And they’re off! Campaign signs popping up – Las Cruces Bulletin

By Mike Cook

As of Aug. 7, there are 88 days until the Tuesday, Nov. 3, General Election. Yard signs and billboards are allowed 90 days before an election, and they have already begun to appear.

There are 28 federal, statewide and local races on Doa Ana County ballots, including 59 candidates: 28 Democrats, 25 Republicans, four Libertarians, one Constitution Party candidate and one declined-to-state (DTS) candidate. There are eight incumbent local district judges and one state Supreme Court justice up for voter retention.

There also will be five ballot initiatives for voters to consider: two constitutional amendments and three statewide bond issues that would allocate $200 million for senior centers, libraries, colleges and universities across the state.

Because state legislators and county commissioners are elected by districts, not everyone will see the same names on their ballots. Voters will choose from the same group of candidates for president, U.S. Senate and U.S. House New Mexico district two, county clerk and treasurer and Third Judicial District attorney, and will vote up or down for statewide and local judicial retentions.

But depending on where they live, voters will see different candidates in the six state Senate and eight state House of Representatives races that include Doa Ana County. Three of five county commission seats are also on this years ballot. The other two commission seats along with the county sheriff, assessor and probate judge will be up in 2022.

Democrats are unopposed in one statewide and two local races: Court of Appeals position three, district attorney and county commission district two. Gerald Byers, who also had no primary opponent, will succeed Mark DAntonio, who is retiring after two four-year terms, as district attorney.

Anthony Mayor Diane Murillo-Trujillo defeated incumbent Ramon Gonzalez in the June county commission district two Primary and will become a member of the commission next January.

The four Libertarian candidates are running for president, U.S. Senate, U.S. House, Court of Appeals position two (a write-in candidate whose status is being evaluated by the New Mexico Secretary of States office) and county commission district four.

The lone Constitution Party candidate is running for president and the only DTS candidate is running for U.S. House district two.

There are 22 incumbents running: 21 Democrats hoping to hold U.S. House district two, two state Supreme Court and three Court of Appeals seats, four state Senate and eight state House seats, one county commission seat, county clerk and county treasurer; and two Republicans, President Donald Trump and state Sen. Ron Griggs of Alamogordo, whose district includes two of Doa Ana Countys 170 precincts.

Two long-time state Senate Democrats John Arthur Smith (32 years) of Deming and Mary Kay Papen (20 years) of Las Cruces, lost in the Primary, along with County Commissioner Gonzalez. Another county commissioner, Isabella Solis, was elected to the commission as a Democrat in 2016, switched to Republican in 2019 and chose to run for state representative this year instead of running for re-election to the commission.