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Created page with "{{Infobox officeholder | name=Joseph Richard "Joe" Skeen | image=Joe Skeen of NM.jpg | birth_date=June 30, 1927 | birth_place=Roswell, New Mexico | death_date=December 7,..."
{{Infobox officeholder
| name=Joseph Richard "Joe" Skeen
| image=Joe Skeen of NM.jpg
| birth_date=June 30, 1927
| birth_place=[[Roswell]], New Mexico
| death_date=December 7, 2003 (aged 76)
| death_place=Roswell, New Mexico
| resting_place=Skeen Ranch Cemetery in Picacho in Lincoln County
| office=[[U.S. Representative]] for<br> [[New Mexico]]'s 2nd congressional district
| term_start=January 3, 1981
| term_end=January 3, 2003
| preceded=Harold L. Runnels
| succeeded=[[Steve Pearce]]
| office2=Chairman of the<br>
New Mexico [[Republican Party]]
| term_start2=1962
| term_end2=1965
| office3=New Mexico State Senator from Roswell
| term_start3=1961
| term_end3=1971
| spouse=Mary Helen Jones Skeen (1926-2016) (married 1945-2003, his death)
| children=James Hardin Skeen<br>(died at birth, June 15, 1948)
Mary Elisa "Lisa" Skeen Livingston
Mikell Lee "Mike" Skeen (1962-2018)
| occupation=Rancher
| alma_mater=O'Dea High School ([[Seattle]])
[[Texas A&M University]] ([[College Station, Texas|College Station]])
|branch=[[United States Navy]]
|serviceyears=1945–1946
|battles=[[World War II]]
|branch2=[[United States Air Force]] Reserve
|serviceyears2=1949–1952}}
'''Joseph Richard Skeen''', known as '''Joe Skeen''' (June 30, 1927 – December 7, 2003]), was a [[conservative]] [[Republican Party|Republican]] rancher who represented the 2nd congressional district for his native [[New Mexico]] for eleven terms in the House between 1981 and 2003.<ref name=bioguide/>
==Background==
Skeen was born in [[Roswell]] in eastern New Mexico, a city now known for its reported [[UFO]] sightings. His parents were Thomas Dudley Skeen (1903-1951) and the former Ilah T. Adamson, later Ilah Rose (1907-1964).<ref name=findagrave>Joseph Richard Skeen (1927-2003) - Find A Grave Memorial, accessed October 15, 2021.</ref>
During his teenage years, his family moved to [[Seattle]], [[Washington]], where he graduated from O'Dea High School in 1944. In the final year of [[World War II]], Skeen entered the [[United States Navy]]. After returning home, he graduated with a degree in agriculture from [[Texas A&M University]] in [[College Station, Texas|College Station]], [[Texas]]. He subsequently served for three years in the [[United States Air Force]] Reserve.<ref name=bioguide>Bioguide Search (congress.gov), accessed October 15, 2021.</ref>
==Political life==
The owner of the Buckhorn Ranch in Picacho in Lincoln County in southern New Mexico, Skeen raised sheep.<ref name=wapo>Rep. Joe Skeen, N.M. Republican, Dies at 76 - The Washington Post, accessed October 15, 2021.</ref> He was the state Republican chairman from 1962 to 1965 and served in the state Senate from 1961 to 1971.<ref>Joseph Skeen (nndb.com), accessed October 15, 2021.</ref> After ten years in the state Senate, Skeen ran for lieutenant governor in 1970 on an unsuccessful ticket headed by future long-term [[United States Senator]] [[Pete Domenici]]. Incumbent Republican Governor David Francis Cargo (1929-2013), a [[Moderate Republican]], was ineligible to run for the first four-year gubernatorial term in the history of the state. Cargo therefore ran unsuccessfully in the primary for the Senate seat retained for his last term by the [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] Joseph Montoya.
In the Democratic years of 1974 and 1978, Skeen lost twice in close races for [[Governor]] of New Mexico. In the first race, he was defeated by the Democrat Raymond S. "Jerry" Apodaca (born 1934), and thereafter in 1978 by Democrat Bruce King (1924-2009) in 1978. In the former race, Apodaca led 164,172 (49.9 percent) to Skeen's 160,430 (48.8 percent). In 1978, King secured a second nonconsecutive term, 174,631 (50.5 percent) to Skeen's 170,848 (49.4 percent).
