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Serma Jhallwood reacts to Barack Obama's victory Tuesday at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
Serma Jhallwood reacts to Barack Obama's victory Tuesday at the Albuquerque Convention Center.

Democrats take NM elections

The Democratic Party swept New Mexico's elections Wednesday, taking every contested senatorial and congressional seat.

Tom Udall won the race for the Senate against Steve Pearce, pulling 61 percent of the vote with 90 percent of precincts reporting.

Democrat Martin Heinrich topped Darren White in the District 1 congressional race, winning 55 percent of the vote. District 1, which encompasses Albuquerque, has sent Republicans to Congress all 40 years of its existence.

Harry Teague won the District 2 congressional seat over Ed Tinsley with 55 percent of the vote, 91 percent of precincts reporting. District 2 has been Republican for 28 years.

Democrat Ben Ray Lujan took 56 percent of the vote for District 3, with 99 percent of precincts reporting. Lujan beat Republican Daniel East in the northern New Mexico district.

The party now controls New Mexico's delegation, as Democrat Jeff Bingaman was not up for election this year.

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With the wins, the Democrats have extended their congressional majority to at least 56 in the Senate and 247 in the House, as of midnight Wednesday.

In an interview with the Daily Lobo at the Democratic watch party Tuesday, Udall said he was thrilled by the election results.

"I think this shows great progress for New Mexico," Udall said. "We have a blue delegation coming into the state, and I'm going to work as hard as I can for New Mexicans as I have as attorney general and congressman."

Udall said that when he gets to the Senate, he will fight for middle-class New Mexicans and work to bring energy alternatives to the state and the nation.

"I'm going to make sure that we have a do-it-all energy policy that we talked about and that we need to put our nation on a path toward energy independence," Udall said.

Heinrich said his campaign was successful because he stood firm on his platform.

"I think one of the things I did well was really stand up for my values and stand tall and say, 'These are the things I believe in,'" Heinrich said. "I think people really respect it when you have strong convictions and you're willing to stand up for them."

In his concession speech, White urged all New Mexicans to support Heinrich.

"We all said from the very beginning that this was going to be an uphill battle, but what we have pledged is that we would never quit," White said. "We hoped that at the end of the night, we would prevail. But that didn't happen."

Kelly Rzendzian, director of John McCain's Youth Coalition for New Mexico, said a single-party majority could be bad for the country.

"John McCain was absolutely bipartisan, and I don't see that in Sen. Obama," she said. "I do not see the bipartisanship, and I'm afraid that with a Democratic House, a Democratic Senate and a Democratic White House, we have a challenge ahead of us."

Robert Dow, who attended the Republicans' watch party, said the Democrats will have their work cut out for them now that they have a majority in Congress.

"Democrats are going to have to perform," he said. "They're going to have control of the House of Representatives by a large number. They're going to have control of the Senate.... They're going to have all three, just like the Republicans did a couple of years ago. They're not going to have anyone to blame."

Abigail Ramirez, Andrew Beale, Pat Lohmann and Crystal Sanchez contributed to this report.

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