David F. Cargo

David F. Cargo
22nd Governor of New Mexico
In office January 1, 1967 – January 1, 1971
Preceded by	Jack M. Campbell
Succeeded by	Bruce King
Personal details
Born	January 13, 1929 (1929-01-13) (age 82) Dowagiac, Michigan
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Ida Jo Cargo
Residence	Albuquerque
Profession	Attorney

David Francis Cargo (born January 13, 1929) the 22nd Governor of New Mexico, having served between 1967 and 1971.^[1]

Cargo was born in Dowagiac, Michigan,^[1] the eldest of three children born to Francis and Mary (née Harton) Cargo.^{[citation needed]} He is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School (LLB: 1957).^[1]

He represented the Albuquerque area in the New Mexico House of Representatives from 1963 to 1967, when he was elected governor at the age of thirty-seven.^[1] As a representative he won one of the first lawsuits forcing proportional representation in the state legislature.^[1] He remains one of the youngest governors elected to date in U.S. history, along with Harold Stassen in Minnesota (1938), Bill Clinton in Arkansas (1978), Christopher "Kit" Bond and Matt Blunt in Missouri (1972) and (2004), respectively, and Bobby Jindal in Louisiana (2007).^{[citation needed]}

Election as governor, 1966 and 1968

Cargo was considered a liberal Republican, more in the Nelson Rockefeller mode than in the Barry Goldwater image.^{[citation needed]} He had difficulty winning the Republican primaries in both 1966 and 1968.^{[citation needed]} Each time he faced the more conservative Clifford J. Hawley of Santa Fe.^{[citation needed]} In 1966, Cargo won with 17,836 (51.8 percent) to Hawley's 16,588 (48.2 percent). He improved in 1968, when he defeated Hawley, 28,014 (54.9 percent) to 23,052 (45.1 percent).^{[citation needed]}

Cargo won the general election of 1966, when he barely defeated Democrat T.E. Lusk.^{[citation needed]} Cargo received 134,625 votes (51.7 percent) to Lusk's 125,587 (48.3 percent).^{[citation needed]} Running again in 1968, Cargo won by an even smaller margin, 160,140 (50.5 percent) to Democrat Fabian Chavez, Jr.,'s 157,230 ballots (49.5 percent).^{[citation needed]}

As governor, Cargo started the state film commission, which has brought millions of dollars in revenue to the state of New Mexico.^{[citation needed]} Cargo established ties to Hollywood and was even asked to appear in several films.^{[citation needed]} In 1971 he made a cameo appearance in Bunny O'Hare, which starred Bette Davis and Ernest Borgnine.^{[citation needed]} During his first campaign for governor, he was known as "Lonesome Dave."^{[citation needed]}

Later losing campaigns

Cargo could not seek a third two-year term in 1970.^{[citation needed]} Gubernatorial terms were changed to one, four year term with the 1970 election and subsequently two, four year terms with the 1986 election.^[2] Cargo hence ran for the U.S. Senate in 1970, but he lost the Republican primary to the conservative choice, Anderson "Andy" Carter, who was later a Ronald Reagan leader in New Mexico. Carter polled 32,122 (57.8 percent) to Cargo's 17,951 (32.3 percent).^{[citation needed]} Andy Carter then lost the general election to incumbent Democrat Joseph M. Montoya, who later became nationally known as a member of the Senate Watergate Committee.^{[citation needed]}

From 1973 until 1985, Cargo relocated to Lake Oswego, Oregon, with his wife Ida Jo and five children, Veronica, David, Patrick, Elena, and Eamon.^{[citation needed]} He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for State Treasurer in Oregon in 1984.^{[citation needed]}

After returning to New Mexico Cargo won the Republican nomination for Congress, but was badly defeated by the incumbent, Democrat Bill Richardson in 1986.^{[citation needed]} Cargo ran for Mayor of Albuquerque in 1993, but was defeated by Martin Chávez.^{[citation needed]} He tried for a gubernatorial comeback in 1994. Cargo ran a poor fourth (13 percent) in the primary and lost to Gary Johnson, a libertarian Republican.^{[citation needed]} Johnson won the general election, having benefited from 1994 being a heavily Republican year nationwide.^{[citation needed]}

Cargo continues to practice law in Albuquerque.^[1] In 2010 he wrote an autobiography titled Lonesome Dave.^[3]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "Cargo, David F.". New Mexico Office of the State Historian. http://www.newmexicohistory.org/filedetails.php?fileID=334. Retrieved 2010-12-28. 
2. ^ "Constitution Of The State Of New Mexico - Article V, Section 1". New Mexico Secretary Of State. http://www.sos.state.nm.us/pdf/2007nmconst.pdf. Retrieved 20 August 2011. 
3. ^ "Books: Lonesome Dave". Sunstone Press. http://www.sunstonepress.com/cgi-bin/bookview.cgi?_recordnum=600. Retrieved 2010-12-28. 

Political offices
Preceded by Jack M. Campbell	Governor of New Mexico 1967-1971	Succeeded by Bruce King

Persondata
Name	Cargo, David F.
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	January 13, 1929
Place of birth	Dowagiac, Michigan
Date of death
Place of death