Bill Richardson | |
|---|---|
 Richardson in 2006 | |
| 30thGovernor of New Mexico | |
| In office January 1, 2003 – January 1, 2011 | |
| Lieutenant | Diane Denish |
| Preceded by | Gary Johnson |
| Succeeded by | Susana Martinez |
| 9thUnited States Secretary of Energy | |
| In office August 18, 1998 – January 20, 2001 | |
| President | Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | Federico Peña |
| Succeeded by | Spencer Abraham |
| 21stUnited States Ambassador to the United Nations | |
| In office February 18, 1997 – August 18, 1998 | |
| President | Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | Madeleine Albright |
| Succeeded by | Richard Holbrooke |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNew Mexico's3rd district | |
| In office January 3, 1983 – February 13, 1997 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Succeeded by | Bill Redmond |
| Personal details | |
| Born | William Blaine Richardson III (1947-11-15)November 15, 1947 Pasadena, California, U.S. |
| Died | September 1, 2023(2023-09-01) (aged 75) Chatham, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Education | Tufts University (BA,MA) |
William Blaine Richardson III (November 15, 1947 – September 1, 2023) was an American politician, author, and diplomat who served as the 30thgovernor of New Mexico from 2003 to 2011. He wasU.S. ambassador to the United Nations andenergy secretary in theClinton administration, aU.S. congressman, chair of the2004 Democratic National Convention, and chair of theDemocratic Governors Association (DGA).
In December 2008, Richardson was nominated for thecabinet-level position ofSecretary of Commerce in the firstObama administration[1] but withdrew a month later, as he was being investigated for possible improper business dealings.[2][3][4] Although the investigation was later dropped, it damaged Richardson's popularity and diminished his influence as his second and final term as New Mexico governor concluded.[5]
Richardson occasionally provided advice on diplomatic issues pertaining toNorth Korea and visited the nation on several occasions, including efforts to release American detainees.[6] He completed a number of private humanitarian missions, one of which secured the release of U.S. journalistDanny Fenster from aMyanmar prison in November 2021.[7]
William Blaine Richardson III was born inPasadena, California, on November 15, 1947.[8][9] He grew up in theborough ofCoyoacán inMexico City.[10] His father, William Blaine Richardson Jr. (1891–1972), who was ofAnglo-American andMexican descent, was an American bank executive fromBoston who worked inMexico for what is nowCitibank.[11] Richardson's father was born on a ship heading towardsNicaragua.[8]
His mother, María Luisa López-Collada Márquez (1914–2011), had been his father's secretary—she was theMexican-born daughter of a Mexican mother and a Spanish father fromVillaviciosa, Asturias.[12] Just before Bill Richardson was born, his father sent his mother toCalifornia to give birth because, as Richardson explained, "My father had a complex about not having been born in the United States."[8]
Richardson, a United States citizen bybirth, spent his childhood in a lavishhacienda in Coyoacán'sbarrio of San Francisco[10][12] where he was raised as aRoman Catholic.[13] When Richardson was 13, his parents sent him to the U.S. to attendMiddlesex School, apreparatory school inConcord, Massachusetts, where he played baseball as a pitcher.[8] He enteredTufts University[14] in 1966, where he continued to play baseball.[15]
In 1967, he playedcollegiate summer baseball in theCape Cod Baseball League, pitching for theCotuit Kettleers; he returned to the league in 1968 with theHarwich Mariners.[16][17] A Kettleers program included the words "Drafted by K.C." Richardson said:
When I saw that program in 1967, I was convinced I was drafted.... And it stayed with me all these years.[18]
Richardson's original biographies stated he had beendrafted by theKansas City Athletics and theChicago Cubs to play professional baseball, but a 2005Albuquerque Journal investigation discovered he never was on any official draft. Richardson acknowledged the error, which he maintained was unintentional, saying he had been scouted by several teams and told that he "would or could" be drafted, but he was mistaken in saying that he actually had been drafted.[19]
Richardson earned aBachelor's degree at Tufts University in 1970, majoring in French andpolitical science, and was a member and president ofDelta Tau Delta fraternity. He earned a master's degree in international affairs from the Tufts UniversityFletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1971. He had met his future wifeBarbara (née Flavin) when they were in high school inConcord, Massachusetts, and they married in 1972 following her graduation fromWheaton College.[20]
Richardson was a descendant ofWilliam Brewster, a passenger on theMayflower.[21]
After college, Richardson worked for Republican CongressmanF. Bradford Morse from Massachusetts from 1971 to 1973. In 1974, he left to work on congressional relations for theKissingerState Department during theNixon administration. Between 1976 and 1978 he was a staff member for theSenate Foreign Relations Committee.[22][23]
