You are only half right. Both these slugs need to give it up. Here are two examples of why incumbency is so insidious; after so long in office, the office holder forgets who actually owns the seat. Staying there becomes the top priority instead of grooming an acceptable replacement. We have to get over this "congress is disgraceful, but we have to keep our guys in at any cost" mentality.
The Pubbies need some young blood here in NM, especially one with an Hispanic surname. Unfortunately, unless you are like Richardson and tout your half-Mexican heritage every chance you get, a lot of Hispanic voters pull the lever for a candidate with a surname like theirs. That's just the way it is here, especially now as the Hispanic population is growing. As an example, the Republicans had Manual Lujan as the US representative for NM-1 for many years. Since then, it has been a struggle each election to retain that seat with the Democrats running a Hispanic candidate each time.