Democracy for New Mexico

2010 New Mexico Primary: Dem Winners (and Losers) Must Unite

All the unofficial results are now in, the victory laps have been taken, the defeats are being absorbed and Democrats must unite with enthusiasm and determination in order to keep right-wing Republicans out of office up and down the ticket in November's critical contests. There were a number of hard-fought primary battles on the Dem side, but now it's imperative that all the candidates and their supporters put those clashes behind them.

It's time to work together on A New Way Forward with the Diane Denish-Brian Colón ticket  and dedicate ourselves to furthering core Democratic values in a combative and nasty political environment typified by Tea Parties and smear campaigns coming from the right -- all of them well funded.

“I would like to congratulate each of the stellar nominees who truly bring excellence to New Mexico, along with the unity and strength they lend the Democratic ticket,” said DPNM Chairman Javier Gonzales in a statement released today. “New Mexico Democrats are united behind Diane Denish and her focus on creating jobs and helping our state become more competitive. As Democrats we will work hard as a unified party and always put our state’s working families first.”

You can check out the unofficial results of all the primary races at the Secretary of State's website.

The results for key Democratic contested races include:

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
BRIAN S. COLON: 35934, 28.7%
LAWRENCE D. RAEL: 30537, 24.4%
JOSE A. CAMPOS II: 25618, 20.4%
GERALD P. ORTIZ Y PINO: 14992, 12.0%
LINDA M. LOPEZ: 18219, 14.5%

COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC LANDS
RAY BENNETT POWELL: 48071, 39.7%
HARRY B. MONTOYA: 43629, 36.0%
SANDY R. JONES: 29536, 24.4%

JUDGE OF THE COURT OF APPEALS - POSITION 2
LINDA M. VANZI: 62283, 53.5%
DENNIS W. MONTOYA: 54045, 46.5%

STATE REPRESENTATIVE - DISTRICT 8
JULIAN R LUNA: 1395, 53.1%
ELIAS BARELA: 1231, 46.9%

STATE REPRESENTATIVE - DISTRICT 13
MATTHEW E ARCHULETA: 721, 43.2%
ELEANOR CHAVEZ: 949, 56.8%

STATE REPRESENTATIVE - DISTRICT 14
MICHAEL A ATLER SR: 521, 30.5%
MIGUEL P GARCIA: 1185, 69.5%

STATE REPRESENTATIVE - DISTRICT 43
PETER T. SHEEHEY: 879, 40.4%
STEPHANIE M. RICHARD: 1298, 59.6%

STATE REPRESENTATIVE - DISTRICT 46
BEN LUJAN: 2129, 51.0%
CARL P. TRUJILLO: 2049, 49.0%

STATE REPRESENTATIVE - DISTRICT 70
BARBARA A. PEREA-CASEY: 1643, 38.1%
ERIC M. CUMMINGS: 278, 6.5%
RICHARD D. VIGIL: 2065, 47.9%
CHRIS LOPEZ: 323, 7.5%

PUBLIC REGULATION COMMISSIONER - DISTRICT 4
HANK HUGHES: 5123, 21.4%
ANDREW LEO LOPEZ: 4890, 20.4%
GEORGE J. GALANIS: 5269, 22.0%
THERESA BECENTI-AGUILAR: 8640, 36.1%

DISTRICT JUDGE - 1st JUDICIAL DISTRICT, DIVISION 7
DAVID K. THOMSON: 10322, 45.0%
T. GLENN ELLINGTON: 12598, 55.0%

DISTRICT JUDGE - 2nd JUDICIAL DISTRICT, DIVISION 11
GERARD J. LAVELLE: 15830, 52.8%
EDWARD ARNOLD PADILLA: 14172, 47.2%

DISTRICT JUDGE - 2nd JUDICIAL DISTRICT, DIVISION 23
SHANNON BACON: 18890, 63.9%
LORI L. MILLET: 10679, 36.1%

BERNALILLO COUNTY COMMISSIONER - DISTRICT 1
LORETTA A. NARANJO LOPEZ: 2453, 27.7%
MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM: 4215, 47.5%
DAN SERRANO: 2199, 24.8%

BERNALILLO COUNTY ASSESSOR
MARK J CARRILLO: 13846, 43.2%
KAREN LOUISE MONTOYA: 18200, 56.8%

BERNALILLO COUNTY SHERIFF
PATRICK M DAVIS: 6815, 21.1%
FELIX I NUNEZ: 3624, 11.2%
MANUEL GONZALES III: 8601, 26.7%
MARIE SISI MIRANDA: 7687, 23.8%
GERALDINE M AMATO: 2132, 6.6%
JOSHUA R TIMBERMAN: 1186, 3.7%
JOE R. WILLIAMS: 2193, 6.8%

Below is the list of candidates that make up the Congressional and statewide 2010 Democratic ticket:

• , Governor
• Brian Colón, Lieutenant Governor
• Martin Heinrich, 1st Congressional District
• Harry Teague, 2nd Congressional District
• Ben Ray Lujan Jr., 3rd Congressional District
• Mary Herrera, Secretary of State
• Gary King, Attorney General
• James B. Lewis, Treasurer
• Hector Balderas, Auditor
• Ray Bennett Powell, Commissioner of Public Lands
• Judge Robert E. Robles, Court of Appeals Position 1
• Judge Linda M. Vanzi, Court of Appeals Position 2
• Judge Tim L. Garcia, Court of Appeals Position 3

So many Dems worked so hard during these primaries and now it's time to take a short rest -- and then gear up to volunteer, donate and talk to friends, neighbors, coworkers and family members about the importance of Dem victories in November. How well we strategize and work for our candidates in the coming six months will affect our future for years to come.