In 1978, Richardson moved toSanta Fe, New Mexico. In 1980 he ran for theHouse of Representatives in the state's1st congressional district, but lost narrowly to longtimeRepublican incumbent and future United States Secretary of the InteriorManuel Lujan.[24] Two years later, Richardson was elected to New Mexico's newly createdthird district, which took in most of the northern part of the state.[25] Richardson spent 14 years in Congress, representing the country's most diverse district and holding 2,000 town meetings.[12]
Richardson served as Chair of theCongressional Hispanic Caucus in the 98th Congress (1984–1985)[26] and as Chair of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Native American Affairs in the 103rd Congress (1993–1994). Richardson sponsored a number of bills, including theAmerican Indian Religious Freedom Act Amendments of 1994,[27] the Indian Dams Safety Act,[28] the Tribal Self-Governance Act,[29] and the Jicarilla Apache Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act.[30]
He became a member of the Democratic leadership as a deputy majority whip, where he became friends withBill Clinton after they worked closely on several issues, including when he served as the ranking House Democrat in favor ofNAFTA's passage in 1993.[12][31] For his work as a back channel toCarlos Salinas de Gortari, Mexico's president at the time of the negotiations, he was awarded theAztec Eagle Award, Mexico's highest award for a foreigner.[32] Clinton in turn sent Richardson on various foreign policy missions, including a trip in 1995 in which Richardson traveled toBaghdad withPeter Bourne and engaged in lengthy one-on-one negotiations withSaddam Hussein to secure the release oftwo American aerospace workers who had been captured by the Iraqis after wandering over the Kuwaiti border.[33] Richardson also visited Nicaragua, Guatemala, Cuba, Peru, India, North Korea, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Sudan to represent U.S. interests and met withSlobodan Milošević.[12]
In 1996, he played a major role in securing the release of AmericanEvan Hunziker from North Korean custody[34] and for securing a pardon forEliadah McCord, an American convicted and imprisoned in Bangladesh.[35] Due to these missions, Richardson was nominated for theNobel Peace Prize three times.[12]
Richardson served asU.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from February 1997 to August 1998. In 1997, working alongsideNelson Mandela, he helped negotiate the transfer of power betweenMobutu Sese Seko andLaurent-Désiré Kabila at the conclusion of theFirst Congo War.[36][37] In 1998 he flew to Afghanistan to meet with theTaliban andAbdul Rachid Dostum, anUzbek warlord.[38] The ceasefire he believed he had negotiated with the help ofBruce Riedel of theNational Security Council failed to hold;[39] neither was he successful in convincing the Taliban to hand overOsama bin Laden.[40]
The Senate confirmed Richardson to be Clinton'sSecretary of Energy on July 31, 1998. His tenure at theDepartment of Energy was marred by theWen Ho Lee nuclear controversy. As told byThe New York Times in a special report,[41] a scientist later named as Lee at theLos Alamos National Laboratory was reported as a suspect who might have given nuclear secrets to thePeople's Republic of China government. The article mentioned Richardson several times, although he denied in sworn testimony that he was the source or that he made improper disclosures.[42] After being fired and spending nine months in solitary confinement as an alleged security risk,[43] Lee was later cleared ofespionage charges and released with an apology from the judge.[44] Eventually, Lee won a $1.6 million settlement against the federal government and several news outlets, including theTimes andThe Washington Post, for the accusation.[45][46] Richardson was also criticized by theUnited States Senate for his handling of the espionage inquiry, which involved missing computer hard drives containing sensitive data, and for not testifying in front of Congress sooner.[47][48] Richardson justified his response by saying that he was waiting to uncover more information before speaking to Congress.[49] Republican Senators called for Richardson's resignation, while both parties criticized his role in the incident, and the scandal ended Richardson's hope of being named asAl Gore's running mate for the2000 presidential election.[12]
Richardson tightened security following the scandal, leading to the creation of theNational Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA, not to be confused with theNSA and theNSC). This foreshadowed the creation of theDepartment of Homeland Security in reaction to the9/11 attacks. He created the Director for Native American Affairs position in the department in 1998, and in January 2000, oversaw the largest return of federal lands, 84,000 acres (340 km2), to aNative American Tribe (theNorthern Ute Tribe of Utah) in more than 100 years.[50] Richardson also directed the overhaul of the department's consultation policy with Native American tribes and established the Tribal Energy Program.
