1997 New Mexico's 3rd congressional district special election

1997 New Mexico's 3rd congressional district special election

← 1996 May 13, 1997 1998 →
New Mexico's 3rd congressional district
Nominee Bill Redmond Eric Serna Carol Miller Party Republican Democratic Green Popular vote 43,559 40,542 17,101 Percentage 42.75% 39.79% 16.78%
Results by county Redmond:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Serna:      30–40%      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%
U.S. Representative before election Bill Richardson Democratic Elected U.S. Representative Bill Redmond Republican

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v t e

A special election to determine the member of the United States House of Representatives for New Mexico's 3rd congressional district was held on May 13, 1997. Republican Bill Redmond defeated Democrat Eric Serna in a result which flipped this heavily Democratic seat to the Republican column. Redmond replaced Bill Richardson, who resigned from his seat in the House after he was appointed by Bill Clinton to be the United States Ambassador to the United Nations.

New Mexico's state law required the Governor of New Mexico to call for a special election within 10 days of a vacancy in the Congressional delegation to be held 84 to 91 days after the resignation. Governor Gary Johnson set the date of the special election as May 13. The election was held in the backdrop of the 1994 New Mexico gubernatorial election, where a Green Party candidate had taken over 10 percent of the vote and the party as a whole was continuing to grow in strength. All three parties (Democratic, Republican, and Green) held conventions to select their candidates for the special election, and the Democratic Central Committee's selection of Eric Serna proved to be especially controversial due to the "smoke-filled room" selection process it employed. Serna was repeatedly attacked during the campaign by Republicans for ethics complaints against him from his time at the State Corporation Commission, and the campaign was marred by negative campaigning from all sides.

Redmond's victory (by just 3,017 votes) was considered to be a huge upset in the strongly Democratic-leaning district. His win was attributed to the Green Party spoiler effect, the low turnout in the election, and the negative perception of Eric Serna. Redmond would be ousted in the 1998 midterms by future United States Senator Tom Udall who won by a sizeable margin.