LAST UPDATED: 5/28/2016
Introduction
Local elections are often ignored, but they are also the elections that will have the most impact on your daily life. This primary election is important because for many positions you are actually electing the person that will serve, either because they are running unopposed, or because of the demographics of their district the other party has no chance of winning.
I tried to find as much information as I could about the candidates and wrote this up to hopefully save time for others (and myself in the future). As I find more information, I will continue to update it at least until early voting.
Key Information
NM is a closed primary. You must register as a Democrat or Republican in order to vote.
You can register or change your party online, but must do it by May 10th. You can also download a sample ballot.
Absentee voting starts May 10th and you can vote in person at the Clerk’s Annex location,1500 Lomas Blvd. NW.
Early voting across the county starts May 21st.
Election is June 7th.
Party Preference
With the ease of online registration/party change I encourage everyone to register Democrat with a few exceptions. You can easily change back to your preferred party if it is not Democrat. The Democratic primary has more contested county and state positions you can vote for. For most people, on the Republican side the only contested primary is county treasurer.
Exceptions to registering Democrat:
- You feel strongly about voting for one of the Republican presidential candidates, even though the election is essentially over.
- You want to vote for one of the Republican candidates for county treasurer.
- You live in State House District 24 and want to vote in the contested Republican primary.
- You live in State Senate District 19 and want to vote for one of the four Republican candidates.
If you are in Bernalillo County and none of these reasons apply to you, switch your party to Democrat in vote in their primary to have the most impact on the election. You can easily switch back to your preferred party afterwards.
Methodology
I have attempted to list any applicable history for the position, the incumbent, if the winner will face a challenger in the Nov. election, each candidates website, if I can find it, and applicable information. The applicable information is where my bias will come it, as far as what I choose to include or not, but I will try to keep opinions out of it. If you have interviews, questionnaires or other things I can add, let me know in the comments.
Candidates
Public Regulation Commissioner – District 1
The PRC is responsible for a significant amount of regulation in NM for public utilities, telecommunications and transportation. There are no other declared candidates for PRC district 1, so the winner of the primary is currently unopposed in the November election. District 1 is most of Albuquerque. ABQ Journal profile.
Karen Montoya – Campaign Website, Ballotpedia, incumbent, has served 1 term.
Cynthia Hall – Campaign Website, Ballotpedia
District Attorney – 2nd Judicial District (Bernalillo County)
The district attorney decides who to prosecute, who not to prosecute, what pleas to offer or not offer, etc. This position seems even more important with the recent issues with APD. How well do they work together with the police force vs. how do they hold the police force accountable. Kari Brandenburg has been the DA for the last 16 years and is not running again, so this will be the first time there will be a new face in the office in a long time.
Raul Torrez – Campaign Website
Edmund Perea – Campaign Website
An article by NM Political Report discuss the issue of the DA and APD interaction and provides a sentence from each candidate.
Recording of the KUNM discussion with the candidates.
ABQ Journal summary of the race.
District Court Judge (2nd Judicial District – Division 9)
Judge of Metro Court (Division 2)
Judge of Metro Court (Division 3)
County Clerk
Maggie Toulouse Oliver has served and the clerk for the last nine years, but is now running for Secretary of State. ABQ Journal summary and update.
Roman Montoya – Campaign Site
Linda Stover – Campaign Site
County Treasurer (Democrat)
This is a four way race on the Democratic side and the position has a lot of history. Patrick Padilla served as treasurer from 2005 – 2012 (and 1990-1993). Manny Ortiz served as treasurer from 2013 to the present, he was Padilla’s investment adviser, but then when he won Padilla became his investment adviser. Ortiz and Padilla have been involved in a fight with the county commissioners. The commissioners were worried they didn’t have the cash flow to meet bills because of too many long term investments. The county sold the investments at a huge loss to make sure they had money. The commissioners and treasurer have been on bad terms since with Ortiz suing them all now. Both Ortiz and Padilla are running for the treasurer’s office. ABQ Journal Summary of the race.
Manny Ortiz – Campaign Website, incumbent.
Patrick Padilla – Unable to find campaign website, has served 12 years as County Treasurer previously.
Christopher Sanchez – Campaign Website, accounting manager in the treasurer’s office.
Nancy Bearce – Campaign Website
County Treasurer (Republican)
I can’t find campaign pages for either of the Republican candidates at this time. The ABQ Journal Summary of the race includes a profile for Kim Hillard.
Kim Hillard
Christopher Romero
County Commissioner – District 2
State House and Senate
State Representative District 21
State Representative District 24 (Republican)
State Representative District 25
State Representative District 69
State Senator District 17
State Senator District 19
State Senator District 22
State Senator District 23
