He represented the Albuquerque area in the
New Mexico House of Representatives from 1963 to 1967, when he was elected governor at the age of thirty-seven. In 1966, Cargo won with 17,836 (51.8 percent) to Hawley's 16,588 (48.2 percent). He improved his primary performance in 1968, when he defeated Hawley, 28,014 (54.9 percent) to 23,052 (45.1 percent). Cargo won the general election of 1966, narrowly defeating
Democrat Gene Lusk. Cargo received 134,625 votes (51.7 percent) to Lusk's 125,587 (48.3 percent). Gathered to protest the
Vietnam War and the
Kent State massacre that had happened just four days earlier, the National Guard was given orders to end the protest and bayonetted 11 people, including students who were not part of the protest. A class action lawsuit was brought against Cargo and individual guardsmen by six of the bayonetting victims. A jury in Albuquerque eventually sided with Cargo, the National Guard, and the other politicians involved leaving victims to pay their own medical bills. Cargo could not seek a third two-year term in 1970 due to term limits. Cargo ran for the
U.S. Senate in 1970, but he lost the Republican primary to Anderson "Andy" Carter. Carter polled 32,122 (57.8 percent) to Cargo's 17,951 (32.3 percent). Andy Carter then lost the
general election to
incumbent Democrat
Joseph Montoya. In 1993 he ran again but lost to
Martin Chávez. Cargo made his final race in 1997 when he again contested the Albuquerque mayoralty, but he finished third and lost to
Jim Baca. Cargo continued to practice law in Albuquerque. The Library for the Luna Community College site in Mora, NM is named after David Cargo. == Personal life ==