Ledes from the Land of Enchantment

Doña Ana County expected to retain state house representatives

LAS CRUCES – Tuesday night was filled with nervous excitement as election results filtered in from across the state. Wednesday morning, the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office called all but one state House race in the region, meaning Democratic incumbents representing parts of Doña Ana County will maintain their seats in the state legislature.

Nine New Mexico House of Representative districts include a portion of Doña Ana County and all were up for reelection this year.

In districts 33, 34, 35, 37 and 52, the incumbent candidates — all Democrats — reported a least a 10-point advantage over their Republican challengers. Democrats narrowly won districts 36, 38 and 53. The District 32 race is still too close to call.

Las Cruces Rep. Joanne Ferrary told the Sun-News late Tuesday night that she is honored to represent House District 37 for another two-year term. Ferrary defeated Zeke Rodriguez.

“The future of NM is not a game or a prize- the future of NM is the right, the responsibility and the business of every New Mexican. The challenges we face are big, but there is one thing that this win tonight must teach us , is that together we are bigger,” Ferrary wrote in a text.

Rep. Micaela Lara Cadena of Mesilla told the Sun-News earlier in the evening, while attending a Democratic watch party at The Amador, that she was mainly focused on the results of the second congressional district race, as so many others were and are still . She was also appreciative of the opportunity to represent her community in the legislature again, after defeating Republican Charles Wendler.

“So many families are moving through difficult times, while holding space for joy, care and community along the way,” she wrote in a text. “As a working mama and daughter of this valley, I’m honored to continue learning from and serving the incredible communities of House District 33.”

Raymundo Lara won nearly every vote in House District 34. His challenger was write-in candidate Mark Vieth. In House District 35, Angelica Rubio defeated Richelle A. Peugh-Swafford by a large margin. Doreen Gallegos retained her seat by downing John Foreman.

Incumbent Nathan Small defeated Kimberly Skaggs, the executive director of the New Mexico Republican Party, by 4 four percentage points, a relatively narrow margin, in the battle for House District 36.

The races for House districts 32, 38 and 53 are even closer.

Willie Madrid, the Democrat incumbent, won by 2 points over Republican Elizabeth Winterrowd in House District 53, which straddles Otero and Doña Ana counties. He was declared the winner by just under 150 votes.

After redistricting, House District 38 now includes parts of Socorro and Sierra counties as well as a swath of northern Doña Ana County. Republican incumbent Rebecca Dow gave up the seat after her gubernatorial bid came to an end in the primary. In her stead, Democrat Tara Jaramillo defeated Republican Sandra Hammack by just 104 votes.

House District 32 is primarily in Luna County, but extends into western Doña Ana County. Incumbent Democrat Candie Sweetser is losing by 49 votes to Jenifer Marie Jones, the Republican. The secretary of state’s office announced that this race may go to a recount.

All voting numbers at this time are unofficial. Possible recounts need to be completed and results must be accepted by officials in the near future. Unofficial results for all races can be found on the New Mexico Secretary of State’s website electionresults.sos.state.nm.us.

Here are the results as of Wednesday morning:

district 32

  • Candie G. Sweetser (D), incumbent: 49.7%
  • Jennifer Marie Jones (R): 50.3%

district 33

  • Micaela Lara Cadena (D), incumbent: 59.9%
  • Charles Richard Wendler (R): 40.1%

district 34

  • Raymundo Lara (D), incumbent: 99.1%
  • Mark W. Vieth (R, write-in): 0.8%

district 35

  • Angelica Rubio (D), incumbent: 59.4%
  • Richelle A Peugh-Swafford (R): 40.6%

district 36

  • Nathan P. Small (D), incumbent: 52.1%
  • Kimberly A Skaggs (R): 47.9%

district 37

  • Joanne J. Ferrary (D), incumbent: 57.1%
  • René Ezequiel Rodriguez (R): 42.9%

district 38

  • Tara Jaramillo (D): 50.6%
  • Sandra Kay Hammack (R): 49.4%

district 52

  • Doreen Yvonne Gallegos (D), incumbent: 60.8%
  • John Foreman (R): 39.2%

district 53

  • Willie D. Madrid (D), incumbent: 51%
  • Elizabeth Lee Winterrowd (R): 49%

Leah Romero is the trending reporter at the Las Cruces Sun-News and can be reached at 575-418-3442, [email protected] or @rromero_leah on Twitter.

Comments are closed.