After years of acrimony and feelings of betrayal, former President Bill Clinton and former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson stopped to take a photo with each other in New York City.
Former President Bill Clinton and former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson in New York City. Via Facebook.
Richardson posted the photo on his Facebook page and Twitter account on Thursday afternoon and wrote, “Great seeing my former boss President Clinton in NYC. We caught up and rekindled an old friendship. Go Hillary!”
In August, Richardson officially endorsed Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. The endorsement was seen as newsworthy because Richardson and the Clintons had publicly been on the outs for years.
Richardson was in Bill Clinton’s administration, but he endorsed Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination in 2008 (albeit after Obama largely had the nomination sewn up). Richardson revealed in a book that the endorsement of Obama helped end the relationship between himself and the Clintons.
In the endorsement of Clinton from earlier this year, Richardson wrote, “I have spoken to President and Secretary Clinton and we have patched up our disagreement from the 2008 election.”
Still, this is the first time that Richardson and Clinton have been together in public in years.
The Clintons had a high profile courtship of then-governor Richardson for his support, including Bill Clinton showing up to Santa Fe to watch the Super Bowl in the governor’s mansion.
Richardson was the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations as well as the Secretary of Energy under Clinton. Richardson was previously a U.S. Representative and went on to become governor of New Mexico for two terms.
Richardson himself unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, though dropped out after fourth-place finishes in both Iowa and New Hampshire.
Obama initially named Richardson as his choice for his first Secretary of Commerce. The former New Mexico governor withdrew his name from consideration because of a pending federal investigation into campaign donations to his gubernatorial campaign.
There were no charges filed in the case.
This year, Hillary Clinton is the heavy favorite to win the Democratic nomination. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley are also running for the nomination.
