The former C.I.A. officer Valerie Plame, whose cover was blown in a leak that touched off a political scandal during the George W. Bush administration, said Thursday that she plans to run for Congress as a Democrat. Ms. Plame, 55, is running for the northern New Mexico seat being vacated by Representative Ben Ray Luján. Mr. Luján, who had been regarded as a possible successor to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has announced that he plans to run for Senate to replace the retiring Senator Tom Udall. Ms. Plame, who moved to Santa Fe after leaving Washington more than a decade ago, has recently worked as a speaker and writer, but she is best known for the circumstances of her departure from the C.I.A., where she had served for two decades. When her husband, the American diplomat Joseph C. Wilson IV, wrote an opinion essay in The New York Times in 2003 raising questions about a central underpinning for the invasion of Iraq — that President Saddam Hussein was acquiring nuclear weapons there — Ms. Plame’s identity was leaked to the news media.<doc-sep>Former CIA operative-turned-activist Valerie Plame announced Thursday she will be running for Congress in New Mexico's 3rd District. The seat is currently held by Democratic Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, who is stepping down to run for U.S. Senate. EX-SPY VALERIE PLAME EYES HOUSE BID AFTER PREVIOUSLY LOOKING AT SENATE RUN "Over 10 years ago, I chose to make New Mexico my home and it has become my heart,” Plame said in a statement on her website. “I have lived all over the world and have never felt more connected to a place and its special people than in the Land of Enchantment.” Plame became a national figure after her identity as a CIA operative was leaked by an official in President George W. Bush's administration in 2003 and used to discredit her then-husband Joe Wilson. Wilson is a former diplomat who criticized Bush’s decision to invade Iraq. Plame left the agency in 2005. I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, a former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, was convicted of lying to investigators and obstruction of justice following the 2003 leak. President Trump issued a full pardon to Libby last year. TRUMP PARDONS EX-CHENEY AIDE SCOOTER LIBBY In 2017, the Wilsons launched an unsuccessful crowdfunding effort to buy Twitter so Trump couldn’t use it. At the time, Plame said if she didn’t get enough funding to purchase a majority of shares, she would explore options to buy “a significant stake” and champion the proposal at Twitter’s annual shareholder meeting. Plame and Wilson divorced later that year. In her congressional race, Plame faces several Democratic challengers including State Rep. Joseph Sanchez, businessman Mark McDonald, and former Navajo Nation presidential and vice presidential candidate Dineh Benally. The winner of the Democratic primary is likely to win the open seat. New Mexico's 3rd district sprawls across the state's northern border with Colorado. Hillary Clinton won it by 15 points in 2016. CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP Only one Republican, back in1997, has ever held the seat. The Associated Press contributed to this report.<doc-sep>Valerie Plame, the former CIA operative who was outed as a spy by top officials in George W. Bush's administration in the early months of the Iraq War in 2003, is running for Congress in New Mexico. "My career in the CIA was cut short by partisan politics, but I’m not done serving our country," Plame said in a statement formally announcing her candidacy as a Democrat for New Mexico's 3rd Congressional District. "We need more people in Congress with the courage to stand up for what’s right. It’s why I couldn’t be prouder than to have the chance to represent my friends and neighbors of Northern New Mexico. I will work as hard defending my fellow New Mexicans in Washington as I did defending our country from nuclear threats." Plame officially filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday. Her entrance comes after months of speculation about her eyeing a bid for the open House seat, which is being vacated by Democratic Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, who is running for the U.S. Senate. She told the Associated Press in early April, "I have a lot to learn and I would like another opportunity to serve my country," adding, that she was looking at the House seat to "continue Ben Ray’s legacy.” The former intelligence operative comes out of the gate by staking her early candidacy on one of the top issues facing the country: health care. In her announcement release, she lists access and rising prescription drug costs as the key challenges she aims to take "head on in Washington." "The high cost of health care and prescription medicine is hitting everyone," she said. "For those who can afford health insurance, there has been a steep rise in premiums and co-payments while receiving fewer and fewer services. And those who cannot afford health care are struggling to get any care at all, because insurance companies are dramatically reducing access. Everyone is losing under the health care system we have today except for insurance and drug companies.” On her campaign website, she elaborates on the other significant issues she plans to tackle to make a "brighter future for New Mexicans," including: protecting clean air and water, equal voting rights, gun control, public education, strengthening the economy, and reducing poverty and homelessness. Plame rose to notoriety in 2003 after her identity as a covert CIA operations officer was leaked by officials in the Bush White House to undermine the credibility of her then-husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joe Wilson, after he criticized the administration's decision to invade Iraq. "I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat," he wrote in a New York Times op-ed after he was sent to Niger by CIA officials on a mission to investigate the country's sale of uranium to Iraq. Eight days after Wilson published his op-ed, columnist Robert Novak identified Plame as an "agency operative on weapons of mass destruction," and cited two senior administration officials in his piece "Mission to Niger." The revelation culminated in the conviction of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison in 2007 for lying to the FBI and obstructing justice in the investigation into the leak of Plame's identity. Libby's sentence was commuted by Bush and he was pardoned by President Donald Trump in April of last year. Plame, who relocated to New Mexico after leaving the CIA in 2005, moved to Santa Fe the day after Libby was convicted for his role in outing her, she said in her campaign announcement. "I had traveled the world as part of a military family and then throughout my career. New Mexico was the first place that felt like home and that’s what it has been ever since," she added. Before officially entering the political world as a candidate, Plame was actively engaged with the pro-Hillary Clinton Super PAC Ready for Hillary as early as 2014. Along with Wilson, the couple supported Hillary Clinton during the 2008 primary, and was one of her early supporters in 2016. Over the past decade she's written a best-selling memoir, which was adapted into a major Hollywood film, and has made multiple public appearances to speak about issues of nuclear proliferation and women's role in intelligence. She recently worked for the Santa Fe Institute as director of community outreach.