More Dem Primary Winners: Judge Linda Vanzi, Ray Powell, Michelle Lujan Grisham

DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY APPEALS COURT POSITION 2
95% OF PRECINCTS REPORTING
> LINDA VANZI (Inc.) 59,149 55%
DENNIS MONTOYA 48,713 45%

DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY LAND COMMISSIONER
95% OF PRECINCTS REPORTING
> RAY POWELL 45,471 41%
HARRY MONTOYA 38,819 35%
SANDY JONES 27,715 25%

COUNTY COMMISSIONER DISTRICT 1 - DEMOCRAT
420 of 424 Precincts as of 6/2/2010 12:03:42 AM
> MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM 4,215 47.54%
LORETTA A. NARANJO LOPEZ 2,453 27.66%
DAN SERRANO 2,199 24.80%

(Updates x 4) 2010 NM Primary Election: Early Results Have Colon 32.15, Rael 30.30 for LG, More

Liveblog now at NMI!

KOAT Results

3.2% turnout on election day at 2:00 PM per BernCo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver

8:52 PM: Rep. Eleanor Chavez declares victory vs. Matthew Archuleta! Won by about 100 votes. Congratulations Eleanor! Results:

STATE REPRESENTATIVE - DISTRICT 13
MATTHEW E ARCHULETA Democratic 308 43.1%
ELEANOR CHAVEZ Democratic 407 56.9%

Early and absentee voting ONLY results from Bernalillo County:

DEM LT. GOVERNOR
BRIAN S. COLON Democrat 2,138 2,863 5,001 32.15%
LAWRENCE D. RAEL Democrat 1,842 2,872 4,714 30.30%
JOSE A. CAMPOS II Democrat 618 923 1,541 9.91%
GERALD P. ORTIZ Y PINO Democrat 677 1,549 2,226 14.31%
LINDA M. LOPEZ Democrat 836 1,238 2,074 13.33%
(15,556 Total Votes) 0 Out Of 424 Precincts Counted % calculated to +-.03%

Video: Rafael Colon commenting on his dad's campaign tonight.

DEM LAND COMMISSIONER
RAY BENNETT POWELL Democrat 3,106 4,744 7,850 52.86%
HARRY B. MONTOYA Democrat 1,463 2,258 3,721 25.06%
SANDY R. JONES Democrat 1,318 1,962 3,280 22.09%

JUDGE OF THE COURT OF APPEALS 2 - Democrat
LINDA M. VANZI Democrat 4,050 6,354 10,404 70.76%
DENNIS W. MONTOYA Democrat 1,742 2,557 4,299 29.24%

BERNCO SHERIFF-DEMOCRAT
PATRICK M DAVIS Democrat 0 1,285 1,960 3,245 22.17%
FELIX I NUNEZ Democrat 0 409 987 1,396 9.54%
MANUEL GONZALES III Democrat 0 1,773 2,329 4,102 28.03%
MARIE SISI MIRANDA Democrat 0 1,264 2,009 3,273 22.36%
GERALDINE M AMATO Democrat 0 322 640 962 6.57%
JOSHUA R TIMBERMAN Democrat 0 238 293 531 3.63%
JOE R. WILLIAMS Democrat 0 530 596 1,126 7.69%

JUDGE OF THE COURT OF APPEALS 2 - DEMOCRAT
LINDA M. VANZI Democrat 4,050 6,354 10,404 70.76%
DENNIS W. MONTOYA Democrat 1,742 2,557 4,299 29.24%

Bernalillo County results .

Low Voter Turnout in 2010 NM Primary Favors Candidates Popular With Active Party Members

Liveblog now at NMI!

Polls are open until 7:00 PM tonight. Find your precinct polling place and a sample ballot here.

It's no surprise that voter turnout in this mid-term primary is low -- it always is. It IS surprising that it's as low as it reportedly has been today -- until one considers that election day falls on the day after the Memorial Day weekend -- a time when many folks are taking trips, recovering from Memorial Day parties or hanging out with their kids who are now out of school for the summer. Original projections that turnout would be about 28-30% are now apparently being lowered, based on very low turnout being reported at a variety of precincts around the state.

Who is helped by low primary turnout? It's a given that a majority of active party members vote early. Virtually all of them vote, either early or on election day. If turnout is low on election day itself, that generally means that less active party supporters and members aren't turning out. That, in turn, would mean that candidates popular with active party members would be casting a significant percentage of the votes. Thus, the results would favor those candidates who won strong support within the party during its pre-primary convention, along with those who gained enthusiastic and loyal supporters during their primary campaigns via grassroots efforts.

In the case of the Democrats, here's how the pre-primary convention voting turned out in major contested races:

Lt. Governor
Brian Colon: 591 votes 34.54%
Lawrence Rael: 379 votes 22.15
Jose Campos: 337 votes 19.69%
Ortiz y Pino: 323 votes 18.87%
Linda Lopez: 81 votes 4.73%

Land Commissioner
Ray Powell, 44.4%
Harry Montoya, 19.3%
Sandy Jones, 18.6%
Mike Anaya, 17.6%

NM Court of Appeals
Judge Linda M. Vanzi 72.32%
Dennis W. Montoya 27.68%

We'll see how that matches the final results, but I predict the Dem winners will come close to matching this list. Of course, there's always a possibility that a certain candidate can turn out significant numbers of supporters on election day who aren't generally active in the party, but I think that's a long shot.