Plame was followed by John Blair with 4.5% of the vote. Blair, a former New Mexico deputy secretary of state who also worked for President Barack Obama's Interior Department, as well as for US Sen. Martin Heinrich when he in the House of Representatives, discussed both his government experience, as well as the "historic" value his election would represent as the state's first LGBTQ member of Congress. "I know first-hand what it is to put progressive ideas in action," Blair said. After his speech, Blair told SFR that regardless of the day's voting outcome, he had already been collecting the qualifying signatures to get on the ballot.