Former US Sen. Pete Domenici, New Mexico’s longest serving senator, dies

Pete Domenici, a former Republican senator from New Mexico, died Wednesday morning in Albuquerque at age 85.

Domenici was in the Senate for more than 35 years, becoming his state’s longest serving senator. He left office in 2009, having declined to seek a seventh term because he said he was diagnosed with an incurable brain disorder. Throughout his career he pushed a consistent message of fiscal restraint. He was known as a power broker in the Senate for his work on the federal budget and energy policy.