One of the state Senate's progressives said Thursday that he'll seek the Democratic nomination as lieutenant governor next year.

Jerry Ortiz y Pino, 67, who represents a downtown Albuquerque district, said he'll make a formal announcement this summer, probably in July.

First elected to the Senate in 2004, Ortiz y Pino said he came to realize that under the Legislature's seniority system, it would take years to get a committee chairmanship or other leadership position.

"I think if I'm going to have more of an impact, I should run for lieutenant governor," Ortiz y Pino said of the $85,000-a-year job, which includes presiding over Senate sessions.

"I think it would be great to work with Diane Denish," he said of the current lieutenant governor, who is running for the Democratic nomination as governor. "I have no ambitions beyond that. I'm not aiming to be a (U.S.) senator or governor."

Denish, he said, has a good understanding of how to effectively give responsibilities to the lieutenant governor. Ortiz y Pino, who has held positions with advocacy groups, charities and government agencies, including four years with Albuquerque's Department of Family and Community Services, said he'd like to lead an effort to reform the behavioral health system in New Mexico.

He was a founder of a private adoption and foster care agency in Albuquerque called La Familia.

Incumbent Gov. Bill Richardson, a fellow Democrat, is barred from seeking a third consecutive term.

Ortiz y Pino joked that he was one of the few Democrats in the state who wasn't already running for lieutenant governor. However, the only announced candidate so far is Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano. State Auditor Hector Balderas and state Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, also are contemplating a run for the office.

No Republican candidate has announced.

Ortiz y Pino was born and grew up in Santa Fe. He attended the College of Santa Fe for one year but transferred to The University of New Mexico, from which he graduated in 1965 with a degree in Latin American studies. He earned a master's degree in social work from Tulane University in 1968.

His first stab at elected political office was in Santa Fe in the 1970s. Ortiz y Pino ran unsuccessfully for the City Council in 1972 and 1974 as part of a progressive slate called the Citizens' Coalition for Responsible Government.

Ortiz y Pino said his proudest achievements as a state senator are sponsoring the Working Family Tax Credit bill, which passed in 2008, and sponsoring the Winrock TIDD bill, which passed this year. TIDDs, or tax increment development districts, are a controversial public financing method for developments. The Winrock project is a planned retail and office space project on the 90-acre Winrock Mall site in northeast Albuquerque, which currently is vacant.

He also was the Senate sponsor of "Scooby's Law," which passed in 2005. That law requires antifreeze manufacturers to put a bittering agent in the toxic product to discourage dogs from drinking it.

In New Mexico, nominees for governor and lieutenant governor are chosen separately in the primaries but run as a ticket in general elections.

In addition to presiding over the state Senate when the Legislature is in session — and occasionally breaking a tie vote — official duties of the lieutenant governor include serving as an ombudsman directing citizen's complaints to proper government agencies and serving as acting governor when the governor leaves the state or is unable to perform his duties. The lieutenant governor is next in the line of succession if a governor dies, resigns or is impeached.

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com. Read his political blog at roundhouseroundup.com.