A veteran Republican lawmaker from Clovis is stepping into the race for New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District, setting up a challenge to far-left Democrat Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez in 2026.
State Rep. Martin Zamora, who has served four terms in the New Mexico House, filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission in July, officially opening the door to fundraising and spending for a congressional bid. The sprawling northern district stretches from the Texas border across the eastern plains and up through much of northern New Mexico, reaching as far south as Hobbs.
Zamora confirmed his plans in an interview, saying he has been preparing for the campaign quietly.
“We are fundraising right now and plan to work hard at winning this seat. We just feel like we need to do some work before we publicly announce,” Zamora said.
Leger Fernandez, an attorney from Santa Fe first elected in 2019, has consistently secured re-election by wide margins. According to federal filings, she began July with nearly half a million dollars in campaign cash.
Zamora, 64, said his decision to run is rooted in faith and service rather than partisanship.
“I respect Theresa for who she is, what she’s done, but I feel like…God put me here, and my opportunity to serve is now, and that’s why I’m stepping up to the plate,” he explained.
A farmer and rancher by trade, Zamora won his seat in 2018 by defeating Democrat George Dodge Jr. He currently represents District 63, covering parts of Curry, De Baca, Guadalupe, Roosevelt, and San Miguel counties. In the Legislature, Zamora serves as the ranking Republican on the House Agriculture, Acequias, and Water Resources Committee. He has consistently opposed the state budget and pushed, unsuccessfully, to allow public dollars for homeschool and private school students.
Earlier this year, one of his bills was signed into law by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, authorizing the New Mexico Finance Authority to provide loans and grants for dozens of water projects across the state.
Though Democrats hold a 14-point registration advantage in the district, Zamora says he sees a path forward.
“We have a lot of people, even Democrats, who have given us a handshake and told us that they’re going to support us,” he said.
Why do you all our congressional districts have to be decided by Albuquerque?
The system is broken.
Haven’t all the democrats redistricting done by cutting into Albuquerque. They did that with the 2nd district so they could get the idiot democrat voters to help Gabe the criminal to win.
With Trump planning to hold a Mid-Term GOP Convention, this is the right time for Republicans to Push hard and FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT.
He has to have a an actionable plan that simply shows how he will do better for New Mexicans. He’s gonna have to hammer the Gerry mandered part of his district hard.
🙏
I wish Mr. Zamora success in his campaign to defeat Ledger. We have an abundance of problems caused by our current political environment. We need solutions to make New Mexico better again.
I believe in GOD SO!I don’t have any respect for anything she’s done.Wrong thing to say.
She is a criminal and it looks like the Billion’s of American Indian Vote’s will matter since the Illegal VOTE WON’T 🫵✍️
I would love to share this article, but I’m not going to share something that has Teresa Leger’s photo on it instead of Martin Zamora’s
you could always share the article, but change the photo of Teresa Leger Fernandez, to Zamora, which is farther down the article, and just take the liberals photo out.
New Mexico needs to look at Leger Fernandez’ record past four years of service in Congress to find what she’s all about. Then you ask yourself do I still want her there another four years.?.?.? We won’t make New Mexico a great state as long as we keep voting the same people in.
Albuquerque decides all because the redistricting was gerrymandered. And the judge given the suit just did as was told. And the lawyers for the state get paid handsomely. And some of us are being represented by those very people. But, no conflict of interest we were told.