Dear Friends,

Thank you for your support over the past year as I pursued my dream to become the next Congressman from Southern New Mexico.

My campaign for United States Congress came to a close Tuesday night. I lost a competitive race; one of the closest and most competitive Congressional races in New Mexico.

The Obama Tsunami, spearheaded by Governor Richardson, hit New Mexico with a solid force. All three Congressional seats, as well as our Senate seat, went to the Democrats by substantial margins. Three of the seats have been held by Republican legislators for decades.

I want to provide a glimpse of some key factors in our race. A brief synopsis follows:

• We have eighteen counties in our district, stretching from Texas on the East to Arizona on the West, Mexico on the South and Albuquerque to the North. This is a district that is slightly larger than the entire State of Florida. I logged well over 80,000 miles in my pickup during the campaign. Truthfully, my bird dog even got tired of traveling with me.

• We carried each and every county on the Southeast side and central part of our district by a total of over 4,000 votes, and even won my opponent’s home county.

• The West side of the district is where we were hurt. We needed minor losses in Las Cruces and the upper Rio Grande valley to remain competitive, which unfortunately, did not happen.

• Through just the General Election, we were outspent by approximately $3.3 million dollars by my opponent and the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee.

I am extremely proud that I received the endorsements of all three of the major newspapers in our district, including the Albuquerque Journal, Las Cruces Sun News and Roswell Daily Record. They agreed I was right on the issues for our district and our country; however, perhaps it was just the wrong time.

I am also so very grateful to you for your support and your endorsement. Please know that we left everything on the field in our efforts to win.

We all have a big stake in our country’s future. A lost election does not change this, but rather it amplifies the need to work harder to preserve those values, ideals and convictions we all share. A new era has come to New Mexico, as well as the rest of our country. I will continue to be an advocate. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to be your Congressional Candidate. It has been an honor; one that I will never forget.

Meredith and I send our sincere thanks. I look forward to our paths crossing again soon. God bless you and your family. We wish you a Happy Holiday season.

Sincerely,

Ed Tinsley