The 2024 election is in the books.
All 112 seats in the New Mexico Legislature were on this year’s general election ballot and Sandoval County has several new elected leaders.
All election results are unofficial from the New Mexico secretary of state’s website.
Republican Jay Block was the winner in Senate District 12. Block beat his opponent Democrat Phillip Ramirez 53%-47%.
Block succeeds Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino (D-Albuquerque), who chose not to seek reelection after 20 years in office. District 12, a Democratic stronghold for the past 30 years, was recently redistricted from central Albuquerque to cover parts of the northern part of Albuquerque’s Westside and Rio Rancho.
Block, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel and two-term Sandoval County commissioner, who previously ran for governor in 2022, defeated former state Sen. Candace Gould in the June primary.
“I just want to thank the people of District 12 for trusting me to represent them up there at the Roundhouse. It’s an amazing honor, going from county commissioner to senator, it’s something that I don’t take very lightly,” Block said. “As a former retired Air Force officer and commander, I carry those values with me as a commissioner for the next month and a half.”
Ramirez, an Albuquerque-based small business owner specializing in general mechanical and utility contracting, was the only Democrat to run in the primary. Ramirez previously campaigned for an Albuquerque City Council seat in 2021, ultimately losing to Republican Dan Lewis.
According to Block’s campaign website, his priorities include securing the southern border, eliminating taxes on Social Security and veterans’ pensions, advocating for school choice vouchers and homeschooling tax credits, requiring voter ID, removing state gross receipts taxes and reforming the bail reform.
Other Sandoval County election results:
New Mexico Senate
- District 5 incumbent Democrat Leo Jaramillo ran unopposed.
- Democrat Cindy Nava bested Audrey Trujillo 55%-45% in the open District 9 race. Nava is the first former DACA recipient elected to public office in America.
- Republican Anthony Thornton topped Bill Scott 57%-43% and will replace the retiring Greg Schmedes as District 19 state senator. Thornton, a “walkaway” former Democrat who was chosen by the majority of New Mexico Republican voters in 2022 to be the state’s first Black Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, will join Harold Pope as the only Black New Mexico Senators.
- Incumbent Democrat Benny Shendo ran unopposed in District 22.
- Incumbent Republican Craig Brandt will serve another term representing District 40. He was defeated Amina Everett 55%-45%.
New Mexico House of Representatives
- Incumbent Republican Alan Martinez beat Frank Smith 55%-45% to win the District 23 race.
- Incumbent Democrat Susan Herrera ran unopposed in District 41.
- Democrat Christine Chandler ran unopposed and will serve another term representing District 43.
- Kathleen Cates, the incumbent Democrat in District 44, beat Ali Ennenga 52%-48%.
- Matthew McQueen, another incumbent Democrat, beat Edgewood Mayor Kenneth Brennan 61%-39% to win the District 50 race.
- Republican Catherine Cullen, a former Rio Rancho Public Schools board member, defeated Michelle Sandoval 51%-49% in the District 57 race to replace retiring six-term state Rep. Jason Harper, a Republican.
- Joshua Hernandez, a Republican, will serve another term in District 60, where he had 58% of the vote compared to Luke Jungmann’s 42%.
- Derrick Lente, an incumbent Democrat, ran unopposed in District 65.
Sandoval County offices
- Incumbent Democrat 13th Judicial District Attorney Barbara Romo ran unopposed.
- District 4 Public Education Commissioner incumbent Democrat Rebekka Burt also ran unopposed.
- Incumbent Democrat County Clerk Anne Brady-Romero, who was featured in a Washington Post story Sunday, was reelected, beating Tanya Watkins 52%-48%.
- Democrat Jennifer Taylor was reelected as county treasurer, besting Richard Shanks 52%-48%.
- Republican Jon Herr will take Block’s seat as the District 2 Sandoval County commissioner after he defeated Beau Sandoval 54%-46%.
- Jordan Juarez, a Republican who sits on the Sandoval County Ethics Board as the vice chairman, beat Madigan Ray 56%-44% for the District 4 commission seat.
- Joshua Jones, a Democrat who was appointed to the County Commission in 2023, was elected to again represent District 5 over Justin Garcia 60%-40%.