Joe Skeen

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Joseph Richard "Joe" Skeen (June 30, 1927-- December 7, 2003) was a conservative Republican congressman from southern New Mexico. He served for eleven terms in the United States House of Representatives between 1980 and 2003.

Skeen was born in Roswell, in eastern New Mexico, a city now known for its reported UFO sightings. During his teenage years, his family moved to Seattle. During the final year of World War II, Skeen entered the United States Navy. After returning home, he graduated from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.

After several years of owning a ranch, Skeen was elected to the New Mexico State Senate as a Republican in 1960. He ran for lieutenant governor in 1970 on an unsuccessful ticket headed by future Senator Pete Domenici. Incumbent Republican Governor David F. Cargo was ineligible to run for the first four year gubernatorial term in the history of the state. Cargo therefore ran unsuccessfully in the primary for the Senate seat retained by Democrat Joseph Montoya.

Thereafter, Skeen lost two very close races for governor -- in 1974 against Democrat Jerry Apodaca and in 1978 against Democrat Bruce King. In the former race, Apodaca led 164,172 (49.9 percent) to Skeen's 160,430 (48.8 percent). In 1978, King secured a second nonconsecutive term, 174,631 (50.5 percent) to Skeen's 170,848 (49.4 percent).

[edit] 1980 Congressional election

Throughout the 1970's, five-term Democratic Congressman Harold Runnels, had been so popular that the GOP didn't even put up a candidate against him in 1978 or 1980. Then, on August 5, 1980, Runnels died of cancer at age 56. The state attorney general, a Democrat, announced that the Democrats could replace Runnels on the ballot but that it was too late for the Republicans to do so. Republicans were enraged and rallied behind a write-in effort by Skeen, while the Democrats selected Governor Bruce King's nephew, David King, over Runnels' widow, Dorothy Runnels. To complicate matters for the Democrats, Runnels elected to run her own write-in campaign. Furthermore, David King had only moved his voter registration into the district some ten days after Runnels died. [1]

Skeen was able to win by capturing just 38 percent of the vote. Skeen received 61,564 (38 percent) to King's 55,085 (34 percent), and Mrs. Runnels' 45,343 (28 percent). Skeen was only the third person in U.S. history to be elected to Congress as a write-in candidate.

As a congressman, Skeen had a largely conservative voting record but also brought numerous projects to his district. In contrast to most congressmen, Skeen faced several competitive races for reelection. He announced in 1997 that he had Parkinson's disease. Skeen announced his retirement from Congress in 2002 and left at the end of his 11th term in 2003. At the time of his death in 2003, he was highly regarded by New Mexicans in both parties for his service to his state.

This article incorporates facts obtained from the public domain Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

Preceded by Harold L. Runnels (D)

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Mexico's 2nd congressional district 1980–2003

Succeeded by Steve Pearce (R)