Mark Fischer, chair of the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners, has been recommended by his colleagues to fill an open New Mexico Senate seat.
During a special meeting on Monday, Lincoln County Commissioners Samantha Serna, Timothy Prather, and MP Chavez voted to send Fisher’s name to the governor for consideration as their choice to fill the Senate seat in District 33, which encompasses Lincoln, Otero and Chaves counties. Fisher and Commissioner Kendal Wilson did not vote on the recommendation.
A Republican and Navy veteran from Tinnie, Fischer was elected to represent District 5 on the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners in 2022 If Fischer is tapped by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM) for the position, he would need to step down from the commission because the state constitution prohibits anyone from serving in the legislature who “holds any office of trust or profit with the state, county or national governments, except notaries public and officers of the militia who receive no salary.”
The vote on Monday came after the Otero County Commissioners on Friday voted 2-1 to send the name of state Rep. John Block (R-Alamogordo) to the governor for consideration. Commissioners Amy Barela and Vickie Marquad supported the recommendation, while Commissioner Gerald Matherly opposed it. Chaves County Commissioners unanimously chose Rex Wilson, a former Lincoln County Commissioner from Ancho, as their choice.
Lujan Grisham will choose one name from the list of applicants forwarded by the commissions to complete the unexpired term of Republican Nicholas Paul of Alamogordo, who resigned from the New Mexico Senate last month due to health issues. The person will then have to run for the seat in 2028 if they wish to continue serving beyond Dec. 31, 2027.
Eight people submitted letters of interest to succeed Paul. In addition to Block, Fischer and Wilson, Ruidoso Mayor Lynn Crawford, former state Rep. Zach Cook (R-Ruidoso), Michael Wade, an attorney from Alamogordo and Roy R.B. Nichols of La Luz, who is the Otero County attorney, also applied for the position.