Republican and Democrat activists gathered in southern New Mexico over the weekend for their respective pre-primary conventions, marking a key step in shaping the candidate fields ahead of the June 2 primary elections. While Democrats met in Mescalero and continued tallying votes through the weekend, Republicans convened in nearby Ruidoso, where delegates made their preferences clear in several major statewide and congressional races.
The Republican Party of New Mexico’s pre-primary convention drew roughly 700 attendees, including delegates, guests, and volunteers. Nearly 450 delegates selected by county parties cast paper ballots for candidates running for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, commissioner of public lands, and the state’s three congressional districts.
Under New Mexico law, candidates must receive at least 20 percent of delegate support at the pre-primary convention to secure automatic placement on the party’s primary ballot. Those who fall short can still appear on the ballot by gathering enough petition signatures from voters.
In the closely watched Republican race for governor, Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull emerged as the clear frontrunner among delegates, receiving 239 votes and easily surpassing the threshold to qualify for the June primary. Businessman Doug Turner, who entered the race just weeks before the convention, also secured ballot access with 104 votes.
Three other gubernatorial hopefuls fell short of the required support. Duke Rodriguez received 39 votes, state Sen. Steve Lanier received 31 votes, and Jim Ellison received seven votes. While they did not qualify through the convention process, some may still pursue ballot access by gathering the required signatures.
In a statement following the convention, Republican Party of New Mexico Chairwoman Amy Barela praised the turnout and the party’s candidates.
“This weekend’s pre-primary convention proved that we have a group of outstanding candidates who will fight for the values New Mexicans care about,” Barela said. “The state of our party is incredibly strong. New Mexico Republicans are more unified than ever before, and we are committed to showing New Mexico voters why Republicans are worthy of their trust this November. It’s time we take our great state back.”
Delegates also weighed in on the state’s congressional races. In the Albuquerque-based 1st Congressional District, Ndidiamaka Okpareke received 98 votes, comfortably qualifying for the ballot and defeating Steve Jones, who received 16 votes.
In the southern New Mexico-based 2nd Congressional District, Gregory Cunningham secured a decisive victory with 114 votes compared to 17 for Jose Orozco. The margin gave Cunningham overwhelming delegate support and made him the only Republican candidate in that race to qualify through the convention process.
Following the vote, Cunningham highlighted the significance of the result.
“Proud to announce that our campaign won a decisive victory at today’s New Mexico GOP Convention with 87% of the vote,” Cunningham said in a statement. “Today’s results mean I am the only NM-02 candidate to earn qualification for the primary ballot and sends a strong message that Republicans are united and ready to take back our district in November.”
In northern New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District, state Rep. Martin Zamora of Clovis received 167 delegate votes and qualified for the primary ballot as the Republican candidate expected to challenge Democratic U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández.
Republican delegates also selected a clear favorite in the race for lieutenant governor. State Sen. David Gallegos of Eunice dominated the contest with 278 votes, well ahead of Aubrey Dunn, who received 77 votes, and Manuel Lardizabal, who received 61.
Several other statewide candidates ran unopposed at the convention. Ramona Goolsby qualified for the ballot for secretary of state with 408 votes, Samuel Kane secured the attorney general nomination with 412 votes, and Michael Jack Perry qualified for commissioner of public lands with 414 votes.
Meanwhile, Democrats held their own pre-primary convention in Mescalero over the weekend. However, their voting process extended beyond the event itself, and official results were expected to be released Monday.
The conventions represent a critical milestone in New Mexico’s election cycle, as parties formally narrow the field and set the stage for competitive primary races ahead of the general election in November.
Gregory Who for Governor, I hope the delegates are right as I have read nothing about him or his platform. Time to try and learn more about our nominated Governor candidate.
Hi Kevin. That “Who” is Greg Hull. Hull has been mayor of Rio Rancho, a city formerly in the Democrat camp but now freed from their choke-hold. Hull has done yeoman’s service, transforming that city to one that is attracting businesses and has improved services to its people. Hull has an important story to tell during this election and I wish him well.
Kevin, I ‘ve lived in Rio Rancho for 20+ years. Gregg Hull is a moderate at best. He supports high density housing, (there is a video on this) and Rio Rancho is now riddled with small tract homes and Albuquerque style traffic, which even worse at certain times and places.
During his tenure speed vans and now 10 speed cameras are in place. Originally, he justified keeping the speed vans, which were supposed to go with the last D mayor, with typical rino ‘splaining….
