{"id":3007,"date":"2008-03-18T22:25:00","date_gmt":"2008-03-19T04:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/03\/candidates-galore-lots-of-contested-races-in-2008\/"},"modified":"2008-03-18T22:25:00","modified_gmt":"2008-03-19T04:25:00","slug":"candidates-galore-lots-of-contested-races-in-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/03\/candidates-galore-lots-of-contested-races-in-2008\/","title":{"rendered":"Candidates galore: Lots of contested races in 2008"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A 2008 election season that was already memorable in New Mexico<\/st1:state> because of the number of open seats in Congress became even more interesting in Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> today when candidate filing day revealed a number of contested primary and general-election races. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Perhaps most interesting locally is the race for Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> clerk. Rita Torres<\/a> is seeking re-election, but she\u2019s being challenged in the Democratic primary by two of her employees \u2013 Martha Lucero and Elections Supervisor Lynn Ellins.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Joining those three in the Democratic primary is former Mesilla town Clerk Yolanda Lucero. And on the Republican side, former county Republican Party Chair Sid Goddard filed today to run for clerk.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Yolanda Lucero is already raising questions about the fact that her primary opponents all work in the clerk\u2019s office, and is especially concerned about Ellins\u2019 candidacy.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to see the perception of conflict addressed, or at minimum put on the table for discussion,\u201d Yolanda Lucero said. \u201cI\u2019m confident that we can clear up this issue and voters will have no doubts about the integrity of the county clerk\u2019s race.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

County policy requires all candidates who are county employees to take off the two weeks before and the day of the election, so Ellins\u2019 staff will be running the election in his absence, and he\u2019ll return to work the day after the election. That policy does not apply to Torres because she is an elected official.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Ellins said he is confident in his ability to work on the election while he\u2019s a candidate.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not really troubled by it because I\u2019m not going to fool around,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m going to run things the way I\u2019ve been running them. I think I\u2019ve shown that I\u2019m willing to be up front and fair and open.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Torres said ensuring the integrity of the election is \u201cnot hard.\u201d She said she won\u2019t take any time off before the election and intends to \u201cdo as much work as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI am not concerned about winning or losing, and I\u2019m not concerned about him (Ellins) or anything,\u201d Torres said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Other county races<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

This year features three contested county commission races. In District 2, incumbent Dolores Salda\u00f1a-Caviness<\/a> will be challenged in the Democratic primary by Alfonso Moreno and former Sunland Park City Councilor Alicia Roman. No Republican filed to run for the seat. In District 4, Scott Krahling<\/a> will run unopposed in the Democratic primary, but Anna Mae Evans and Doyle Pruitt will square off in the Republican primary. In District 5, Leticia Duarte-Benavidez will face Vicente Romero in the Democratic primary. The winner will face Republican Scott Seiler in November.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Three candidates filed to run for county treasurer. Republican Jim Schoonover<\/a> is seeking re-election. Two Democrats \u2013 former county Auditor Jill Johnson and former Treasurer David Gutierrez \u2013 will face off in the primary for the right to take on Schoonover in November.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Legislative races<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Several county lawmakers are opposed this year. Sen. Mary Jane Garcia<\/a>, D-Do\u00f1a Ana, will be challenged by Do\u00f1a Ana County Commissioner Oscar V\u00e1squez Butler<\/a> in the primary. Republican Lee Cotter, who has lost to Garcia before, will face the winner in November. Sen. Leonard Lee Rawson<\/a>, R-Las Cruces, will be challenged this year by Democrat Steve Fischmann.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

State Rep. Joni Gutierrez<\/a>, D-Mesilla, will be challenged in the primary by Mesilla Mayor Pro Tem Jesus Caro. No Republican filed to run for the seat. Rep. Antonio Lujan<\/a>, D-Las Cruces, will be challenged in November by Republican Matthew Martin. Rep. Andy Nu\u00f1ez<\/a>, D-Hatch, will be challenged by Republican Mike Tellez.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Democrat Jeff Steinborn<\/a>, D-Las Cruces, will be challenged by Republican Do\u00f1a Ana County Commissioner Kent Evans<\/a>. Nate Cote<\/a>, D-Organ, will be challenged by either Republican Stanford Locke or Republican Thomas Fry in November. The two will first face off in the June primary.<\/p>\n

\n

\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Sens. Dianna Duran<\/a>, Cynthia Nava<\/a> and Mary Kay Papen<\/a> and Reps. Mary Helen Garcia<\/a> and Joseph Cervantes<\/a> are unopposed this year.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Judicial races and district attorney<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

One Republican, George Murphy, filed to run for the only magistrate judgeship on the ballot this year. In the Democratic primary, incumbent Kent Wingenroth will be challenged by Francisco Ortiz, Frank Rivera and Maria Rodriguez.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Do\u00f1a Ana County District Attorney Susana Martinez<\/a>, a Republican, will be unopposed this year. All eight of the county\u2019s district judges are up for retention this year, but will not face opponents.<\/p>\n

\n

\n

A prior version of this posting incorrectly stated that Cote<\/st1:place> had no opponent this year. That\u2019s because the Secretary of State\u2019s Web site didn\u2019t list an opponent, and still doesn\u2019t as of 10:20 a.m. on March 19, but the Web site is wrong.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A 2008 election season that was already memorable in New Mexico because of the number of open seats in Congress became even more interesting in Do\u00f1a Ana County today when candidate filing day revealed a number of contested primary and general-election races. Perhaps most interesting locally is the race for Do\u00f1a Ana County clerk. Rita […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3007\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}