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.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Police arrested two young men on murder charges after a deadly shooting outside the Frontier Restaurant near the University of New Mexico.
Police said 19-year-old Junior Lewis and 20-year-old Evan Rogers are in custody and both face murder charges.
Police said both men are set to face a judge Saturday.
Investigators said they found both suspects inside Rogers’ dorm room at UNM.
The shooting happened in the early morning hours Thursday just south of Central between Cornell and Stanford.
Police said the man who was shot died at the scene.
Leapfrog released its 2026 spring hospital safety grades.
Grades are assigned based on overall performance, including patient safety.
The Leapfrog Group’s goal is to publicly report patient safety and quality information for the benefit of consumers, purchasers, and referring physicians as they make decisions about where to seek care and where to direct patients,” the company stated on its website.
Here’s how your local hospitals performed.
MountainView Regional Medical Center – A
Leapfrog gave MountainView an “A.”
“Being the only hospital in Doña Ana County to earn an ‘A’ from The Leapfrog Group speaks to the high standards our team sets – and meets – every day,” said MountainView CEO Patrick Shannon. “This achievement reflects the dedication of our physicians, nurses, and employees to deliver the safest care possible for our community.”
“An ‘A’ Grade is a strong sign that MountainView is deeply committed to protecting patients from harm,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “We commend the leadership, Board, clinicians, staff and volunteers for the role each played in earning this distinction.”
The hospital performed better than average in several areas including low infection rates, addressing safety problems, and ICU care. The hospital received below average performances ratings in surgical site infections post colon surgery, communication about medicine and discharge, communication with doctors and nurses and nursing and bedside care for patients.
Memorial Medical Center – B
Memorial Medical Center received a “B” grade from Leapfrog.
The hospital performed well in effective leadership, reduction and prevention of infections and addressing safety problems.
The hospital received below average ratings for kidney injury after surgery, serious breathing problems, harmful events, communication about medicine and discharge, and communication with doctors and nurses.
Not rated by Leapfrog were Three Crosses Regional Hospital.
Nearby top rated hospitals
Leapfrog gave an A to William Beaumont Army Medical Center and Del Sol Medical Center in El Paso. Las Palmas Medical Center in El Paso received a B.
How did other New Mexico hospitals perform?
A recipients were:
- CHRISTUS Southern New Mexico in Alamogordo
B recipients were:
- Lovelace Women’s Hospital in Albuquerque
C recipients were:
- Carlsbad Medical Center in Carlsbad
- CHRISTUS St. Vincent in Santa FE
- Eastern New Mexico Medical Center in Roswell
- Lovelace Medical Center-Downtown in Albuquerque
- Lovelace Regional Hospital in Roswell
- Lovelace Westside Hospital in Albuquerque
- University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque
D recipients were:
- San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington
- UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center in Rio Rancho
Explore the full survey results at https://www.hospitalsafetygrade.org/.
Jessica Onsurez is editor of the Las Cruces Sun-News. Reach her by email at jonsurez@usatodayco.com.
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) — The Social Security Office released the most popular baby names for 2025 on Thursday. And here in New Mexico, we saw some familiar names top the charts once again.
Coming in at No. 1 for girls is Mia, and as for the boys, Noah ranks No. 1. That’s no change from 2024 when Mia and Noah also led the pack, both coming in at No 1. For 2025, there were a total of 66 babies named Mia and 115 babies named Noah, while in 2024, there were 81 Mias and 105 Noahs.
What do the names mean? Online sources list a few different interpretations for Mia, but one common association is with the Italian word “mia,” which means “mine.” As for Noah, the name is most commonly associated with the prominent bible figure. It’s thought to mean “rest,” or “comfort.”
Here’s a look at some of the other top baby names in New Mexico for 2025.
- Girls:
- Olivia (65 total)
- Sophia (65 total)
- Sofia (60 total)
- Camila (59 total)
- Eliana (57 total)
- Isabella (56 total)
- Amelia (53 total)
- Aria (45 total)
- Aurora (45 total)
- Boys:
- Liam (109 total)
- Mateo (99 total)
- Elijah (76 total)
- Santiago (70 total)
- Sebastian (69 total)
- Ezra (67 total)
- Elias (66 total)
- Ezekiel (66 total)
- Levi (69 total)
Nationally, Olivia and Liam are the most popular baby names, and have been for the past seven years, according to the Social Security Administration. As for the fastest-rising names, Klarity jumped nearly 1,400 spots on the girls’ list, and Kasai jumped 1,108 for boy names.
Other names rising in popularity for boys include Atlas, Adriel, Emiliano, Arthur, and Archer. On the girls’ list, Ailany, Sienna, Amara, and Georgia are becoming more popular.
You can find the full list by state online.
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