State Senate primary candidate Tracy Perry announced Monday she would suspend her campaign citing health reasons, the Las Cruces Sun-News reports.
Perry said surgery and recovery after suffering a broken back in October made it hard to continue.
The newspaper reported that Perry was endorsing Papen’s other Democratic challenger, Carrie Hamblen.
The 88-year-old Papen of Las Cruces is one of many conservative Democrats more liberal Democrats are seeking to unseat in the upcoming June 2 primary.
In 2019, Papen voted to defeat a repeal of New Mexico’s currently unenforceable abortion ban. Liberal Democrats have blamed Papen for blocking other progressive proposals around early childhood education.