Field Set for Two Open Seats in House from New Mexico

When  I was up in Santa Fe on Tuesday, February 6, for End Hunger Day, I encountered Damian Lara and Pat Davis in the halls of the Roundhouse. Both were headed to or were in the vicinity of the Secretary of State's Office. Davis and Lara are two of the candidates seeking election to Congress in 2018. Debra Haaland, Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, Janice Arnold-Jones, Damon Martinez, Lloyd Princeton, and Paul Moya were probably also in the confines of the Roundhouse at some time during the day to complete the paperwork to formally register their candidacies for the seat in the First Congresional District that is being vacated by Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (who is running for governor).

The same situation applies to Madeline Hilderbrandt, Xochitl Torres-Small, Angel Peña, Monty Newman, Yvette Herrell, Gavin Clarkson, Clayburn Griffin, and John Valpato, who were in Santa Fe on Feb. 6 to formally register their candidaies toreplace Rep. Steve Pearce for the seat in the Second Congressional District.  Pearce is also running for governor.

With all candidates required to register, Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, Christopher Manning and Jerald McFall also had to go through the process to file for the seat currently held by Lujan.

The 19 candidates seeking election to the House of Representatives had to go through a three-step process to formally register their candidacies.

 "The process was straightforward—there were three stations to verify and confirm paperwork and petition signatures—and took about 20 minutes for most candidates," Andy Lyman wrote in the New Mexico Political Report.

A total of 10 Democrats, seven Republicans and two Libertarians are running for Congress, and only three will eventually succeed. At least two of the three could be new to the job, with Lujan as the only incumbent running. Of these 19 candidates, eight will be on the ballot in November following the June 5 primary in New Mexico.

Other Races
Sen. Martin Heinrich, who is seeking reelection, and his two rivals, Aubrey Dunn and Mark Rich, also had to go through the process as did Lujan Grisham, Pearce and all the other candidates seeking to run in the governor's race. Candidates for lieutenant governor, state auditor, secretary of state, treasurer, land commissioner, and attorney general were also there to complete the required paperwork.

Lyman followed some of the candidates on filing day. Read his very informative piece in the New Mexico Political Report.

Women Candidates
Of the nearly 50 candidates seeking election to Congress or statewide office, 12 are women. There are three women running in each of the races for the U.S. House: Haaland, Sedillo Lopez and Arnold-Jones in the First District and Hilderbrandt, Torres-Small and Harrel in the Second District. There are no women candidates in the races for the Third Congressional District, U.S. Senate, attorney general, or treasurer. 

Interestingly enough, all three of the candidates running for secretary of state are women: Maggie Toulose-Oliver, Sandra Jeff and Johanna Cox. That post has mostly been filled by women since 1912, although the first two secretaries of state were men. Conversely, the decision of State Rep. Stephanie Garcia Richard to leave her seat in the New Mexico State Legislature to run for land commissioner could break a precedent if elected. That position has been held by men.

Women have run as candidates for governor and lieutenant governor in recent elections, and there is one woman candidate in each of those races in 2018: Lujan Grisham for governor and Michelle Garcia Holmes for lieutenant governor. There is no chance that they would serve together, as each is from an different party, and the governor and lieutenant governor candidates run as a team representing their party. If elected, Lujan Grisham would be the second woman to hold the post, succeeding the first woman to be elected to that office, outgoing Gov. Susana Martinez. Patricia Madrid is the only woman to have served as attorney general since 1912.

The gender question is important this year. According to results in the past year, women (mostly Democrats) have been winning elections where the incumbent party was previously thought to be safe.