New Mexico
New Mexican voters pick new blood to represent them in Santa Fe • Source New Mexico
Several races from Tuesday’s Primary Election needed an additional day to wrap up.
The House and Senate districts below are some of the districts that will have new representatives serving the areas in the Roundhouse starting in 2025.
O’Malley will be the next District 13 senator
By night’s end on Tuesday, incumbent three-term Sen. Bill O’Neill (D-Albuquerque) was trailing against challenger Debbie O’Malley, a Bernalillo County commissioner, in the Democratic primary.
The Associated Press confirmed O’Malley’s victory at 2:50 p.m. on Wednesday. She won with 2,300 votes to O’Neill’s 2,127.
There were no Republican primary candidates for the seat.
Senate District 13 includes Barelas, and parts of downtown Albuquerque, the North Valley and Montaño.
Boone to replace Nibert for Southern NM Senate seat
Sen. Greg Nibert (R-Roswell) conceded to Patrick Boone in the Republican primary to represent Senate District 27 in Southeastern New Mexico.
As of 10 a.m. Tuesday, Nibert trailed Boone by 101 votes, according to the Associated Press, which still had not called the race. Third candidate Larry Marker received 15.4%.
The last update from the Secretary of State shows Boone ahead with 2,442 votes to Nibert’s 2,341. Marker has 870 votes.
Wednesday Nibert conceded the race in an announcement to his supporters, “I believe that the fight to take back New Mexico from the forces of liberal progressivism is just getting started. We need to unite in the fight for our state. I pledge my support to Make America Great Again and get New Mexico back to honoring traditional family values.”
No democratic candidates ran for election in this primary race, meaning whoever comes on top will appear unopposed on the ballot in the November general election and be sworn into office in January 2025.
The district encompasses parts of Chaves, Curry, De Baca, Lea and Roosevelt counties
New senator set for seat vacated by Cliff Pirtle
Southeast New Mexico will have a new state senator representing constituents starting in 2025. Roswell Rep. Candy Spence Ezzell beat Chad Hamill, of Hagerman, in the Republican primary election race for Senate District 32.
Current officeholder, Sen. Cliff Pirtle (R-Roswell), did not run for reelection. Pirtle has held the legislative seat since 2013.
Senate District 32 encompasses portions of Chaves, Eddy and Otero counties. No opponents ran on the Democratic side of this race. Ezzell will run unopposed in the November general election.
Rep. Willie Madrid loses primary
Democratic candidate Jon Hill won the primary election for House District 53 with 635 votes over incumbent Rep. Willie Madrid’s 455 votes.
The Associated Press called the race at 12:08 p.m. on Wednesday.
House District 53 covers portions of Doña Ana and Otero counties, including parts of Las Cruces’ east mesa.
Republican candidate Elizabeth Winterrowd ran unopposed in the Republican primary. Winterrowd and Hill will likely appear as opponents on the ballot for the November general election.
Cortez takes tight Republican race for House District 62 seat
In the waning hours of Tuesday night, Republican candidate Elaine Cortez had earned 40.4% of the votes in the House District 62 primary election, leading opponents Debra Hicks and D’Nae Robinett Mills.
The Associated Press called the race for Cortez at 2:11 p.m. on Wednesday.
Cortez won with 40.4% of the vote, while Hicks had 38.6% and Robinett Mills had 21%.
Since no Democrats ran in this primary election, Cortez will run unopposed in November.
Incumbent Rep. Larry Scott (R-Hobbs) did not run for reelection in the House, opting instead to seek a state Senate seat. He has held the House seat since 2015.
House District 62 encompasses parts of Lea County north of Hobbs up to the eastern border with Texas.
New Mexico
Grants cancels Christmas parade due to shootings
GRANTS, N.M. – The City of Grants is canceling this year’s annual Christmas light parade, citing the safety of the public and their own officers.
Dozens of floats were supposed to roll down Santa Fe Avenue on Saturday night, but Grants police are holding off until next year after three incidents where someone shot at law enforcement officers.
“It was definitely a difficult decision, but due to the incident that took place on December 8, where law enforcement was shot at in the area of Santa Fe Avenue, we made that decision to protect the citizens of Grants,” says Grants Police Chief Maxine Monte.
She says a New Mexico State Police officer was shot at while making a traffic stop. The officer walked away uninjured, but this was too much for the chief.
“We’ve had three different incidents where law enforcement was shot at. One was May of 2025, the other one was August of 2025, and then the recent event of December 8 of 2025,” says Monte.
It’s not a risk the chief wants to take, and points out people would be standing exactly where the last shooting happened.
“We have a lot of citizens that attend our parade, and our main concern was that they were out in the open in the middle of the night, and in the same area that our latest shooting took place.”
Grant residents will be able to see the floats during the day on Saturday. But even some daylight isn’t convincing some residents.
“I’ll be staying home,” said Amy Brigdon. “There’s too many people in the world that want to see bad things happen to other people. I’m not one of them.”
Police still don’t have a suspect for this week’s attempted shooting. Anyone with information is asked to get in touch with the Grants Police Department.
New Mexico
Colorado wolf rereleased in Grand County after crossing into New Mexico
Colorado Parks and Wildlife rereleased a wolf into Grand County this week after it had traveled into New Mexico, according to a news release.
The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish captured gray wolf 2403 and returned the animal to Colorado.
Colorado wildlife officials decided to release the wolf in Grand County yesterday because of the proximity to “an unpaired female gray wolf,” nearby prey populations and distance from livestock, according to the release.
“Gray wolf 2403 has been returned to Colorado and released in a location where it can best contribute to CPW’s efforts to establish a self-sustaining wolf population while concurrently attempting to minimize potential wolf-related livestock conflicts,” said acting director of CPW Laura Clellan, according to the release.
The wolf was once a member of the Copper Creek pack but departed from it this fall.
A memorandum of understanding between Colorado and Arizona, New Mexico and Utah requires that any gray wolves that leave Colorado and enter those states be returned. That was created in part to maintain the integrity of a Mexican wolf recovery program.
“We recognized during the planning process that we would need to have consideration and plans to protect the genetic integrity of the Mexican wolf recovery program, while also establishing a gray wolf population in Colorado,” said CPW’s Wolf Conservation Program Manager Eric Odell, according to the release.
New Mexico
New Mexico man sentenced to nearly 20 years for distributing meth
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A judge sentenced a New Mexico man to nearly 20 years in prison for distributing meth and having guns in his possession to use while doing so.
Court records indicate 43-year-old David Amaya sold meth from a trailer on his parents’ property in Anthony throughout July and August 2024. Agents executed a search warrant Aug. 22 and found 1.18 kilograms of meth, two firearms and ammunition in the trailer and a makeshift bathroom.
Amaya pleaded guilty to possession of meth with intent to distribute it. A judge sentenced him to 235 months in prison.
Once he is out, Amaya will face five years of supervised release.
The FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office and the Las Cruces Metro Narcotics Task Force investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Williams prosecuted it.
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