Ex-US Attorney in New Mexico plans to enter House race

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A former U.S. attorney who led the office during Justice Department reforms of Albuquerque police is expected to run for an open congressional seat in central New Mexico. Damon Martinez, who was ordered to resign earlier this year by the Trump administration, plans to announce Monday that he is jumping into a crowded Democratic primary to succeed U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat who is running for New Mexico governor. Under Martinez, federal prosecutors in Albuquerque targeted the state's worst offenders and focused on heroin and opioid trafficking suspects amid New Mexico's opioid crisis. He is running against former state Democratic 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.