The Democratic Party has selected longtime attorney Lisa Schultz to run for District Judge in November.
Schultz, 48, will face Republican Janetta Hicks on Nov. 7.
Local members of the party’s state central committee voted at a meeting Monday to place Schultz on the ballot. The position is vacant because of the death last week of District Judge Silvia Cano-Garcia.
Schultz told the group she was committed to “linking arm in arm and moving forward with our Democratic Party principles. It is so incredibly important.”
“I am here to tell you with every fiber of my being that taking Democratic values and transferring them to the courthouse is what I’m all about,” Schultz said. “I have always stood for integrity and honesty and ethics.”
Schultz beat out
Schultz has been an attorney for 21 years and since 1991 has run her own law firm, working in the areas of criminal law, litigation and mediation. She also worked as an analyst and lawyer for the New Mexico Senate in the early 1990s. In addition to her law degree, she has a double master’s from
“Her ethics are part of her life,” said Las Cruces School Board member Chuck Davis, who nominated Schultz. “Truly, she has walked the walk and talked the talk of our Democratic way of life.”
The parties have now had to select candidates for three district judgeships that are up for grabs in November. Democrat Mike Murphy, who was appointed to the judgeship vacated by the resignation of Larry Ramirez, is running unopposed in November. Democrat Fernando Macias, who was appointed to a new position on the children’s court, will face Republican Rita Nuñez Neumann, and Schultz will face Hicks.
The governor’s office has not announced whether he will make an appointment to that seat before November, but the University of New Mexico Law School has already begun the process of seeking applicants so a committee can recommend names to the governor.