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Heather Wilson
| Heather Wilson | ||
| Candidate for | ||
| U.S. Senate, New Mexico | ||
| Party | Republican | |
| Education | ||
| Master's | Oxford University | |
| Ph.D. | Oxford University | |
| Military service | ||
| Service/branch | Air Force | |
| Websites | ||
| Campaign website | ||
Contents |
| The information about this individual is current as of when his or her last campaign ended. See anything that needs updating? Send a correction to our editors |
Heather Wilson was a 2012 Republican candidate who sought election to the U.S. Senate from New Mexico. She lost in the general election.[1]
She also ran for U.S. Senate in 2008,[2] after representing New Mexico's 1st congressional district for 10 years.[3]
She is an Air Force veteran and former National Security Council staffer. Wilson was a Rhodes scholar.[4]
Issues
Campaign themes
2012
According to her website, Wilson's campaign platform included the following issues[5]:
- Lower taxes
- Reduce the deficit
- Scale back regulations
- Repeal Obamacare
Elections
2012
Wilson ran in the 2012 election for the U.S. Senate, representing New Mexico. She defeated Greg Sowards in the June 5 Republican primary and faced Democrat Martin Heinrich in the November general election.[6] Heinrich won.[1]
The University of Virginia's Center for Politics published an article called Sabato's Crystal Ball on March 22, 2012 detailing the 8 races in the Senate in 2012 that would decide the political fate of which party will end up with control in 2013.[7] The seat was was rated a toss-up and considered by Sabato's Crystal Ball as most likely to end up Democratic. The article noted that the state had generally been leaning Democratic and did not become a race with much interest until the incumbent Jeff Bingaman announced he would retire rather than seek re-election in 2012.[7] The Republican challenger Wilson was expected to give Republicans a "fighting chance in a tough state for them".[7]
A poll taken in mid-May had Wilson defeating Sowards in the Republican primary 66 percent to 20 percent.[8] Wilson has outraised and outspent Sowards leading up to the primary.[9][10]
| U.S. Senate-New Mexico Republican Primary, 2012 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|
|
70% | 63,631 |
| Greg Sowards | 30% | 27,214 |
| Total Votes | 90,845 | |
Polls
| Martin Heinrich vs. Heather Wilson | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Response | Rasmussen (August 23,2012) | Public Policy Polling (September 7-9) | Albequerque Journal (September 3-6) | Research & Polling Inc. of Albuquerque (October 23-25, 2012) | Public Opinion Strategies (October 29, 2012) | GBA Strategies (October 30,2012) | Average | |||||||
| Heinrich | 48% | 50% | 49% | 50% | 43% | 51% | 48.5% | |||||||
| Wilson | 41% | 41% | 42% | 42% | 44% | 41% | 41.833% | |||||||
| Other candidate | 5% | 0% | 0% | 3% | 6% | 6% | 3.333% | |||||||
| Undecided | 7% | 9% | 8% | 6% | 7% | 0% | 6.17% | |||||||
| Number polled | 500 | 1,122 | 667 | 662 | 100 | 600 | 608.5 | |||||||
| Margin of error | +/-4.5 | +/-2.9% | +/-3.8% | +/-3.8% | +/-4.38% | +/-4.0% | 3.9% | |||||||
| Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org | ||||||||||||||
Campaign contributions
Wilson was defeated by Martin Heinrich in 2012. During that election cycle, Wilson's campaign committee raised a total of $7,170,513 and spent $7,108,688.[11]| U.S. Senate, New Mexico, 2012 - Heather Wilson Campaign Contributions | |
|---|---|
| Total Raised | $7,170,513 |
| Total Spent | $7,108,688 |
| Total Raised by Election Winner | $1,312,424 |
| Total Spent by Election Winner | $1,208,911 |
| Top contributors to Heather Wilson's campaign committee | |
| Elliot Management | $33,711 |
| Alliance Resource Partners | $32,500 |
| Mewbourne Oil Co | $25,000 |
| Yates Patroleum | $20,850 |
| Blue Cross/Blue Shield | $19,050 |
| Top 5 industries that contributed to campaign committee | |
| Retired | $837,784 |
| Oil & Gas | $325,900 |
| Leadership PACs | $304,025 |
| Securities & Investment | $269,066 |
| Real Estate | $190,850 |
External links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 CNN "New Mexico Senate Race - 2012 Election Center"
- ↑ Associated Press "Gloves stay on in quiet NM Senate primary," May 24, 2012
- ↑ http://www.rollcall.com/news/wilson_has_gop_confident_in_new_mexico-213636-1.html Roll Call "Heather Wilson Has GOP Confident in New Mexico," April 5, 2012]
- ↑ Heather Wilson campaign website "About Heather," Accessed May 26, 2012
- ↑ Heather Wilson campaign website "Issues," Accessed May 26, 2012
- ↑ Associated Press "New Mexico - Summary Vote Results," June 6, 2012
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Center for Politics "Tilting the Toss Ups – the Eight Races That Will Decide the Senate" Accessed April 9, 2012
- ↑ Huffington Post "NM-2012 Senate Democratic Primary: 51% Heinrich, 26% Balderas (Albuquerque Journal 5/21-24)," May 30, 2012
- ↑ The (Columbus) Republic "Candidates to replace retiring NM Sen. Bingaman report spending $1.6M as June 5 primary nears," May 25, 2012
- ↑ New Mexico Secretary of State "2012 Primary Results"
- ↑ Open Secrets "Steven Porter 2012 Election Cycle," Accessed April 10, 2013
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