With the end of theClinton administration in January 2001, Richardson took on a number of different positions. He was an adjunct professor atHarvard Kennedy School and a lecturer at theUnited World College of the American West (UWC-USA), and also taught at theUniversity of New Mexico, andNew Mexico State University.[51][52] In 2000, Richardson was awarded a United States Institute of Peace Senior Fellowship. He spent the next year researching and writing on the negotiations with North Korea and the energy dimensions of U.S. relations. In 2011, Richardson was named a senior fellow at theBaker Institute ofRice University.
Richardson joinedKissinger McLarty Associates, a "strategic advisory firm" headed by former Secretary of StateHenry Kissinger and former Clinton White House chief of staffMack McLarty, as Senior Managing Director.[53]
From February 2001 to June 2002, he served on the board of directors ofPeregrine Systems. He also served on the corporate boards of several energy companies, includingValero Energy Corporation andDiamond Offshore Drilling. He withdrew from these boards after being nominated by the Democratic Party for governor of New Mexico, but retained considerable stock holdings in Valero and Diamond Offshore. He would later sell these stocks during his campaign for president in 2007, saying he was "getting questions" about the propriety of these holdings, especially given his past as energy secretary, and that it had become a distraction.[54]
Richardson was on the board of directors of the National Institute for Civil Discourse (NICD),[55] which was created after the2011 Tucson shooting of CongresswomanGabby Giffords.[56]
Richardson was elected governor of New Mexico in November 2002, having defeated theRepublican nominee, John Sanchez, 56–39%. During the campaign, he set aGuinness World Record for most handshakes in eight hours by a politician, breakingTheodore Roosevelt's record.[57] He succeeded a two-term Republican governor,Gary Johnson.[58] He took office in January 2003 as the onlyHispanic Governor in the United States. In his first year, Richardson proposed "tax cuts to promote growth and investment" and passed a broad personal income tax cut and won a statewide special election to transfer money from the state's Permanent Fund to meet current expenses and projects. In early 2005, Richardson helped make New Mexico the first state in the nation to provide $400,000 inlife insurance coverage forNew MexicoNational Guard members who serve on active duty. Thirty-five states have since followed suit.
Working with the legislature, he formed Richardson's Investment Partnership (GRIP) in 2003. The partnership has been used to fund large-scale public infrastructure projects throughout New Mexico, including the use of highway funds to construct a brand new commuter rail line (theRail Runner) that runs betweenBelen, andSanta Fe. He supported a variety ofLGBT rights in his career as governor; he addedsexual orientation andgender identity to New Mexico's list ofcivil rights categories. However, he was opposed tosame-sex marriage, and he faced criticism for his use of the anti-gay slurmaricón onDon Imus's morning radio show in March 2006.[59]
During the summer of 2003, he met with a delegation from North Korea at its request to discuss concerns over that country'snuclear weapons. At the request of the White House, he also flew to North Korea in 2005 and met with another North Korean delegation in 2006. On December 7, 2006,Secretary General of the Organization of American StatesJosé Miguel Insulza named Richardson his Special Envoy for Hemispheric Affairs with the mandate to "promote dialogue on issues of importance to the region, such as immigration andfree trade".[60]
In 2003, Richardson backed and signed legislation creating a permit system for New Mexicans to carry concealedhandguns. He applied for and received aconcealed weapons permit, though by his own admission he seldom carries a gun.[61]
As Richardson discussed frequently during his 2008 run for president, he supported a controversial New Mexico law allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses for reasons of public safety. He said that because of the program, traffic fatalities had gone down, and the percentage of uninsured drivers decreased from 33% to 11%.[62]
Richardson was named Chair of theDemocratic Governors Association in 2004 and announced a desire to increase the role of Democratic governors in deciding the party's future.
