New Mexico vote in tight races for 2 Congressional seats

 


ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico voters will narrow the field Tuesday in two competitive congressional races, including one in a district along the Mexico border involving a GOP-held seat that Democrats have long targeted.

The state's other competitive congressional contest is in the central district that encompasses Albuquerque.

The seats are open because Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, and Rep. Steve Pearce, a Republican, are stepping down to run for governor.

Statewide voters were turning out in robust numbers to decide who will advance to the November election as Democrats and Republicans vie for control of the U.S. House.

In-person and absentee voting was running ahead of turnout for the 2014 mid-term primary, the New Mexico secretary of state's office reported.

However, the 111,778 ballots cast through Saturday during early voting was lagging numbers from the past three presidential cycles.

"There are no Obamas in this election," voter Ed Daniel, 55, said, referring to the excitement President Barack Obama sparked during his 2008 run for the presidency. "There's just not really a lot there."

Daniel said he voted to fulfill his civic duty but wasn't too excited about any of the Democratic candidates in the race for governor or the open congressional seat in central New Mexico.

Former U.S. Attorney Damon Martinez, former state Democratic Party chairwoman Debra Haaland, former law professor Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, attorney Damian Lara and business consultant Paul Moya are seeking the Democratic nomination for the Albuquerque-area seat now held by Lujan Grisham,

The race is likely to hinge on which candidate is the most liberal and who has the best ground game.

Republican Janice Arnold-Jones, a former state lawmaker, is running unopposed in the GOP primary.

In southern New Mexico, former Hobbs Mayor Monty Newman, state Rep. Yvette Herrell and Gavin Clarkson, a former Trump appointee to the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, are seeking the GOP nod in the House race in the most Hispanic congressional district in the most Hispanic state in the nation.

Voter Tami Cavitt, vice president of Lobo Nut & Bolt, a company that sells oilfield supplies and pecans, said she was voting for Newman over Herrell.

"Monty shares my values and I like what he did with Hobbs when he was mayor," Cavitt said.

Water attorney Xochitl Torres Small and U.S. Coast Guard veteran Madeline "Mad" Hildebrandt are vying for the Democratic nomination.

For years, Democrats have tried to capture seat in the heavily Hispanic district where they outnumber registered Republicans. It briefly flipped in 2008 during the election of Barack Obama.

But it has remained in GOP hands largely due to the popularity of Pearce.

During his tenure, Pearce garnered support from Hispanics and the region's oil and gas interests.

The district's conservative-leaning independents have complex views on water, immigration, international trade and oil production. That makes any election outcome difficult to predict in this region of oil wells and rural mountain communities.

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