There were a couple of surprises on Tuesday when Las Crucens filed their declarations of candidacy for various seats up for grabs in the Nov. 8 election.
Clinton R. Lanier, who had announced his candidacy for the District 2 seat being vacated by Dolores Connor, didn’t file and won’t appear on the ballot. And in District 4, Ryan Matthew Dailey, who was arrested for DWI earlier this month in Las Cruces and also had an outstanding warrant for a separate DWI charge in Virginia, did file to run.
Dailey had announced his candidacy before the arrest and had not said since his arrest whether he would stay in the race.
Here’s the full list of candidates who filed to run. Their candidacies must still be certified by the city clerk, who will do so on Oct. 4.
Mayor
- Dolores Connor
- Michael E. Fleming
- Michael R. Huerta
- Ken Miyagishima, incumbent
Council District 1
- Natalie R. Chadborn
- Miguel G. Silva, incumbent
Council District 2
- Fred Barela Espinosa
- Charles B. Scholz
- Gregory Z. Smith
Council District 4
- Ryan M. Dailey
- Aaron Henry Diaz
- Nathan P. Small, incumbent
Presiding municipal judge
- Frank Norman Chavez
- Melissa Miller-Byrnes, incumbent
You can find contact information for each candidate here and important dates in the election process here.
Update, 12:35 p.m.
Lanier explained his decision to drop out of the race on Facebook:
“Tomorrow the Las Cruces Sun News will undoubtedly publish the list of those running in the upcoming election in November. My name won’t be on that list.
“When I decided to enter the race almost two months ago, I did so because I believed the city needed conservative, pro-businesses leaders on the Council. I still feel that way. But about three weeks ago a native Las Crucen, retired from the Air Force, named Fred Espinosa entered the race for District 2. Like me Fred is a conservative and believes in working to try to bring industry and jobs to Las Cruces, and we share many of the same ideals and values.
“It makes no sense that two conservatives would run in this election for the same seat, and I quickly realized that it would only serve to dilute the number of conservative votes between us and ensure neither of us won. Thus, I decided to end my campaign, and support Fred. Thank you to those of you who expressed your support for me, I sincerely appreciate it.”