Former Santa Fe County commissioner and anti-drug counselor Harry Montoya, who once said his lifelong dream has been to be a congressman, has announced he will challenge incumbent U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján for the Democratic nomination.

"I believe that being a Democrat means standing up for working people, for families, for children, and for the environment," Montoya said in his written announcement on Friday. "I will stand up for these ideals even when standing up is hard, or inconvenient or painful, because doing the right thing is what matters most of all."

Luján, son of state Rep. Ben Luján, D-Nambé, the speaker of the New Mexico House of Representatives, first won the 3rd Congressional District position in 2008. Montoya ran against him in the primary election that year.

Two other opponents have already indicated they will enter this year's race: Sean Closson, a Santa Fe artist and hotel worker, plans to seek the Democratic nomination. Rick Newton, a Taos businessman whose career has included deep-sea recovery projects, plans to seek the Republican nomination.

Montoya's entry into the contest adds new twists to the campaign to represent Democrat-leaning Northern New Mexico in the U.S. House of Representatives. Democrats have represented the district since it was created in 1982, beginning with Bill Richardson, except for 1997-98 when the seat was held by Los Alamos Republican Bill Redmond.

According to Montoya's biography, included with Friday's announcement, he was born in Northern New Mexico and at a young age moved to Arroyo Seco to live in a house built by his father and grandfather. His father, elementary school teacher Juan Montoya, died "just this past November to the horrible disease of cancer and [Harry Montoya] is dedicating his candidacy and campaign to his father," says the release.

Montoya and his wife, Doris, whom he met while attending Trinidad Junior College in Colorado, have two sons. He graduated from Pojoaque High School and has a bachelor's degree in psychology from Westmar College in Le Mars, Iowa, which he attended on a basketball scholarship, and a master's degree in counseling psychology from New Mexico State University.

In 1994, Montoya was appointed to the Pojoaque School Board, then elected and re-elected to two four-year terms. During his tenure on the board, he was elected as president of the New Mexico School Board Association and was a delegate to the National School Board Association convention for three years.

In 2002, he was elected to the Santa Fe County Commission and re-elected in 2006. During that time, he represented New Mexico on the National Association of Counties board of directors for six years.

Montoya, a substance-abuse counselor, was the founding executive director of Los Alamos Citizens United Against Substance Abuse in 1990. In 1995, he founded Hands Across Cultures in Española, where he remains as executive director.

In 2008, when Montoya was one of six seeking the Democratic nomination for the 3rd Congressional District seat, some found conflicts of interest in an elected public official making a living from tax-supported nonprofits.

The New Mexican reported that Hands Across America's budget of $900,000 came from state and federal government grants, but that it also received county money during the time Montoya was a county commissioner.

Montoya's brother-in-law, James Rivera, also had a contract with the county to lobby the state Legislature during this time.

Montoya, who denied any conflict, failed to get enough delegate votes at the pre-primary nominating convention in 2008 to get on the primary ballot. Luján went on to win the primary and the general election.

But in 2010, Montoya was back in politics, running unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for state land commissioner. In an interview, he said that although he always wanted to be elected to Congress, the State Land Office was the next best thing.

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.