ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Damon Martinez, a former U.S. attorney who led the office during Justice Department reforms of Albuquerque police and who was ordered to resign earlier this year by the Trump administration, announced Monday that he is running for an open congressional seat in central New Mexico.
Martinez is jumping into a crowded Democratic primary to succeed U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat who is running for New Mexico governor.
“My career has been dedicated to public service,” Martinez told The Associated Press. “When I got the notice from the Justice Department to tender my resignation, I still had unfinished business.”
As U.S. Attorney in New Mexico, Martinez had federal prosecutors in Albuquerque target the state’s violent and repeat offenders and focus on heroin and opioid trafficking suspects amid New Mexico’s opioid crisis. He also aggressively pursued civil rights cases and sought changes from the University of New Mexico on how it reports sexual assaults.
In addition, he led the office during the Department of Justice’s investigation and settlement with the city of Albuquerque over its police department’s use of excessive force. Albuquerque police had been under scrutiny for a high number of police shootings, especially against residents suffering from mental illness.
If elected, Martinez said, he wants to focus in Congress on holding large pharmaceutical companies accountable for the nation’s opioid crisis and make sure that any health care reforms don’t take away insurance coverage from the poorest residents.
He called provisions of the GOP-sponsored health care proposals “despicable” and said he is disturbed by reports that Russia may have tried to influence the U.S. presidential election last year.
As a House member, Martinez said he would push for New Mexico to create a “high-tech corridor” between Los Alamos and Socorro that could “rival Silicon Valley.”
He is running for the Democratic nomination against former state party Chairwoman Debra Haaland, Albuquerque City Councilor Pat Davis, physicist Dennis Dinge, Edgewood Mayor Pro Tem John Abrams, attorney Damian Lara and former law professor Antoinette Sedillo Lopez.
No Republican has formally announced a bid for the seat.
A 10th generation New Mexican, Martinez received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and political science in 1989 from the University of New Mexico. He later received a law degree and MBA from the same school.
Martinez was a judge advocate in the U.S. Army Reserve until 2009, when he transferred to the New Mexico National Guard. He was deployed to the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, in 2012.
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