Doña Ana County Sheriff Enrique “Kiki” Vigil spent most of his first term plagued by controversy and avoiding journalists. In recent weeks he came out of hiding, penning op-eds and doing an in-depth Q&A with NMPolitics.net to explain his actions and make his case for re-election.
Courtesy photo
Enrique “Kiki” Vigil
Voters would have none of it.
Vigil finished third in a five-candidate Democratic primary on Tuesday, getting 26 percent of the vote to winner Kim Stewart’s 32 percent and Eddie Lerma’s 28 percent, according to unofficial returns.
That means Stewart faces Republican Todd Garrison in November. Garrison is a former sheriff — and a rare Republican who Doña Ana County voters elected in a countywide race. The contest could be interesting.
So what happened for Vigil? Well, whether it was his seizing of the county jail in 2015 after the director was arrested, his public spats with county commissioners and administrators, or his handling of personnel issues — including an undersheriff who sexually harassed and/or assaulted a female employee — Vigil argued in the NMPolitics.net Q&A that controversy was created by political opponents or staff who didn’t like the changes he was trying to make, not by his own decisions and actions.
He often blamed others — be it journalists or rogue staffers. The one mistake he took credit for was “misjudgments” in appointments to key jobs within the department — another shot at others, two undersheriffs he hired and later fired.
Apparently voters didn’t buy his explanations and sent him a clear message that the buck stops with him. Meanwhile, some former employees who left the sheriff’s department during Vigil’s tenure actively campaigned against him, with many urging voters to back Lerma.
But it wasn’t Lerma who defeated Vigil. So who is Stewart?
She’s a former county internal investigator who was awarded nearly $1.6 million in a whistle-blower lawsuit against the county. Stewart claimed she was subjected to retaliation for investigating complaints of racial discrimination in the animal control and codes departments.
Stewart previously worked in law enforcement in California. You can read more about her campaign platform by clicking here.
Garrison doesn’t appear to have a campaign website but you can read a story about his candidacy from the Las Cruces Sun-News by clicking here.
The new sheriff will be elected in November and take office on Jan. 1. In the meantime, Vigil will serve the remainder of his term.