In December 2005, Richardson announced the intention of New Mexico to collaborate with billionaireRichard Branson to bringspace tourism to the proposedSpaceport America located nearLas Cruces.[63] In 2006,Forbes credited Richardson's reforms in namingAlbuquerque the best city in the United States for business and careers. TheCato Institute, meanwhile, consistently rated Richardson as one of the most fiscally responsible Democratic governors in the nation.[64]
In March 2006, Richardson vetoed legislation that would ban the use ofeminent domain to transfer property to private developers, as allowed by theSupreme Court's 2005 decision inKelo v. City of New London.[65] He promised to work with the legislature to draft new legislation addressing the issue in the 2007 legislative session.
On September 7, 2006, Richardson flew toSudan to meet PresidentOmar Al-Bashir and successfully negotiated the release of imprisoned journalistPaul Salopek. The Sudanese had charged Salopek with espionage on August 26, 2006, while on aNational Geographic assignment. In January 2007, at the request of theSave Darfur Coalition, he brokered a 60-day cease-fire between al-Bashir and leaders of several rebel factions in the western Sudanese region ofDarfur. The cease-fire never became effective, however, with allegations of breaches on all sides.[66]
Richardson won his second term as Governor ofNew Mexico on November 7, 2006, 68–32% against formerNew Mexico Republican Party ChairmanJohn Dendahl. Richardson received the highest percentage of votes in any gubernatorial election in the state's history.[67]
In December 2006, Richardson announced that he would support a ban oncockfighting in New Mexico[68] which became law on March 12, 2007.Puerto Rico,U.S. Virgin Islands,Guam, and theNorthern Mariana Islands are now the only parts of the United States where cockfighting is legal.[69]
During New Mexico's 2007 legislative session, Richardson signed a bill into law that made New Mexico the 12th state to legalizecannabis formedical reasons. When asked if this would hurt him in a presidential election, he stated that it did not matter, as it was "the right thing to do".[70]
During 2008 and 2009, Richardson faced "possible legal issues" while afederal grand jury investigatedpay-to-play allegations in the awarding of a lucrative state contract to a company that gave campaign contributions to Richardson'spolitical action committee, Moving America Forward.[71][72][73] The company in question, CDR, was alleged to have funneled more than $100,000 in donations to Richardson's PAC in exchange for state construction projects.[74] Richardson said when he withdrew his Commerce Secretary nomination that he was innocent; his popularity then slipped below 50% in his home state.[74] In August 2009, federal prosecutors dropped the pending investigation against the governor, and there was speculation in the media about Richardson's career after his second term as New Mexico governor concluded.[5]
On March 18, 2009, he signed a bill repealing thedeath penalty, making New Mexico thesecond U.S. state, afterNew Jersey, to repeal the death penalty by legislative means since the 1960s.[75] Richardson was subsequently honored with the 2009 Human Rights Award byDeath Penalty Focus.[76]
In December 2010, while still serving as governor, Richardson returned to North Korea in an unofficial capacity at the invitation of the North's chief nuclear negotiatorKim Kye-gwan. Upon arriving inPyongyang on December 16, Richardson told reporters that his "objective is to see if we can reduce the tension on the Korean peninsula, that is my objective. I am going to have a whole series of talks with North Korean officials here and I look forward to my discussions", he said.[77] On December 19, Richardson said his talks with North Korean officials made "some progress" in trying to resolve what he calls a "very tense" situation. Speaking from Pyongyang, Richardson told U.S. television networkCNN that a North Korean general he met was receptive to his proposal for setting up a hotline betweenNorth andSouth Korean forces, and also was open to his idea for a military commission to monitor disputes in and around theYellow Sea.[78]
After his return from North Korea, Richardson dealt with the issue of a pardon forWilliam H. Bonney, aka Billy the Kid, for killing SheriffWilliam J. Brady ofLincoln County, New Mexico, some 130 years before. Following up on the promise of a pardon at the time by then-territorial governorLew Wallace, Richardson said he could not pardon Bonney posthumously because he did not want to second-guess his predecessor's decision. "It was a very close call", Richardson said. "The romanticism appealed to me to issue a pardon, but the facts and the evidence did not support it."[79]
Richardson's second term in office ended in 2011 and he wasterm-limited from further terms as governor.[80]
Richardson was a candidate for theDemocratic nomination for the2008 presidential election but dropped out on January 10, 2008, after lackluster showings in the first primary and caucus contests.[81] Despite his long history and friendship with the Clinton family, Richardson endorsedBarack Obama for the Democratic nomination on March 21, 2008, overHillary Clinton.[82] Commentator and Clinton allyJames Carville compared Richardson toJudas Iscariot for the move.[83] Richardson responded in aWashington Post article, feeling "compelled to defend [himself] against character assassination and baseless allegations."[84]
