Biography:

Steve Pearce was born in Texas but his family moved to Hobbs, a community in southeastern New Mexico, when he was 2 years old. Pearce served as student body president at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces and received his undergraduate degree in economics from the school in 1970. He earned a master's degree in business administration from Eastern New Mexico University in 1991. He served in the Air Force as a pilot from 1970 to 1976. During part of that time, he flew C-130 cargo planes into Vietnam from the Philippines.

After leaving the military, Pearce operated a crop dusting and commercial flying service. He served two terms in the state House of Representatives from 1996 to 2000. He was the chairman of the Republican House caucus during his second term. He ran unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate in 2000, but lost to former U.S. Rep. Bill Redmond. Pearce owned Lea Fishing Tools Inc., an oil field serving company, until selling it in 2003.

He was elected to the House in 2002.

Pearce and his wife, Cynthia, have one adult daughter.

Past Campaigns:

Steve Pearce was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002 with 56 percent of the vote. He defeated Democratic state Sen. John Arthur Smith of Deming.

Pearce ran unopposed in the 2004 GOP primary.

He was elected to the state House of Representatives in 1996, running unopposed for a seat that became vacant when the incumbent Republican retired. He was re-elected without opposition in 1998.

Pearce finished a distant second in the 2000 GOP primary for the U.S. Senate nomination. He received 22 percent of the vote. Former congressman Bill Redmond of Los Alamos won the three-way primary contest.

In the June 2002 primary, Pearce won the GOP nomination in the 2nd District by a 2,700-vote margin _ receiving 35 percent of the vote in a five-way race.

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