He is not a conservative and chilled, with an establishment, moderate style, the vibrant tea-party/conservative movement that existed prior to his mayoral tenure.
When he first ran for office he did not know what eminent domain is. For anyone owning real property in Rio Rancho or Sandoval County, this was unacceptable given eminent domain, then legal under the Metropolitan Redevelopment Act, was used to take the land that became the Cabezon and Loma Colorado tract home communities. (Eminent domain is no longer legal under the MRA thanks in part to real hard fighting conservatives from Rio Rancho and Sandoval County.)
There have been unsolved murders and frequent gunfire that never existed ten years ago in the area of Rio Rancho that I live in. It’s rare to ever see any police in our neighborhood even if called for gun shots or property crimes. Despite Gregg waiving around surveys that say Rio Rancho if one of the best places to live, I ,and no one I know, has ever been asked to take a survey during Gregg’s tenure in office.
With that said, I may hold my nose and vote for him if he is the Republican candidate, but only because he may be better than the D machine candidate Deb Haaland. The Dems have a 10million dollar + war chest, so realistically it will likely be another slaughter and we again have no true conservative to rally around.
If you are talking about Greg Hull, he is a good man. He was the mayor of Rio Rancho. Kept that city from having the homeless problems that Mayor Keller couldn’t seem to get rid of, because he followed the laws, unlike Keller. Hull would make a good governor.
Go Gregg and Greg!
If a democrat is governor again NM can kiss its ass goodbye. Greg Hull has been a great Mayor and is the obvious choice. Democrats have other ideas however. vote in another check the box candidate who knows nothing. Bregman not much better than Deb. In congress, dems are now pushing taxing your capital gains at 35.8 percent at the federal level. how does that help affordability ? all it does is keep people poor. you cant build wealth or pass it along if the govt takes it all. Govt first, schlubs last. thats the dem party.
Ndidiamaka Okpareke, PharmD, RPh. Wow, impressive bio. I look forward to future debates with dumb as a rock, leftist loon Melanie Stansbury.
let me get this right. amy barela, head of the repubs in NM says the repub party is “incredibly strong.” yet they have no candidate to run against ben ray lujan ! he runs unopposed !! words must match reality at some point soon Ms. Barela !
I agree with you Chipper. You never see an election without a Dems names on the ballot regardless of position.
Agree 100%. This has been a failing of the NMGOP since Steve Pearce ran the party (or does he still?) This is why I switched to unaffiliated years ago. Weak or no candidates for major positions is not strength as does poor party support. In NM, no Republican will be elected without strong support.
Excellent point, Chipper! And if Senator Gallegos loses his bid for Lt. Governor, does that create a risk of a GOP lost seat in the Senate? How long would it take to fill that seat?
The party can’t be to strong if they can’t get out and vote .Comrade Grisham would have lost it the Repubs had got out and voted
I agree with you there Jeff. I know my wife and I got out to vote, but we also knew of many who did not.
Deb Halland does not stand much of a chance against Sam Bregman. Sam Bregman has a plan for New Mexico. His plan is on his political campaign website. It is over 300 pages. All Halland has is ideas without a plan. I have been encouraging all Candidates to submit/post a “Business Plan”. A “Business Plan” should have the following information:
1. What they plan to do.
2. How they plan to accomplish this goal.
3. How long will it take to accomplish?
4. How much is it going to cost?
5. Where will the money come from to support this plan?
6. Who supports this plan?
7. How does it benefit the citizens and businesses?
8. Environmental Impacts?
9. They should have separate “Business Plans” for each plan/idea!
This will solve several issues that have been a problem here in New Mexico.
1. It will allow us to read and debate as to who actually has a great plan.
2. It will allow us to pick a great Candidate instead of having to choose between the lesser of the two evils. No more having to second guess who to hire (vote for).
3. It will eliminate or reduce dark money in politics. It will make it harder to buy candidates.
4. It will create “Fair Elections”! This will level the playing field for all Third Political Parties, a Big Win for our Democratic Process! No more having to pay to play and having to raise thousands to run for office or to get elected.
5. It will make it easier to hold the Candidate and their Political Party accountable for what they do or don’t do.
6. It will make it easier to get things done when the people hire a candidate for a popular idea/plan. If our employees do not want to support an idea that is popular, we fire them at the next election.
7. Now ask all the Candidates that are running for office if they have a “Business Plan”. If they say no, tell them that you cannot hire them without a “RESUME”. After all, they are seeking employement to work for us!!!!
Sir Nicolas Lomas