<doc-sep>Former CIA employee Valerie Plame Wilson testifies on Capitol Hill, March 16, 2007. (Larry Downing/Reuters) Valerie Plame, the former CIA employee and husband of Joe Wilson who was the center of controversy in George W. Bush’s second term, is running for Congress as a Democrat in New Mexico’s 3rd district. If Plame wins the primary, she’ll have a good chance of winning the seat, as the 3rd district is pretty heavily Democrat-leaning, scoring a D+8 in the Cook Partisan Voting Index. Advertisement Then again, Plame would bring unique baggage to the race. You may recall in September 2017, Plame got herself in hot water for tweeting out a link to an article headlined, “America’s Jews Are Driving America’s Wars.” The article’s sub-headline asked, “Shouldn’t they recuse themselves when dealing with the Middle East?” (As I noted at the time, it’s a little odd to hear the contention that those of a certain faith should not deal with Middle East policy at all, because their religion will automatically skew their judgment. Good thing Christianity and Islam don’t have any ties to the Middle East, right? I guess the author would prefer that U.S. foreign policy in the region was managed by Scientologists.) In the face of objections, Plame doubled down, declaring the article, “very provocative, but thoughtful. Many neocon hawks ARE Jewish . . . Read the entire article and try, just for a moment, to put aside your biases and think clearly.” Advertisement A short time later, she backtracked: “OK folks, look, I messed up. I skimmed this piece, zeroed in on the neocon criticism, and shared it without seeing and considering the rest.” (This doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, considering how an hour earlier, she was telling everyone else to “read the entire article.” If Plame genuinely failed to discern any anti-Semitic themes in the articles she read and shared, I guess we should be glad she wasn’t a CIA analyst.) She repeated an urban legend about dancing Israelis sighted after 9/11 and an article touting “Israeli fingerprints all over the place” in the investigation of the worst terror attack in American history. She shared an article entitled “Why I Still Dislike Israel” that laments the “Israel Lobby electing and controlling a malleable congress [sic] and increasingly even officials at state and local levels.” She commented that Natalie Portman was a fine choice to play a young Ruth Bader Ginsburg because “they are both Jewish.” (By itself, that’s a harmless comment, but in the context of the other ones, Plame seems particularly focused on knowing who’s Jewish and who isn’t.) Her personal web site now lists a lengthy apology: I regret adding to the already chaotic and sometimes hate-filled conversation on social media. In the past, I have also carelessly retweeted articles from this same site, the Unz Review, without closely examining content and authors. Now that I have, I am horrified and ashamed. The white supremacist and anti-Semitic propaganda espoused by this website is disgusting and I strongly condemn it. It is an affront to human dignity and does not reflect my values. Some primary or general election rival is likely to put a great deal of focus on Plame’s views in this area.<doc-sep>
Former CIA covert agent Valerie Plame Wilson speaks at the Saturday Book and Author Luncheon at the Book Expo at the Jacob Javits Center in June 2007 in New York City. (Photo by Brad Barket/Getty Images) (CNN) — Valerie Plame, the former CIA officer whose identity was revealed during the George W. Bush administration in 2003, is running for Congress to represent northern New Mexico. She said in a statement released Thursday that she moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, the day after Scooter Libby, then-Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, was convicted for lying about his role in the leak. “My career in the CIA was cut short by partisan politics, but I’m not done serving our country,” said Plame, who is running as a Democrat, in a statement. “We need more people in Congress with the courage to stand up for what’s right.” In July 2003, Plame’s husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, wrote in a New York Times op-ed that in the months before the Iraq war “some of the intelligence related to Iraq’s nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat.” Plame’s work for the CIA was reported in the media not long afterward. Like many Democrats who ran for office in 2018, Plame said that she wants to go to Washington and tackle the high cost of health care. “Everyone is losing under the health care system we have today except for insurance and drug companies,” she said. Democratic strategist Oscar Ramirez said Plame would be a strong candidate with a “pretty sophisticated” national donor network, but said other candidates with deep ties to New Mexico, who could better connect to the rural areas of the district, may enter the primary race. Since Rep. Ben Ray Luján, a member of the House Democratic leadership, announced his run for the US Senate in April, several Democrats have said they would consider running for his seat. Luján told CNN that Plame has been a “very active” constituent in the community but is not going to endorse anyone in the Democratic primary. Rep. Deb Haaland, a Democrat in New Mexico, won her race in 2018 after a six-way primary and expected a similar outcome in 2020. “An open seat in New Mexico doesn’t come along very often,” she said. “I’m sure there will be a lot of people running.” Over the past dozen years, Plame wrote a memoir, “Fair Game,” which became the basis for a Hollywood movie, and a novel, “Blowback.” She also worked on behalf of the Santa Fe Institute, scientific research center, and worked to eliminate nuclear weapons. In 2017, Plame reportedly resigned from the board of the Ploughshares Fund, an organization working to end the threat of nuclear weapons, after apologizing for sharing on Twitter an anti-Semitic article that she said she had only “skimmed.” That Twitter account no longer appears available as of Thursday afternoon. In the past, Wilson has also been critical of President Donald Trump and his use of Twitter – including a previous effort on GoFundMe to buy a stake of Twitter and convince the company to ban the President. This story has been updated with additional developments Thursday. CNN’s Ashley Killough and Sophie Tatum contributed to this report.