelift over the last few years. Lujan Grisham represented the first district herself before her successful gubernatorial run in 2018. Last year, now-Sen. Ben Ray-Luján (D-N.M.) vacated his third-district seat to run for higher office. Now-Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.) replaced him.
