Biography:

Tom Udall was born in Tucson, and is the oldest of six children. He grew up Arizona and in the Washington, D.C., area. His father, Stewart Udall, served in Congress and as secretary of the Interior Department.

The younger Udall received a bachelor's degree from Prescott College in Arizona in 1970. He worked as a campaign aide for an Arizona congressional candidate and as an instructor in outdoor programs in Colorado from 1970 to 1972.

He was a legislative assistant to Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., in 1973, and then returned to school.

Udall received a bachelor's of law degree, specializing in international law, from Cambridge University in England in 1975. He earned a law degree in 1977 from the University of New Mexico.

After graduation, he served as a law clerk in Santa Fe for Judge Oliver Seth of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Udall worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in New Mexico from 1978 to 1981. He entered a private law practice in Santa Fe in September 1981 and prepared to run for Congress in the state's newly created 3rd District. But he lost the primary election.

From 1984 to 1985, Udall was the chief counsel for the New Mexico Health and Environment Department. He joined an Albuquerque law firm in 1985.

He ran again for Congress in 1988, this time in the Albuquerque-area 1st District, but lost in the general election. He was elected attorney general of New Mexico in 1990 and re-elected in 1994. He won the state's 3rd Congressional District seat in 1998.

Udall and his wife, Jill Z. Cooper, have one daughter.

Past Campaigns:

Tom Udall was elected to the U.S. House in 1998, unseating Republican Rep. Bill Redmond. Udall received 53 percent to Redmond's 43 percent.

Udall won the 2000 Democratic primary over Francesca Lobato with 83 percent of the vote. He defeated GOP state legislator Lisa Lutz with 67 percent of the vote in the 2000 general election.

Udall was unopposed in the 2002 Democratic primary and had no GOP opponent on the general election ballot. A GOP write-in failed to get enough votes in the primary to win a spot on the November ballot.

Udall again faced no primary opponent in 2004, but his general election challenger was Greg Tucker, a Republican district attorney from Farmington.

Udall was elected as New Mexico's attorney general in 1990 and re-elected in 1994. He made two previous but unsuccessful bids for Congress.

In 1988, Udall lost by 5,800 votes to Republican Steve Schiff in the 1st Congressional District. The Albuquerque-area congressional seat came open because Republican Manuel Lujan Jr. retired. Udall won a 10-way primary race for the Democratic nomination.

In 1982, Udall finished last in a four-way race for the Democratic nomination in the newly formed 3rd congressional District. Bill Richardson won that primary and went on to represent the district for 14 years.

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