2008 New Mexico Primary Winners; Upset Victories for Griego, Keller, Chavez

Martin Heinrich wins NM-01 in 4-way race. Ben Ray Lujan handily wins NM-03. Still too close to call in NM-02 between McCamley and Teague, though Teague is in the lead and has claimed victory. McCamley hasn't conceded. There are a bunch of Dona Ana County precincts still outstanding, where McCamley draws his greatest support. Problems have been reported with getting these votes transported and counted so things are at a standstill. I think McCamley can still pull it out, IF he gets big numbers from those outstanding precincts. Go, Bill!

Griego, Chavez, Keller: Incumbent Topplers

But what can only be called upset victories by three Dem primary legislative race challengers in Albuquerque have really made my day (and night). They're a wonder to behold, beautiful to absorb, shocking to realize. Eric Griego, Tim Keller and Eleanor Chavez victorious over entrenched, status quo incumbents! Griego whomped Paul Taylor in SD 17. Keller positively crushed Shannon Robinson in SD 15. Chavez won by a smaller, but still very healthy margin, in HD 13. And because they won in heavily Dem districts, the three intrepid change agents have effectively won seats in the NM Legislature.

Stunning. All three ran terrific campaigns. All three will bring truly progressive values to Santa Fe. All three represent victories for the people over the special interests. DFA-Democracy for New Mexico endorsed all three, as did many other folks in the grassroots, progressive and union communities. This is a BIG win for the forces of clean government and reform.

Update: Check out this post by Marjorie at m-pyre about Eleanor Chavez and Silva's hit piece on her during the campaign. Nice shots of Eleanor in her youth with Cesar Chavez and with her campaign manager, Tomas Garduno.

Results available at NM Secretary of State and at KRQE-13 News and many other places. At 10:40 PM, here are some select results, winners in red:

NM-01 Dem Congressional Race
Martin Heinrich 44%
Rebecca Vigil-Giron 25%
Michelle Lujan Grisham 23%
Robert Pidcock 8%

NM-02 Dem Congessional Race
Bill McCamley 42%
Harry Teague 52%
Teague claiming victory but McCamley says too close to call

NM-03 Dem Congressional Race
Don Wiviott 27%
Ben Ray Lujan Jr. 41%
Benny Shendo Jr. 16%
Harry Montoya 11%
Jon Adams 3%
Rudy Martin 2%

Dem U.S. Senate Race: Tom Udall unopposed

Repub U.S. Senate Race
Heather Wilson 49%
Steve Pearce 51%

Dem NM State House District 13
Eleanor Chavez 54%
Dan Silva (incumbent) 46%

Dem NM State Senate District 15
Eric Griego 63%
James C. Taylor (incumbent) 37%

Dem NM State Senate District 17
Tim Keller 66%
Shannon Robinson (incumbent) 34%

Bernalillo County Clerk
Maggie Toulouse Oliver 70%
Ambrose Chavez 30%

More results:

NM-02 GOP Congressional Race
Aubrey Dunn 20%
C. Earl Greer 10%
Edward R. Tinsley 31%
Monty Newman 21%
Greg Sowards 18%

Dem NM State Senate District 11
Linda Lopez 53%
Michael Padilla 47%

Tough race for John Blair against Eichenberg, who's much better known in Dem circles, even though Blair got the Albuquerque Journal's endorsement and campaigned very hard. Mr. Blair, you must run again for something soon. We need you in office.

Dem NM State Senate District 15
John Blair 40%
Tim Eichenberg 60%

Buh bye, Dan!

GOP NM House District 57
Dan Foley (incumbent) 46%
Dennis Kintigh 54%

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