Richardson was a rumored vice presidential candidate for Democratic presumptive nomineeBarack Obama, and was fully vetted by the Obama campaign,[85] before Obama choseJoe Biden on August 23, 2008.[86]
Following Barack Obama's victory in the 2008 presidential election, Richardson's name was frequently mentioned as a possible Cabinet appointment in the incoming Obama administration. Most of this speculation surrounded the position ofSecretary of State, given Richardson's background as a diplomat.[87] Richardson did not publicly comment on the speculation.[88] Ultimately,Hillary Clinton was Obama's nominee for Secretary of State.[89]
Richardson was also considered for the position ofCommerce Secretary. On December 3, 2008, Obama tapped Richardson for the post.[90] On January 4, 2009, Richardson withdrew his name as Commerce Secretary nominee because of thefederal grand jury investigation intopay-to-play allegations.[2]The New York Times had reported in late December that the grand jury investigation issue would be raised at Richardson's confirmation hearings.[72] Later, in August 2009, Justice Department officials decided not to seek indictments.[91]
According to his autobiography, while serving asUnited States Ambassador to the United Nations, Bill Richardson was asked by the White House in 1997 to interviewMonica Lewinsky for a job on his staff. Richardson did so, and later offered her a position, which she declined.[23][92]The American Spectator alleged that Richardson knew more about theClinton–Lewinsky scandal than he had declared to thegrand jury.[93]
In its April 2010 report, ethics watchdog groupCitizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington named Richardson one of the 11 worst governors in the United States because of various ethics issues throughout Richardson's term as governor.[94][95][96] The group accused Richardson of allowing political allies to benefit from firms connected to state investments, rewarding close associates with state positions or benefits (including providing a longtime friend and political supporter with a costly state contract), and allowing pay-to-play activity in his administration. They also opined that he fell short on efforts to make state government more transparent.[97] In 2011, Richardson was under investigation for his role in alleged campaign-finance violations. A former member of Richardson's campaign claimed that, during Richardson's 2008 presidential campaign, Richardson and members of his campaign paid an unknown woman $250,000 to keep her from exposing an alleged affair they had in 2004.[98][99]
During the 2012 trialUnited States of America v. Carollo, Goldberg and Grimm, the former CDR employee Doug Goldberg testified that he was involved in giving Bill Richardson campaign contributions amounting to $100,000 in exchange for his company, CDR, being hired to handle a $400 million swap deal for the New Mexico state government. During his testimony, Doug Goldberg stated that he had been given an envelope containing a check for $25,000 payable to Moving America Forward, Bill Richardson'spolitical action committee, by his boss, Stewart Wolmark, and told to deliver it to Bill Richardson at a fundraiser. When Goldberg handed the envelope to Richardson, he allegedly told Goldberg to "Tell the big guy [Stewart Wolmark] I'm going to hire you guys". Goldberg went on to testify that CDR was hired, but that he later learned that another firm was hired by Richardson to perform the actual work required and that Stewart Wolmark had given Richardson a further $75,000 in contributions.[100]
In 2019, it was revealed that Richardson was among those named in court documents from a civil suit betweenVirginia Giuffre andJeffrey Epstein associateGhislaine Maxwell. The documents were unsealed on August 9, 2019, a day before Epstein's death.[101][102] Giuffre alleges that she wassexually trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell to several high-profile individuals, including Richardson, while she was underage in the early 2000s.[101][103] Epstein contributed $50,000 to Richardson's successful campaign for Governor of New Mexico in 2002 and again for his successful run for reelection in 2006.[104] Flight logs for Epstein's helicopter released by the US Congress in 2025 showed that in 2011 Richardson and his chief of staff Brian Condi traveled with Epstein and three of his victims from theBritish Virgin Islands to theUS Virgin Islands. According to Condi the flight originated atRichard Branson'sNecker Island (British Virgin Islands).[105]
