Harold Runnels
US Rep. Harold Runnels was a popular Democrat who had severe health problems in his final two years of life. He had cancer surgery in 1979, and he only agreed to run for another term after tests showed he was cancer-free (Albuquerque Journal, 2/12/1980). Just a week after defeating his only opponent in 1980 in the Democratic primary, however, Runnels began to suffer from lung congestion (Albuquerque Journal, 7/1/1980). He went to the Sloane-Kettering Hospital in NYC twice to see specialists, and he died there on 8/5/1980 (Deming Headlight, 8/5/1980).

Replacement Democratic Nominee
Speculation began immediately about a replacement candidate. The NM Attorney General issued an opinion that since no Republican filed for the primary, it was too late for them to list a nominee on the ballot. Dorothy Runnels, widow of the deceased congressman, was interested in running, and Republicans in general believed she would be to their liking (Albuquerque Journal, 8/10/1980). The Democrats scheduled a meeting on 8/23 to select a replacement nominee. Dorothy Runnels announced her candidacy on 8/9/1980 (Santa Fe New Mexican, 8/10/1980). The nephew of Gov Bruce King, David King (then serving as state finance secretary), changed his official residence to the second congressional district just after Rep. Runnels's funeral and announced his candidacy, which seemed inappropriate to many Democrats (Deming Headlight, 8/19/1980). Democrats found this a good opportun

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Harold Runnels
US Rep. Harold Runnels was a popular Democrat who had severe health problems in his final two years of life. He had cancer surgery in 1979, and he only agreed to run for another term after tests showed he was cancer-free (Albuquerque Journal, 2/12/1980). Just a week after defeating his only opponent in 1980 in the Democratic primary, however, Runnels began to suffer from lung congestion (Albuquerque Journal, 7/1/1980). He went to the Sloane-Kettering Hospital in NYC twice to see specialists, and he died there on 8/5/1980 (Deming Headlight, 8/5/1980).

Replacement Democratic Nominee
Speculation began immediately about a replacement candidate. The NM Attorney General issued an opinion that since no Republican filed for the primary, it was too late for them to list a nominee on the ballot. Dorothy Runnels, widow of the deceased congressman, was interested in running, and Republicans in general believed she would be to their liking (Albuquerque Journal, 8/10/1980). The Democrats scheduled a meeting on 8/23 to select a replacement nominee. Dorothy Runnels announced her candidacy on 8/9/1980 (Santa Fe New Mexican, 8/10/1980). The nephew of Gov Bruce King, David King (then serving as state finance secretary), changed his official residence to the second congressional district just after Rep. Runnels's funeral and announced his candidacy, which seemed inappropriate to many Democrats (Deming Headlight, 8/19/1980). Democrats found this a good opportunity to increase the number of women in Congress, and on 8/19 more than half of Democrats in the US House, along with the entire party leadership, signed a letter endorsing her (Deming Headlight, 8/20/1980). When the Democrats met, however, political pressure from the governor was too great; King was nominated with 55 votes to 27 for Runnels and 4 for Olguin (Santa Fe New Mexican, 8/24/1980).

Skeen and Runnels Wage Write-in Campaign
Dorothy Runnels immediately decided to continue her campaign. King's decision to move his registration into the second district right after her husband's funeral was one issue, and the fact that the state Democratic Party so overwhelmingly chose him was another. While she worked to settle her husband's estate, she formed a nascent campaign staff to initiate the process. Her staff initially began to collect signatures to get her name on the ballot as an Independent (Santa Fe New Mexican, 8/31/1980). In a whirlwind effort, her staff collected 10,000 signatures in three days that Runnels personally delivered to the secretary of state on 9/3/1980. The SOS, a former neighbor of the Runnels's, reluctantly could not accept the petition, and Runnels immediately announced the next phase of her campaign as a write-in candidate (Santa Fe New Mexican, 9/4/1980). State Republican officials recruited former state legislator Joe Skeen to run as a Republican write-in.

The Campaign
Runnels did not expect to gain ballot status and geared her campaign to educating voters about how to cast write-in votes. Her attorney continued to seek ballot status through litigation but failed. Skeen followed a similar path; when his legal approach failed just prior to the election, he sat at home during a storm that knocked out power and almost decided to drop out of the race. King actually ran a good campaign. He visited Democratic leaders throughout the district and asked for their support. He then produced a brochure outlining his positions as compared to Skeen and Runnels. King had a moderate-to-liberal philosophy at that time, while his opponents were generally moderate-to-conservative. Still, he was dogged by inconsistencies about when he moved his registration into the district. Then just before the election, AG Jeff Bingaman released a scathing report about investment irregularities by the state finance board; King argued that he had been working to correct these problems but that his actions had not been mentioned in the report (El Paso Times, 11/15/1980). A poll by KOAT-TV released on 9/24 showed Runnels leading with 36% to Skeen 28%, King 18%, and State Sen. Aubrey Dunn with 7% (Deming Headlight, 9/24/1980). The write-in candidates were required to file paperwork with the SOS to have their votes counted. Runnels filed three variants of her name that would be counted, and Skeen filed two variants of his name to be counted. No other candidate filed papers to have their votes counted, including Paul Rowland, who ran as the Citizens Party candidate.

Election Day
When voters reached the polls in 1980, they had a single name listed in the race for US House - David W. King. To cast a write-in vote, they needed to hit a special lever at the top which would cause a small metal rectangle to open for the write-in spot, and then the name had to be spelled exactly right. Voters could hear the metal rectangle clang as it opened and closed, and voters waiting in line smiled because they knew what it meant. It was a record turnout, and 70% of the voters were casting write-in votes. However, problems emerged when it was time to count the votes; different counties made different decisions about the problems, with the result that about 23,000 votes were excluded from the totals (12% of the raw total vote). Dozens of voters cast their US House write-in votes either in the column to the left (the presidential race) or the column to the right (the race for corporation commissioner), draining votes away from Skeen and Runnels. An El Paso Times reporter examined the original documents and found that while 97% of Skeen's voters spelled his name accurately, only 90% of Runnels' votes were accurate enough to officially count for her. In addition, 800 voters in the first congressional district wrote in either Skeen or Runnels; neither candidate had filed to have these votes tabulated, so they were ignored (El Paso Times, 12/13/1980). The certified total showed that Skeen won with 38% of the vote to 34% for King and 28% for Runnels; it was only the third time that someone had been elected to the US House as a write-in candidate. A precise count would likely have resulted in Runnels placing second (she won a majority of the 23,000 excluded ballots), but Skeen would still have been elected.

King considered a challenge
King couldn't bellieve that he lost the race. He examined the result in his new home county and discovered that many votes were counted for spelling variants that had not been filed with the SOS. He spent the day after the election on the phone with staff and attorneys trying to find a way to challenge the result. His campaign treasurer Walter Gerrells finally explained to King the enormity of the situation - that in a record turnout, 70% of the voters tried to vote against him. A full count would probably show that he placed third, but he wanted to be seated on a technicality when he only received 30% of the raw vote. Gerrells pointed out that the voters were only angry at the system, but if he pursued this course, they would be mad at him and never elect him to anything in the future (El Paso Times, 11/6/1980). King relented and issued a statement that he was withdrawing from politics for a few years.



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