Susana Martinez
Hispanic candidates came out on top in three contested primary races in a straw poll taken at a forum in Elephant Butte earlier this week.
At the Tuesday forum, Susana Martinez narrowly won a straw poll asking which gubernatorial candidate those in attendance favored. John Sanchez came out on top in the lieutenant governor’s race in the poll. And Jamie Estrada won big in the District 5 Public Regulation Commission race in the poll.
Here are the full results:
Governor
• Susana Martinez: 32 percent
• Doug Turner: 30 percent
• Janice Arnold-Jones: 17 percent
• Pete Domenici Jr.: 16 percent
• Allen Weh: 5 percent
John Sanchez
Jamie Estrada
Lieutenant governor
• John Sanchez: 49 percent
• Brian Moore: 39 percent
• Kent Cravens: 12 percent
Land commissioner
• Matt Rush: 92 percent
• Bob Cornelius: 8 percent
PRC District 5
• Jamie Estrada: 65 percent
• Ben Hall: 18 percent
• Kent Evans: 14 percent
• Robert Maez: 3 percent
It’s worth noting that Martinez won even though she wasn’t at the forum. Martinez, Weh and Maez missed the event. Straw polls aren’t scientific and are most useful when viewed as a test of organization in the area in which they are conducted.
Coleen Greer, one of the event’s organizers, said 68 people voted in the straw poll, out of about 130 who attended the forum.