For the past year, Aubrey Dunn Jr.’s political career has pinballed from one aspiration to another.

First he was set to seek a second term as New Mexico’s land commissioner. But in July of last year, Dunn announced he would run in the Republican primary for a Southern New Mexico Congressional seat. Then, in October, the 62-year-old rancher and banker declared he was dropping out of that race. By March he was switching parties, registering as a Libertarian, and announcing a run for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Democrat Martin Heinrich.

Monday, Dunn formally dropped out of the Senate race, saying he expects former Gov. Gary Johnson to take his place as the Libertarian candidate.

Dunn, a former Republican who is nearing the end of a four-year term as land commissioner, also said this likely is the end of his political career.

“To be honest, I’m not that great of a politician,” he said in a Monday morning telephone interview with The New Mexican.

Dunn said he’s not ruling out the possibility of ever running again. “But I’m 62 years old, so I probably didn’t have that long of a political career left,” he said.

Dunn said he and Johnson have been talking since early July about Dunn dropping out and Johnson stepping in.

Johnson’s political consultant, Ron Nielson, confirmed last week that Johnson is considering the Senate race, which would pit him against Heinrich and the Republican challenger, political newcomer Mick Rich.

Nielson — who responded to a phone call made to Johnson on Monday — said the former governor is still “mulling over” the idea.

“The next step will be the Libertarian Party’s [state central committee] getting together and deciding who they want on the ticket,” he said. “If they want to offer it to Gary, he’ll have to decide.”

Nielson said the committee is expected to meet as early as Friday.

As the Libertarian Party’s 2016 presidential nominee, Johnson won a little over 9 percent of the New Mexico vote in competition with Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, who won the state.

In a news release Monday, Dunn said: “I have spoken with Gov. Johnson, he is willing to consider serving as my replacement as the Libertarian nominee and I respectfully request that our Libertarian Party State Central Committee nominate him as the replacement candidate.”

The news release also said: “I was elected [land commissioner] to do a job by the citizens on the promise that I would manage their lands through true conservation principles. I have done that thus far, but my promise requires that I finish the job I was elected to do as strongly as I can. After much contemplation with my family and supporters, I believe I need to focus on my job as land commissioner for the remainder of my term.”

Dunn added, “It is simply not possible to do that job like it needs to be done while campaigning for another office.”

After Dunn’s announcement, Rich’s campaign released a statement saying, “Aubrey Dunn and I both want the best for New Mexico’s future. We both believe our state’s future depends on creating good-paying jobs that support families.”

As for rumors that Rich, whose campaign has yet to gain much traction, will drop out of the race to unite conservatives behind Johnson, his campaign spokesman Nathan James told The New Mexican in an email, “Mick is absolutely NOT dropping out. Under any circumstances. No matter who might get in.”

According to the Senate candidates’ latest campaign finance reports, Heinrich at the end of June was sitting on more than $3.9 million, compared to Rich’s $198,199. Dunn had less than $9,000 cash on hand at the end of last month.

Dunn said Monday that he now thinks he could have won re-election to the Land Office. “I didn’t last year, though,” he said. “I was polling poorly against (Democrat) Ray Powell.”

Powell is a former land commissioner who lost to Dunn in an extremely close race that went to recount in 2014. The recount showed that Dunn won that race by 704 votes.

Although Powell had announced plans to run for land commissioner, he later dropped out due to health reasons and endorsed fellow Democrat Stephanie Garcia Richard.

Garcia Richard faces Republican Patrick Lyons, a Public Regulation Commission member and former land commissioner, as well as Libertarian Michael Lucero.