===1980 congressional election===
Throughout the 1970s, five-term Democratic U.S. Representative Harold Lowell Runnels (1925-1980) seemed to have a lock on the 2nd congressional district since succeeding the one-term Republican U.S. Representative [[Ed Foreman]], who earlier had represented another House district for one term in Texas. Runnels was so strong that the [[Republican Party|GOP]] failed to run a candidate against him in 1978 or 1980. On August 5, 1980, Runnels died of [[cancer]] at the age of fifty-six. The state attorney general, a Democrat, announced that the Democrats could replace Runnels on the ballot but that it was too late for the Republicans to do so because they did not have a nominee in waiting. Republicans then rallied behind a write-in effort waged by Skeen, while the Democrats selected Governor Bruce King's nephew, David W. King (born 1946), over Runnels' widow, Dorothy Frances Gilland Runnels (1923-2020), later Mrs. Bill Clendenen from 1985 until his death in 1990.<ref>Obituary of Dorothy Frances Runnels | Kirby Smith Rogers Funeral Home, accessed October 15, 2021.</ref>To complicate matters for the Democrats, Mrs. Runnels elected to run her own write-in campaign. Furthermore, David King had only moved his voter registration into the district some ten days after the death of Runnels. [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5698889] David King switched to the Republican Party in 1995.
Buoyed by the [[Ronald Reagan]] victory over Democrat [[Jimmy Carter]], Skeen won the election, 61,564 votes (38 percent) to King's 55,085 (34 percent), and Mrs. Runnels' 45,343 (28 percent). Skeen was only the third person in [[U.S. history]] to be elected to the U.S. Congress as a write-in candidate,<ref>Republican Joe Skeen Wednesday became the first write-in candidate... - UPI Archives, accessed October 15, 2021.</ref> the previous such write-in victory occurred in [[Arkansas]] in 1958, with [[Dale Alford]]'s unseating of [[Brooks Hays]].
Representative Skeen was instrumental in the opening of the federal underground nuclear waste repository, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, near Carlsbad, New Mexico.
He defended private property rights, rebuffed increases in grazing fees and fought against the reintroduction of endangered Mexican gray wolves into New Mexico.<ref name=wapo/> His congressional voting record was conservative. He promoted ranching interests in the West. Skeen faced several competitive races for reelection. In 1997, he was diagnosed with [[Parkinson's disease]].<ref name=wapo/> He announced his retirement and did not contest the 2002 election. At the time of his death in 2003, he was highly regarded in both parties for his service to his state.
He is interred with his son and wife at the Skeen Ranch Cemetery in Picacho in Lincoln County.<ref name=findagrave/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skeen, Joe}}
[[Category:New Mexico]]
[[Category:Ranchers]]
[[Category:Former United States Representatives]]
[[Category:State Senators]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:Conservatives]]
[[Category:United States Navy]]
[[Category:United States Air Force]]
| name=Joseph Richard "Joe" Skeen
| image=Joe Skeen of NM.jpg
| birth_date=June 30, 1927
| birth_place=[[Roswell]], New Mexico
| death_date=December 7, 2003 (aged 76)
| death_place=Roswell, New Mexico
| resting_place=Skeen Ranch Cemetery in Picacho in Lincoln County
| office=[[U.S. Representative]] for<br> [[New Mexico]]'s 2nd congressional district
| term_start=January 3, 1981
| term_end=January 3, 2003
| preceded=Harold L. Runnels
| succeeded=[[Steve Pearce]]
| office2=Chairman of the<br>
New Mexico [[Republican Party]]
| term_start2=1962
| term_end2=1965
| office3=New Mexico State Senator from Roswell
| term_start3=1961
| term_end3=1971
| spouse=Mary Helen Jones Skeen (1926-2016) (married 1945-2003, his death)
| children=James Hardin Skeen<br>(died at birth, June 15, 1948)
Mary Elisa "Lisa" Skeen Livingston
Mikell Lee "Mike" Skeen (1962-2018)
| occupation=Rancher
| alma_mater=O'Dea High School ([[Seattle]])
[[Texas A&M University]] ([[College Station, Texas|College Station]])
|branch=[[United States Navy]]
|serviceyears=1945–1946
|battles=[[World War II]]
|branch2=[[United States Air Force]] Reserve
|serviceyears2=1949–1952}}
'''Joseph Richard Skeen''', known as '''Joe Skeen''' (June 30, 1927 – December 7, 2003]), was a [[conservative]] [[Republican Party|Republican]] rancher who represented the 2nd congressional district for his native [[New Mexico]] for eleven terms in the House between 1981 and 2003.<ref name=bioguide/>
==Background==
Skeen was born in [[Roswell]] in eastern New Mexico, a city now known for its reported [[UFO]] sightings. His parents were Thomas Dudley Skeen (1903-1951) and the former Ilah T. Adamson, later Ilah Rose (1907-1964).<ref name=findagrave>Joseph Richard Skeen (1927-2003) - Find A Grave Memorial, accessed October 15, 2021.</ref>
During his teenage years, his family moved to [[Seattle]], [[Washington]], where he graduated from O'Dea High School in 1944. In the final year of [[World War II]], Skeen entered the [[United States Navy]]. After returning home, he graduated with a degree in agriculture from [[Texas A&M University]] in [[College Station, Texas|College Station]], [[Texas]]. He subsequently served for three years in the [[United States Air Force]] Reserve.<ref name=bioguide>Bioguide Search (congress.gov), accessed October 15, 2021.</ref>
==Political life==
The owner of the Buckhorn Ranch in Picacho in Lincoln County in southern New Mexico, Skeen raised sheep.<ref name=wapo>Rep. Joe Skeen, N.M. Republican, Dies at 76 - The Washington Post, accessed October 15, 2021.</ref> He was the state Republican chairman from 1962 to 1965 and served in the state Senate from 1961 to 1971.<ref>Joseph Skeen (nndb.com), accessed October 15, 2021.</ref> After ten years in the state Senate, Skeen ran for lieutenant governor in 1970 on an unsuccessful ticket headed by future long-term [[United States Senator]] [[Pete Domenici]]. Incumbent Republican Governor David Francis Cargo (1929-2013), a [[Moderate Republican]], was ineligible to run for the first four-year gubernatorial term in the history of the state. Cargo therefore ran unsuccessfully in the primary for the Senate seat retained for his last term by the [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] Joseph Montoya.
