Challengers enter 2010 congressional races

Posted 5/05/2009 01:18:00 PM

Two of New Mexico’s Democratic freshmen in the U.S. House are already drawing potential 2010 challenges.

Iraq war veteran Adam Kokesh has formed an exploratory committee as he considers running against Democrat Ben R. Luján in the Third Congressional District next year. The Marine, who has become a leading voice in the anti-war movement since returning to the United States, has gained quite a following though Ron Paul’s Campaign for Liberty.

There’s even a Draft Kokesh movement on the Internet.

“When I got out of the Marine Corps, I joined the monumental fight to end the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, bring the troops home to defend America and restore a Constitutional foreign policy. Having won the public to our side, it is time we take the fight to the capitol,” Kokesh said in a news release announcing his exploratory committee. “Over the next couple of months, I look forward to meeting supporters all across the district as we make our decision on whether or not to run for Congress.”

Kokesh hasn’t yet decided whether, if he runs, he will run as an independent or as a member of a political party, but he has drawn some support from the right and left. In addition to his anti-war stance, his blog indicates his support for some traditionally libertarian policies.

Meanwhile, in the First Congressional District, Alan Woodruff has announced that he will run against Democrat Martin Heinrich next year.

Woodruff is a lawyer, founder of a brokerage firm and author of three novels and other books, according to his campaign Web site. He identifies himself on his site as a “pragmatic social liberal and a fiscal conservative,” and writes that he wants “responsible government -- no matter what its size.”

He says he’s running because he’s fed up with “politics as usual” and believes government should be run like a business. Woodruff’s Web site doesn’t indicate whether he’s running as a member of any political party.