Filing Day

If there was a ring at the Doña Ana County Government Building, it would be full of hats.

More than three dozen candidates filed Tuesday, Aug. 27 to run for City of Las Cruces, Las Cruces school board and Doña Ana Soil and Water Conservation District (DASWCD) Board of Supervisors positions on November’s ballot.

There will be 10 candidates for mayor of Las Cruces, nine candidates for three seats on the city council and two for presiding municipal judge; 11 total candidates for two seats on the Las Cruces Public Schools (LCPS) Board of Education; and six candidates for three seats on the seven-member Doña Ana Soil and Water Conservation District (DASWCD) Board of Supervisors, which represents Las Cruces and southern Doña Ana County.

All the positions will be on a single, combined ballot, along with a $16 million general obligation bond for Doña Ana Community College and a three-mill levy for LCPS.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. Early voting begins Tuesday, Oct. 8, and continues through Saturday, Nov. 2. Same-day voter registration will be available Oct. 8-Nov. 2 at the Doña Ana County Clerk's Office, Las Cruces City Hall and Doña Ana County Community College-Sunland Park, according to the county clerk’s website.

Candidates who had filed as of Wednesday morning, Aug. 28, as listed on the New Mexico Secretary of State’s website (unless otherwise noted, each listed a Las Cruces address):

• Mayor: Incumbent Ken Miyagishima, City Councilor Greg Smith, former City Councilor and 2011 mayoral candidate Jesusita Dolores Lucero, former Mayor Bill Mattiace, Doña Ana County Commissioner Isabella Solis, 2015 mayor candidate Gina Ortega, Mike Tellez, Alexander Fresquez, Jorge Sanchez and Bev Courtney.
• City Council District 1: Incumbent Kasandra Gandara and Shelly Nichols-Shaw.
• City Council District 2: 2015 city council candidate Philip VanVeen, former Las Cruces City Councilor Jack Valencia, Tessa Stuve and Jason D. Estrada. The seat is currently held by Smith, who is giving it up to run for mayor.
• City Council District 4: Johana Bencomo, Robert Palacios and Antoinette Reyes. Incumbent Jack Eakman did not seek re-election to a second term.
• Presiding municipal judge: Current Municipal Judge II Joy Goldbaum and former Doña Ana County Magistrate Judge Richard Jacquez. Incumbent Kieran Ryan, who was elected municipal judge II in 2013 and presiding judge in 2015, did not file for re-election.
• LCPS Board of Education District 4: Teresa Tenorio, Jeffrey R. Silva, Margaret A. Mendoza, Jesus Favela Jr., William Zarges and Janice M. Williams. Incumbent Maury Castro did not file to run for a second term.
• LCPS Board of Education District 5: Incumbent Ed Frank, Gloria Martinez, Carol Lynn Cooper and Maria G. Pacheco.
• DASWCD District 1: Incumbent Jerry Schickedanz and Kurt SJ Anderson.
• DASWCD District 2: Incumbent David J. Martinez of La Mesa and Fernando Clemente of Santa Teresa.
• DASWCD District 5 (at large): Incumbent Joshua L. Smith of Mesilla Park and Christopher Cardenas.

For more information about DASWCD, visit www.daswcd.org.

All the races are nonpartisan. Voters will choose the city candidates by ranked-choice voting. Winners in the school board and conservation district races will be determined by simple majority or plurality.

Ballot positions were scheduled to be drawn Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 28, by staff from the New Mexico Secretary of State’s office at the state capitol building in Santa Fe. Candidates did not have to be present.

Candidates for offices in other Doña Ana County communities also filed Aug. 27 at the county building in Las Cruces. Those races are for seats on the Village of Hatch Board of Trustees and municipal judge, Sunland Park mayor and city council, Hatch Valley Public Schools and Gadsden Independent School District school boards, Anthony Water and Sanitation Board and the Lower Rio Grande Public Works Authority (lrgauthority.org). Municipal races for the Town of Mesilla and the City of Anthony are not on the 2019 ballot and will be held in 2021.

Visit www.sos.state.nm.us and www.donaanacounty.org/elections.

Mike Cook may be contacted at mike@lascrucesbulletin.com.