Claire Chase, government affairs director for a New Mexico oil and gas company, intends to seek the Republican nomination to represent the congressional district that covers the U.S. Energy Department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad.
If successful in a GOP primary for New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District, Chase would challenge Rep. Xochitl Torres Small (D-N.M.) in the 2020 election. Last November, Torres Small, an attorney, squeaked out a win over Republican state legislator Yvette Herrell in a race so close that Herrell initially claimed victory.
The GOP candidate’s campaign organization, Claire Chase for Congress, filed its paperwork Tuesday with the U.S. Federal Election Commission.
Chase is a former chair of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association and works in government affairs to promote “a political environment” friendly to oil and natural gas development at Mack Energy, founded by Mack Chase, according to the company’s website. She also worked as a senior legislative assistant to the district’s former congressman, Steve Pearce. Chase holds a journalism and mass communications degree from New Mexico State University.
Pearce gave up his seat to pursue an ultimately unsuccessful campaign last year for governor against Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham, who also left Congress to run.
The 2nd District covers southern New Mexico. Along with WIPP, it encompasses the Lea County property planned for Holtec International’s consolidated interim spent nuclear fuel storage facility.
The Ruidoso News reported her competition in the GOP primary is likely to include Herrell, who lost to Torres Small in 2018.