In the Democratic years of 1974 and 1978, Skeen lost twice in close races for [[Governor]] of New Mexico. In the first race, he was defeated by the Democrat Raymond S. "Jerry" Apodaca (born 1934), and thereafter in 1978 by Democrat Bruce King (1924-2009) in 1978. In the former race, Apodaca led 164,172 (49.9 percent) to Skeen's 160,430 (48.8 percent). In 1978, King secured a second nonconsecutive term, 174,631 (50.5 percent) to Skeen's 170,848 (49.4 percent).
===1980 congressional election===
Throughout the 1970s, five-term Democratic U.S. Representative Harold Lowell Runnels (1925-1980) seemed to have a lock on the 2nd congressional district since succeeding the one-term Republican U.S. Representative [[Ed Foreman]], who earlier had represented another House district for one term in Texas. Runnels was so strong that the [[Republican Party|GOP]] failed to run a candidate against him in 1978 or 1980. On August 5, 1980, Runnels died of [[cancer]] at the age of fifty-six. The state attorney general, a Democrat, announced that the Democrats could replace Runnels on the ballot but that it was too late for the Republicans to do so because they did not have a nominee in waiting. Republicans then rallied behind a write-in effort waged by Skeen, while the Democrats selected Governor Bruce King's nephew, David W. King (born 1946), over Runnels' widow, Dorothy Frances Gilland Runnels (1923-2020), later Mrs. Bill Clendenen from 1985 until his death in 1990.<ref>Obituary of Dorothy Frances Runnels | Kirby Smith Rogers Funeral Home, accessed October 15, 2021.</ref>To complicate matters for the Democrats, Mrs. Runnels elected to run her own write-in campaign. Furthermore, David King had only moved his voter registration into the district some ten days after the death of Runnels. [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5698889] David King switched to the Republican Party in 1995.
Buoyed by the [[Ronald Reagan]] victory over Democrat [[Jimmy Carter]], Skeen won the election, 61,564 votes (38 percent) to King's 55,085 (34 percent), and Mrs. Runnels' 45,343 (28 percent). Skeen was only the third person in [[U.S. history]] to be elected to the U.S. Congress as a write-in candidate,<ref>Republican Joe Skeen Wednesday became the first write-in candidate... - UPI Archives, accessed October 15, 2021.</ref> the previous such write-in victory occurred in [[Arkansas]] in 1958, with [[Dale Alford]]'s unseating of [[Brooks Hays]].
Representative Skeen was instrumental in the opening of the federal underground nuclear waste repository, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, near Carlsbad, New Mexico.
He defended private property rights, rebuffed increases in grazing fees and fought against the reintroduction of endangered Mexican gray wolves into New Mexico.<ref name=wapo/> His congressional voting record was conservative. He promoted ranching interests in the West. Skeen faced several competitive races for reelection. In 1997, he was diagnosed with [[Parkinson's disease]].<ref name=wapo/> He announced his retirement and did not contest the 2002 election. At the time of his death in 2003, he was highly regarded in both parties for his service to his state.
He is interred with his son and wife at the Skeen Ranch Cemetery in Picacho in Lincoln County.<ref name=findagrave/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skeen, Joe}}
[[Category:New Mexico]]
[[Category:Ranchers]]
[[Category:Former United States Representatives]]
[[Category:State Senators]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:Conservatives]]
[[Category:United States Navy]]
[[Category:United States Air Force]]