Wilson confirms no more political runs

Two unsuccessful Senate runs were enough for Heather Wilson, as she told Roll Call her 2012 run where she lost to Martin Heinrich would be her last political run.

“I’ve done my time, and it’s not my intention to run for office again,” Wilson told the Washington D.C. newspaper. “So I’m moving on to other things, most likely higher education. I’ll probably also likely serve on some corporate boards.”

Previously, Wilson had told the Albuquerque Journal that she had probably run her last race, but her comments to Roll Call were more definitive.

From the Albuquerque Journal story in November:

“I think I’ve done my time,” she said. “I ran because I believe this state needs strong leaders in the Senate. I think it would have been a very good place for me. But it also meant setting aside a lot of things that I wasn’t able to do for the last 20 months. It’s a huge commitment to ask anybody to make.”

Wilson’s statement is not exactly Shermanesque, but it appears that Wilson is more likely than not to finish her career as an elected official with her loss to Heinrich.

Wilson was first elected to Congress in a special election in 2008 1998. She replaced Steven Schiff in New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District after Schiff passed away during his term. Wilson then held off several big challenges in her House seat as the House increasingly became Democratic. It culminated in a 875-vote victory over former Attorney General Patricia Madrid in 2006.

In 2008, Wilson opted to run for the open Senate seat left by retiring U.S. Senator, and Wilson political mentor, Pete Domenici. In a bruising primary campaign, Wilson lost to southern New Mexico congressman Steve Pearce. Pearce went on to lose to Tom Udall in the general election.

In 2012, Wilson did not face a top-tier Republican primary candidate but fell to Martin Heinrich by six percent in the general election.