Richard Barish, Chapter Political Chair
New Mexico did not completely escape the rightward winds of this past election, but all-in-all, escaped relatively unscathed. We did lose a seat in both the state House and the Senate. On the House side, Tara Jaramillo won a difficult seat in the center and south of the state in 2022 after Rebecca Dow resigned the seat to run for governor that year, but could not hold off Dow in her return this year.
In the Senate, we picked up one and lost two. After Siah Correa Hemphill’s late withdrawal, Dems could not find a candidate who commanded Siah’s support, and we lost that one. Jerry Ortiz y Pino retired after a very distinguished career, and that seat was redistricted to make it much more conservative. Michelle Sandoval apparently narrowly lost, although a recount is still pending as I write this.
On the other side of the ledger, Angel Charley, an accomplished young native candidate was uncontested after Republican blunders, and we picked up that seat. She joins Pauline Abeyta and Joseph Hernandez on the House side as a new generation of progressive native leadership in the legislature.
Senator-elect Cindy Nava became the first DACA recipient to win a legislative race in the entire country. We gained some other great newcomers as well, including Sarah Silva, a community organizer from Las Cruces, Heather Berghmans, and Anita Gonzales, a Chapter Excom member. Some of our established champions survived well-funded challenges, including Nathan Small, Carrie Hamblen, and Martin Hickey.
We should also acknowledge and offer our thanks to some outstanding candidates who worked very hard and ran great campaigns for tough seats in tough year, but came up short. In addition to Tara Jaramillo, there is Vicky Estrada-Bustillo, Athena Christodoulou, and Gabby Begay. Hopefully, we haven’t seen the last of them.
My bottom-line assessment is because of the turnover in Democratic seats due to retirements and incumbent losses in primaries, we have a more progressive and environment-friendly legislature.
Finally, I want to offer my heartfelt thanks to our volunteers who called and walked for our candidates. You are the source of our power in the legislature. You not only help us elect good legislators, but legislators pay attention to us in large part because they know that with your efforts, we can influence the outcome of elections. Without you, we could not accomplish our legislative agenda.
THANK YOU.
Here are the full results for our endorsed candidates:
Federal offices
Senate: Martin Heinrich WON
Congress NM-01: Melanie Stansbury WON
Congress NM-02: Gabe Vasquez WON
Congress NM-03: Teresa Leger Fernandez WON
New Mexico Senate
District 9: Cindy Nava WON
District 10: Katy Duhigg WON
District 12: Phillip Ramirez LOST
District 15: Heather Berghmans WON
District 18: Natalie Figueroa WON
District 20: Martin Hickey WON
District 21: Athena Christodoulou LOST
District 23: Harold Pope WON
District 29: Tina Garcia LOST
District 36: Jeff Steinborn WON
District 38: Carrie Hamblen WON
New Mexico House of Representatives
District 4: Joseph Hernandez WON
District 6: Eliseo Lee Alcon WON
District 11: Javier Martinez WON
District 14: Miguel Garcia WON
District 16: Yanira Gurrola WON
District 19: Janelle Anyanonu WON
District 24: Elizabeth (Liz) Thomson WON
District 25: Cristina Parajon WON
District 26: Eleanor Chavez WON
District 28: Pamelya Herndon WON
District 29: Joy Garratt WON
District 30: Elizabeth Diane Torres-Velasquez WON
District 31: Vicky Estrada-Bustillo LOST
District 34: Ray Lara WON
District 36: Nathan Small WON
District 38: Tara Jaramillo LOST
District 39: Gabby Begay LOST
District 44: Kathleen Cates WON
District 50: Matthew McQueen WON
District 53: Sarah Silva WON
District 60: Luke Jungmann LOST
District 68: Charlotte Little WON
County Offices
Michelle Kavanaugh, Bernalillo County Clerk WON
Frank Baca, Bernalillo County Commission Dt. 2 WON
Adriann Barboa, Bernalillo County Commission Dt. 3 WON
Amanda López Askin, Doña Ana County Clerk WON
Manny Sanchez, Doña Ana County Commission Dt. 5 WON
Barbara Bush, Grant County Commission Dt. 4 LOST
Phillip Schoenberg, Grant County Commission Dt. 5 LOST
Ariana Saludares, Luna County Commission Dt. 3 LOST
Madigan Ray, Sandoval County Commission Dt. 4 LOST
Rustin Porter, Valencia County Clerk LOST
Duana Draszkiewicz, Valencia County Commission Dt. 2 LOST
Ballot measures
Ciudad Soil & Water Conservation District mill levy: PASSED