Janice Arnold-Jones
Court tosses Gary Smith from the ballot, giving Janice Arnold-Jones time to focus on general-election fundraising. She’ll need it; she ended the last reporting period with a fraction of the cash that all three Democratic candidates had.
A state judge tossed Republican Gary Smith off the primary election ballot on Monday, making Janice Arnold-Jones the GOP’s nominee for the 1st Congressional District seat in the U.S. House.
District Judge C. Shannon Bacon agreed with eight GOP voters who filed the lawsuit alleging that Smith lacked the petition signatures needed to stay in the race.
“Defendant’s nominating petitions are at least 166 signatures short of the 1,579 valid signatures necessary to secure a position on the Republican primary election ballot for Congressional District 1,” Bacon’s order states.
Smith had to collect additional signatures to stay in the race because he won the support of only 4 percent of delegates at the recent GOP preprimary nominating convention. You need 20 percent to qualify for the ballot.
Arnold-Jones won the support of 63 percent at that convention. Dan Lewis, who later dropped out, won the support of 34 percent of delegates.
The petitioners alleged that at least 492 signatures Smith submitted to stay in the race weren’t valid. The judge agreed that most of those 492 did not qualify.
Arnold-Jones said she was “pleased” with the judge’s ruling.
“Gary’s departure from the race gives us the opportunity to focus on fundraising and allow the professional staff we’re adding to work with our volunteers toward a November victory,” she said. “And make no mistake – with the foundation we have laid, we have every intention of winning this race, no matter who the Democratic Party’s nominee happens to be.”
Arnold-Jones now has time to focus on fundraising while three Democratic candidates battle for their party’s spot on the general election ballot. And she needs it. She raised about $55,000 in the last fundraising quarter and ended it with $38,000 on hand.
That’s far behind all three Democrats. Michelle Lujan Grisham raised almost $210,000 and ended the reporting period with almost $345,000 on hand; Eric Griego raised more than $275,000 and ended the reporting period with almost $322,000 on hand; Marty Chávez raised almost $153,000 and ended the reporting period with about $201,000 on hand.
A prior version of this posting incorrectly identified Bacon as a federal judge.