David Francis Cargo (January 13, 1929 – July 5, 2013) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 22nd governor of New Mexico between 1967 and 1971.[1]
Cargo ran for Governor in 1966, facing Clifford J. Hawley of Santa Fe in the Republican primary.[3] In 1966, Cargo won with 17,836 (51.8 percent) to Hawley's 16,588 (48.2 percent).[4] He improved his primary performance in 1968, when he defeated Hawley, 28,014 (54.9 percent) to 23,052 (45.1 percent).[5]
Cargo won the general election of 1966, narrowly defeating DemocratGene Lusk. Cargo received 134,625 votes (51.7 percent) to Lusk's 125,587 (48.3 percent).[4] 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).[5]
On May 8, 1970, Cargo sent National Guard troops to the UNM campus when Jane Fonda spoke to an estimated 700 protesters.[7] Gathered to protest the Vietnam War and the Kent State massacre that had happened just four days earlier, the National Guard was given orders to end the protest and bayonetted 11 people, including students who were not part of the protest.[8] A class action lawsuit was brought against Cargo and individual guardsmen by six of the bayonetting victims. A jury in Albuquerque eventually sided with Cargo, the National Guard, and the other politicians involved leaving victims to pay their own medical bills.[9]
Cargo could not seek a third two-year term in 1970 due to term limits.[10] Cargo ran for the U.S. Senate in 1970, but he lost the Republican primary to Anderson "Andy" Carter.[11] Carter polled 32,122 (57.8 percent) to Cargo's 17,951 (32.3 percent).[12] Andy Carter then lost the general election to incumbent Democrat Joseph Montoya.[12] Cargo ran unsuccessfully for New Mexico's other Senate seat in 1972 but again lost the primary, this time to the eventual winner, Pete Domenici.[11]
After returning to New Mexico, Cargo won the Republican nomination for Congress in 1986 for New Mexico's 3rd congressional district but was defeated by the incumbent, Democrat Bill Richardson.[11] Cargo ran for mayor of Albuquerque in 1989 but placed third, and thus did not advance to the top-two runoff.[13] In 1993 he ran again but lost to Martin Chávez.[11] He tried for a gubernatorial comeback in 1994 but finished in fourth place with 13 percent in the primary and lost to the eventual winner, Gary Johnson.[14] Cargo made his final race in 1997 when he again contested the Albuquerque mayoralty, but he finished third and lost to Jim Baca.[15]
Cargo continued to practice law in Albuquerque.[1] In 2010, he wrote an autobiography titled Lonesome Dave.[16]
The Library for the Luna Community College site in Mora, NM is named after David Cargo.
Personal life
Cargo and his wife, Ida Jo, had five children: Veronica, David, Patrick, Elena and Eamon.[6]
Cargo died at the age of eighty-four of complications of a stroke which he had two years earlier.[6]