Court documents from 2015 that were unsealed in 2019 alleged Richardson's possible involvement with theJeffrey Epstein child-trafficking ring, allegations which he denied.[106] A spokesperson for Richardson also denied the claims, stating that Richardson did not know Giuffre and had never seen Epstein in the presence of young or underage girls.[103] Richardson released a statement in August 2019, saying that he had offered his assistance in the investigation of Epstein to theU.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Richardson's attorney, Jeff Brown ofDechert LLP, later said that he was informed by the assistant U.S. attorney that Richardson was neither a target, subject, nor witness in the case and that there was no allegation against Richardson that the government was actively investigating.[107] Giuffre, who died in April 2025, reiterated her accusations about being directed to have sex with Richardson in her posthumous October 2025 memoirNobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice.[108] On November 12, 2025, Richardson was confirmed to be among numerous people listed in Epstein's personal contact book.[109]
Richardson visitedNorth Korea several times and was involved in negotiations with the leadership there since the early 1990s. In 1996, he accompanied U.S. State Department officials and successfully negotiated the release ofEvan Hunziker, the first American civilian to be arrested by North Korea on espionage charges since the end of theKorean War.[110]
In 2011, he was again appointed as special envoy of theOrganization of American States.[111][112] Richardson formed a foundation, the Richardson Center, to help negotiate the release of political prisoners globally.[113]
In January 2013, he led a delegation to North Korea of business leaders, includingGoogle chairEric Schmidt shortly after the state launched an orbital rocket.[114] Richardson called the trip a "private, humanitarian" mission by U.S. citizens. He tried unsuccessfully to speak to North Korean officials about the detention ofKenneth Bae, a U.S. citizen accused of committing "hostile" acts against the state and sought to visit him but was only able to deliver to authorities a letter from Bae's son.[115][116] (Bae was released in November 2014.)
In March 2016, at the request of Ohio GovernorJohn Kasich, Richardson unsuccessfully negotiated for the release of Cincinnati college studentOtto Warmbier, who had been detained on a visit to North Korea.[6][113] Warmbier was eventually released in a vegetative state in June 2017 and died inCincinnati later that same month.[117]
In November 2021, Richardson undertook a mission toMyanmar, where he negotiated withmilitary junta headMin Aung Hlaing and secured the release of U.S. journalistDanny Fenster from an 11-year prison sentence.[118][119][7]
Shortly before his death, Richardson was nominated for aNobel Peace Prize by four Democratic senators for his role in hostage diplomacy seeking the release of 15 political prisoners, including professional basketball playerBrittney Griner and former U.S. MarineTrevor Reed.[120][121]
In 2011, Richardson joined the boards ofAPCO Worldwide company Global Political Strategies as chairman,[122] theWorld Resources Institute,[123] theNational Council for Science and the Environment,[124] andAbengoa (international advisory board).[125]
In 2012, Richardson joined the advisory board of Grow Energy andRefugees International. He was a member of Washington, D.C.–based Western Hemispherethink tank, theInter-American Dialogue.[126]
In December 2012, Richardson became chairman of the Board of Directors of Car Charging Group, the largest independent owner and operator of publicelectric vehicle charging stations in the United States. In 2013 Richardson joined the Board of Advisors for theFuel Freedom Foundation.[127]
Richardson died at his summer house inChatham, Massachusetts, on September 1, 2023, at age 75.[128]
I feel that through my Roman Catholic beliefs...
The governor lobbied strongly for the medical marijuana bill, which he said could hurt his presidential prospects but was "the right thing to do."
The U.S. Department of Justice has decided not to seek criminal indictments against Gov. Bill Richardson or former high-ranking members of his administration
Media from Commons
Quotations from Wikiquote| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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| New constituency | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNew Mexico's 3rd congressional district 1983–1997 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theCongressional Hispanic Caucus 1983–1985 | Succeeded by |
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| Preceded by | United States Ambassador to the United Nations 1997–1998 | Succeeded by Peter Burleigh Acting |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | United States Secretary of Energy 1998–2001 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Governor of New Mexico 2003–2011 | Succeeded by |
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| Preceded by | Recipient of theTheodore Roosevelt Award 1999 | Succeeded by |
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| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forGovernor of New Mexico 2002,2006 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Permanent Chairperson of the Democratic National Convention 2004 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theDemocratic Governors Association 2004–2006 | Succeeded by |
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