Nathan "Nate" Cote
State Reps. Nate Cote and Jeff Steinborn, Democrats from Southern New Mexico, are both trailing their challengers, and neither sounds optimistic about coming from behind to win.
Cote and Steinborn each trail by about 300 votes. Cote, whose district includes two precincts in Otero County in addition to several in Doña Ana County, said he’s not conceding but is also not optimistic.
“I said if I ever lost this district it would be because of Otero County,” Cote said. “Otero County is just too conservative, those voting-straight-ticket Republicans, and although I’ve done a lot of good things for Otero County… there’s nothing as a Democrat that I could possibly do to win those two precincts over there.”
“I’m clearly disappointed, I’ve been putting a lot of work into it in the last four years,” Cote said.
Cote’s opponent, Republican Rick Little, said he’s optimistic.
“I’m just thrilled to be here, never running for politics before and being in this position is a good thing,” he said.
Jeff Steinborn (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
Steinborn, who represents part of Las Cruces, also isn’t conceding defeat.
“I think it’s prudent to see how everything comes in,” he said. “There’s still a few numbers out there. At this point it’s not looking favorable, but until the numbers are in and we can see the full picture, it would be imprudent to do that.”
Steinborn said he’s “heartened” by the fact that a constitutional amendment he proposed to create a veterans property tax exemption appears headed for passage.
Steinborn’s opponent, Republican Terry McMillan, could not immediately be reached for comment.