The district judge race between Democrat Lisa Schultz and Republican Janetta Hicks should be close.
The two are vying to replace Silvia Cano-Garcia, who died recently following a long battle with cancer.
In addition to asking voters to choose her on Nov. 7, Schultz has submitted her name to a judicial nominating committee that meets on Oct. 2, and is asking that Gov. Bill Richardson appoint her to the position for the remainder of the year, until the candidate who wins the election takes office in January.
In the election, Schultz has the immediate advantage of being the Democrat. She will likely be appointed to the position, as well, because she is one of two applicants and the other is a Republican, Rita Nuñez Neumann.
Being appointed to the position could be good and bad for her campaign. It will give her the slight edge of incumbency, which isn’t much of a factor in judicial races, but will also keep her busy learning her new job during the last few weeks of the campaign.
Hicks, meanwhile, did not apply for the appointment, saying she is going to await the decision of voters. The Republicans placed Hicks on the ballot two days before Democrats picked Schultz, so Hicks got a jump start on campaigning.
She comes from the office of the popular District Attorney Susana Martinez. With her help, Hicks raised money and organized a campaign so quickly that she had signs up all over the place a few days after Schultz was placed on the ballot (and purchased an advertisement on this site that will appear next week).
I haven’t yet seen a sign for Schultz. Hicks may have an edge on campaigning, both because of time and because she got started first and quickly.
Both women have worked on campaigns in the past. They’re both intelligent and very good at what they do, and are excellent judicial candidates.
This one is tough to predict.