LOS ALAMOS, NEW MEXICO (AP) -- LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) - Tom Mullins is the closest thing New Mexico has to a bona fide tea party candidate.
The Republican nominee in the sprawling 3rd Congressional District, Mullins is challenging first-term incumbent Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., for the House seat representing northern New Mexico and parts of the eastern plains.
A petroleum engineer in Farmington, Mullins is making his first run for office after becoming involved in recent years as an organizer of San Juan County tea party events.
Mullins says the tea party is a diverse group with two themes - trying to get back to a government based on the Constitution and limiting the power and authority of the federal government.
Lujan has sought to portray Mullins as radically out of step with the heavily Democratic district.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
(Copyright ©2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
