A "Vote Here" sign at the Otero County Fairgrounds in Alamogordo.
Elections

2022 General Election certified, two recounts upcoming

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The New Mexico State Canvassing Board certified the 2022 General Election at their Nov. 29 meeting. The election results were certified after a third-party auditor declared no findings and the election results were sent to the canvassing board for certification. “Our office worked closely with our county clerks across the state of both political parties to ensure we all had the information and the tools necessary to conduct a successful election,” New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse-Oliver said. “This was absolutely a team effort.”

The Nov.

Elections

NMAG and SOS issue warning amid election misinformation campaigns

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As New Mexico’s counties begin certifying vote totals in the 2022 Midterm election, New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver and Attorney General Hector Balderas issued a joint statement on Nov. 15 that warned of possible disruptions to the election certification process during county commission meetings. “This week, New Mexico’s county commissions are playing their vital role in the administration of our elections by performing their legal duties as the county canvassing boards in their respective counties,” the statement said. “The ‘canvass’ is the process of reconciling and confirming the accuracy of the election results and reporting those results to the county and then to the state. Under the law, these county boards support the county clerk in the canvass of the election and are mainly responsible for ensuring the timely certification of the county clerk’s report of canvass.

Gabe Vasquez narrowly won the U.S. 2nd Congressional District seat in New Mexico in the 2022 Midterm Election.
Elections

Vasquez declares victory, Herrell concedes in close congressional race

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After a close race for Congressional District 2, Democratic challenger Gabe Vasquez declared victory over Republican incumbent Yvette Herrell, who conceded. The unofficial vote count for the Congressional District 2 race showed Democrat Gabe Vasquez at 50.32 percent, or 96,556 votes, and 49.68 percent of the vote or 95,332 votes going to Republican incumbent Yvette Herrell. 

Update: The Associated Press projected Gabe Vasquez as the winner at 8:36 a.m. on Thursday. “Make no mistake about it, there’s nothing that happens in Washington that New Mexico can’t do better,” Vasquez said in a press release. “To everyone out there struggling, no matter whether you voted for me or not, please know this: I see you, I hear you, and I’ll fight my heart out for you, because public service is a sacred responsibility that I will never take for granted.”

Herrell conceded to Vasquez Wednesday afternoon. “While we are disappointed by the final results, I am incredibly proud of our team and the work we did serving our district, and I am grateful for the steadfast support of so many who helped us along the way,” Herrell said.

Elections
Deputy Otero County Clerk Denise Guerra and a poll worker do election night work on November 8, 2022 at the Otero County Clerk's Office in Alamogordo.

Two recounts coming in state House races, congressional race outside recount threshold

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The 2nd Congressional District race between Republican incumbent Yvette Herrell and Democratic challenger Gabe Vasquez is still too close to call with both candidates having 50 percent of the vote. Two state House seats, meanwhile, appear poised to trigger automatic recounts. Vasquez has 96,253 votes in his favor and Herrell has 95,238 votes in her favor, a margin of 1,025 votes for Vasquez, according to the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office election results page. 

“These are unofficial results- that’s important to know- they don’t become official until the state canvassing board meets and certifies them on Nov. 29,” New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office spokesman Alex Curtas said. “Only then will we know whether or not the result is within the margin to trigger an automatic recount.”

The margin to activate an automatic recount is one quarter of one percent of the vote total.

News

Dems poised to maintain state House lead

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House Democrats will maintain their 45 seats in the state House to 25 for Republicans in the upcoming legislative session, with all precincts reporting, but a handful of votes still to count (provisional ballots and other ballots that require a hand tally). Update (3:30 p.m.): After this was published, one race, HD-68, switched and the Democrat now leads by 30 votes. This story has been updated to reflec this. This is after Democrats held a 45-24 edge over Republicans coming into the elections. One member was Decline to State, which means he did not affiliate with a political party.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham speaks at a Democratic Party rally in Albuquerque on November 3, 2022.
Elections

Michelle Lujan Grisham wins a second-term after bruising campaign

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Tuesday night ended with incumbent Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham winning reelection to the governor’s office. “Tonight, New Mexico said yes – yes to hope, yes to growth, yes to fighting for our neighbors, not against them,” Lujan Grisham said in a press release. “Tonight New Mexico said yes to equal justice under the law, New Mexico said yes to economic opportunity for all, New Mexico said yes to more health care for families, better education for kids and more economic freedom for workers and students.” The expensive campaign featured millions of dollars of ads on each side, with attack ads blanketing airwaves and mailers filling inboxes for weeks. Lujan Grisham spoke about protecting abortion access, while Ronchetti campaigned on crime, saying it was out of control in the state.

News

2nd Congressional District race remains too close to call, Vasquez has slight lead

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After the calendar changed from Tuesday to Wednesday, two other congressional races had projected winners and election workers counted 187,000 votes in the 2nd Congressional District race with an indeterminate number of votes remaining, the race between Republican incumbent Yvette Herrell and Democratic challenger Gabe Vasquez remained too close to call. Update: Wednesday afternoon, Vasquez declared victory and Herrell conceded. Story here. Vasquez led in the unofficial Secretary of State numbers by just over 1,000 votes in the race that looms even larger with an expected Republican wave failing to materialize. With control of the U.S. House to be determined, the southern New Mexico race remained one of dozens that have yet to be called.

Quick Reads

2022 General Election live blog

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This is our liveblog of the 2022 New Mexico general election. Start at 6 p.m. MST, we will be providing updates about election news from throughout the state. Polls close at 7 p.m. and counties will begin reporting results afterwards.

Elections

FiveThirtyEight predicts Lujan Grisham, Herrell favored to win reelection

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The two biggest races in the 2022 General Election are the governor’s race and Congressional District 2. Poll analysis website FiveThirtyEight predicts that incumbents Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, and U.S. Rep. Yvette Herrell, a Republican, will win reelection Nov. 8. FiveThirtyEight has an election breakdown of when to expect election results and a forecasting model that shows based on polls how contenders may do once ballots are counted. The Deluxe version “simulates the election 40,000 times to see who wins most often,” Nathaniel Rakich and Elena Mejía say in the FiveThirtyEight project.

News

Fossil fuel money flows to New Mexico Democrats

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New Mexico’s Republicans and advocates for oil and gas producers often accuse the state’s ruling Democrats of trying to kill the local fossil fuel industry, but industry donations and agency funding outcomes tell a different story. Democrats hold a lock on all statewide offices and both chambers of the Legislature heading into the midterm elections, and according to data from the Secretary of State’s Office, many of New Mexico’s most powerful Democrats bring in more oil and gas contributions than their Republican counterparts. Often a lot more. And that could be influencing policy in favor of fossil fuel production. This tension plays out in the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) where, so far in this election cycle, the two Democratic leaders — Rep. Patty Lundstrom and Sen. George Muñoz — received more in oil and gas campaign contributions than any of the Republicans on the committee.