Joe Skeen

Who was Joe Skeen?

Joseph Richard "Joe" Skeen was a conservative Republican congressman from southern New Mexico. He served for eleven terms in the United States House of Representatives between 1980 and 2003.

Skeen was born in Roswell, New Mexico. During his teenage years, his family moved to Seattle. During the final year of World War II, Skeen entered the United States Navy. After returning home, he graduated from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.

After several years of owning a ranch, Skeen was elected to the New Mexico State Senate as a Republican in 1960. He unsuccessfully ran for lieutenant governor in 1970 on an ticket headed by future Senator Pete Domenici. Incumbent Republican Governor David F. Cargo 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 by Democrat Joseph Montoya.

Thereafter, Skeen lost two very close races for governor — in 1974 against Democrat Jerry Apodaca and in 1978 against Democrat Bruce King. In the former race, Apodaca led 164,172 to Skeen's 160,430. In 1978, King secured a second nonconsecutive term, 174,631 to Skeen's 170,848.