Congratulations to Kelly Calicoat and Megan Bowen, who both won contested elections for Magistrate Judge following Tuesday’s primary election. Both Republicans won with 69 percent of the vote, according to the Secretary of State. Results are still considered unofficial at this time.
Calicoat, the incumbent, defeated Toby Austin in his primary, while Bowen defeated Monica Martinez-Jones. Carlsbad’s third Magistrate position, Jimmy Foster, was unopposed. None of the three primary magistrate judge winners will have opponents in November’s general election.
Magistrate courts in New Mexico have jurisdiction over a variety of cases including landlord tenant rights, traffic violations and preliminary felony hearings. Magistrate judges also sign off on search and arrest warrants for law enforcement officers. Thank you to everyone who ran in what appeared to be a very civil local election.
There will be a contested judicial election in November between Eileen Riordan and David Finger in the race for Fifth Judicial District: Division 1.
Most of Eddy County’s primary Republican races were uncontested. This includes Cara Cooke (Clerk), Ernie Carlson (County Commission), James William Bowen III (County Commission), Rhonda Hatch (County Assessor) and Jay Francis (Probate Judge), Bowen is running to fill the position currently held by Steven McCutcheon, who is not seeking re-election.
Members of our Southeast New Mexico delegation, including Rep. Cathrynn Brown and Rep. Jim Townsend, won uncontested Republican primaries. To our east, Rep. Larry Scott and Rep. Randall Pettigrew won contested primaries.
At the state and federal level, the race for Congressional District 2, where Carlsbad resides, will be between incumbent Yvette Herrell, who ran uncontested in her primary and Gabriel Vasquez, who won his primary with 76% of the vote.
In the race for Governor, Republican Mark Ronchetti won his primary with 58% of the vote. Rebecca Dow finished second with 18%. Ronchetti will now run against Governor Lujan Grisham in November’s general election. Ant Thorton won the Republican primary for Lieutenant Governor with 60% of the vote. He’ll face incumbent Howie Morales in November.
Once of the closest races in New Mexico was the Democratic primary for Attorney General, which Raul Torrez appeared to win with 53 percent of the vote over State Auditor Brian Colon.
Congratulations to the Eddy County Clerk’s office on running a successful election. The system of convenience voting centers works very well. Thank you to all of the local volunteers who helped staff Carlsbad and Eddy County’s polling locations. Finally, congratulations again to all of the winners and thank you to everyone who participated in the election.
Sincerely,
Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway