Voters made a lot of interesting choices in Tuesday’s election, but let’s start with the Public Regulation Commission District 5 race, which was perhaps the most surprising.
On the Democrat side, incumbent E. Shirley Baca was trounced by challenger Sandy Jones in her home county of Doña Ana. That ensured Jones the victory, even though voters in the rest of the 11-county district were split more evenly between the two candidates.
Why did this happen? Democrats in Doña Ana County know Baca well. She’s been around a long time. It appears she lost much of her hometown support after last year’s marijuana arrest (the charges were later dropped) and other controversies that captured headlines. She also lost the support of the governor.
Many supported Baca publicly, but that didn’t carry over to the voting booth. Perhaps it’s because Baca has been around such a long time that her loss of support at home wasn’t more apparent until Tuesday. Few were willing to publicly oppose a longtime pillar of the county Democrats.
On the Republican side, Kent Evans carried his home county of Doña Ana despite losing the endorsement of the Las Cruces Sun-News over his failure to commit to resigning from the county commission if elected to the PRC. Evans later said he would resign if he won.
Evans and Doyle Pruitt split the vote in their hometown of Las Cruces, allowing Earl Greer of Truth or Consequences to win with the support of the rural areas of the district.
Baca and Evans both opted to try out the public financing experiment, which might have contributed to their defeats. The idea is great, but the system needs some changes before it becomes a viable option in New Mexico.
It’s interesting that, in a district whose population center is Las Cruces, the two candidates running in November are from T or C.
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In the County Commission District 1 Democrat primary, incumbent Oscar Vasquez Butler’s resounding victory over challenger Chris Jaramillo is the result of many factors. Jaramillo didn’t attend Democratic Party functions, further spreading a suspicion that he was a Republican plant since he used to work for District Attorney Susana Martinez. Jaramillo is a lobbyist for the cockfighting industry, hurting his chances with liberal voters. And Butler has spent four years trying to show residents of the numerous colonias in his district that government plays an important role in their lives. It appears he has convinced at least some of them.
The location of one precinct in this district was switched before the election. Jaramillo apparently made a stink about it yesterday, but he refused to speak with me about it.
In the County Commission District 3 Republican primary, Mack Haley really had no competition from Ruben Gonzalez. Haley had more signs and he is a respected employee of New Mexico State University. That district surrounds and includes the university.
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In the Magistrate Judge Division 3 Democratic primary, Olivia Garcia easily knocked off Maria Rodriguez. Incumbency helps. So do big billboards. Probate Judge Alice Salcido also beat back two Democratic challengers.
Like I said, incumbency helps.
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In the Republican contest for U.S. Senate, Allen McCulloch pulled of a surprising victory. Most analysts predicted that he and David Pfeffer would split the Anglo vote and Joseph Carraro, who is from Albuquerque, would win with the Hispanic vote and because he is more well-known.
But McCulloch went negative just before the election, accusing Carraro in a mailer of lounging on a Hawaiian beach at taxpayers’ expense.
Never underestimate the power of negative campaigning, I guess.
In addition, Carraro gave voters outside Albuquerque and Santa Fe few reasons to vote for him. He finished third in Doña Ana County.
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In the state Democrat primaries, victories by Mary Herrera for secretary of state, Jeff Armijo for state auditor and Gary King for attorney general were predicted by many.
Jim Baca narrowly defeated Ray Powell in the land commissioner race. Both ran strong campaigns, and this turned into the most interesting contest among the statewide races.