Hillary Clinton Endorsed By Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson

Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson endorsed Hillary Clinton on Sunday, despite supporting her opponent in the 2008 Democratic primaries. The Latino politician, famous for his negotiations with North Korea, has been out of political office for five years, working on wildlife preservation and international relations initiatives. But it looks like he’s ready to stump for the Clintons, and maybe take a shot at another cabinet post with his off-and-on allies in the Democratic Party. Over the weekend, he announced that he was formally supporting Hillary Clinton in the 2016 race.

“I have spoken to President and Secretary Clinton and we have patched up our disagreement from the 2008 election,” Richardson said in a statement to Albuquerque Journal . “I am pleased to announce I wholeheartedly support Secretary Clinton’s candidacy for the Presidency. Her leadership on issues like foreign policy, immigration, climate change and economic populism are important to the future of the country.”

As a New Mexico Congressman, Richardson worked with then-president Bill Clinton to forge and pass NAFTA (something he later regretted ), and served as his Energy Secretary in 1998. He ran for president in 2007, against then-senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. When Richardson dropped out of the race, he endorsed Obama over Clinton. At the time, Richardson was the only Hispanic governor in the U.S., and his decision to throw his support behind Barack Obama was viewed as a political upset crucial to drumming up the Latino vote.

Richardson had hoped to secure a cabinet position from in the Obama administration, but his nomination to Commerce Secretary was derailed by allegations of a pay-for-play scheme with government contractors. The charges were later dropped, but damning testimony from an alleged bagman cemented a stain on Richardson’s reputation. The image of a Richardson as a corrupt and clientelistic politician helped then-prosecutor Susana Martinez beat his Lt. Gov Diane Denish in New Mexico’s 2010 gubernatorial election. Susana Martinez, the state’s first Latina governor, ran on a platform of government accountability and border security, promising to stem immigration. In 2011, she rolled back elements of a sanctuary policy that shielded criminal suspects from deportation.

Richardson and Clinton see eye-to-eye on immigration issues where other Democratic candidates differ. They both support increasing the cap of H1-B “skilled labor” visas, something that Clinton rival Bernie Sanders opposes. And Clinton has come around to opposing the detention of child migrants awaiting immigration proceedings, something that Richardson spoke out against in the summer of 2014.

“It is a no-win situation for any governor politically,” he said detentions of children during the surge of unaccompanied Central American minors last year, adding that the “right thing to do” was to provide housing to the children.

Critics of Clinton’s campaign say that as Secretary of State she didn’t do enough to stem deportations of unaccompanied minors who may have been eligible for asylum or other types of refugee status.