Democratic primary gets a third candidate in Senate District 24

Mar. 12—What briefly was a two-way race for a state Senate seat in Santa Fe became a three-way race Tuesday.

Veronica Krupnick formally filed to run in the Senate District 24 race — the date for major-party candidates to file the necessary paperwork to be eligible for the June 4 primary election. Her entrance adds to an already competitive battle of Democrats that includes Santa Fe County Commissioner Anna Hansen and former Rep. Linda Trujillo, who had already announced their intent to run for the seat after Sen. Nancy Rodriguez, D-Santa Fe, said she would not run for reelection.

Both Hansen and Trujillo filed their declaration of candidacy documents Tuesday as well.

Krupnick, 28, who is Hopi, Jemez and Navajo, works as a legislative analyst. She said in an interview Tuesday she has been interested in running for office for some time.

"Having this be an open seat in a district I live in felt a little bit like divine intervention," she said.

Trujillo is a former school board member and onetime head of the state's Licensing and Regulation Department. She served in the House from 2017-2020. "I'm in the race for sure," she said Tuesday after filing.

Hansen, 75, said some of her constituents are "happy that I have thrown my hat in the ring."

None of the incumbent House representatives from Santa Fe — all Democrats — had any opponents from either their own party or the Republican Party, based on data posted on the Secretary of State's website Tuesday evening.

However, in areas surrounding Santa Fe, some well-known Democrats are facing challenges from within their own party. In San Miguel County, incumbent Sen. Pete Campos, D-Las Vegas, will face primary opposition from G. Michael Lopez, a physician.

Lopez said he is running against Campos for several reasons, including the incumbent's vote against a 2021 bill repealing an abortion ban based on 1969 state statute. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the bill into law after the Legislature approved it.

Rep. Susan Herrera, D-Embudo, also picked up a primary challenger in Margaret Cecilia Campos of Dixon.

County-level races

Meanwhile, most county-level seats will have contested Democratic primary races.

Former two-term County Clerk Geraldine Salazar, 70, said she "came out of retirement" to challenge incumbent Katharine Clark, 42, in the Democratic primary. Clark decisively defeated four other candidates in the 2020 Democratic primary to win the seat.

Salazar said in February she entered the race due to her concerns over what she said was a decline in the quality of services at the clerk's office.

Clark countered services have in fact improved and said her office has instituted "a level of customer service never before seen."

Democratic primaries for two of three Santa Fe County Commission seats up for election are also shaping up to be a bit more competitive than usual.

In District 2, three candidates filed to run, including behavioral health research director and professor Lisa Cacari Stone, 58; attorney Scott Fuqua, 48, who unsuccessfully ran for district attorney in 2020; and Benito Martinez Jr., 61, who has since retired but worked in the Santa Fe County Assessor's Office for more than 20 years, including 10 years as the assessor.

Three candidates also filed to face off in District 4: Stephen Chiulli, a 62-year-old local automobile shop owner; Adam Fulton Johnson, a 39-year-old director of a Santa Fe historic preservation nonprofit; and Mika Old, a 32-year-old marketing director for her family's Santa Fe wood manufacturing business.

The term-limited District 2 and District 4 incumbents — Hansen and Anna Hamilton, respectively — cannot run for third four-year terms. District 5 incumbent and commission Chairman Hank Hughes is seeking a second term, and no candidates filed Tuesday to oppose him.

The Democratic primary almost certainly will decide the makeup of the commission. No Republicans have been on the ballot for any of the area's five County Commission districts for at least 20 years and none filed Tuesday, though write-in candidates can file to run by March 19.

District attorney, magistrate judge

As expected, two familiar faces have registered as candidates for First Judicial district attorney.

Incumbent Mary Carmack-Altwies is seeking a second term, while her predecessor Marco Serna — who held the job from 2017 to 2020 — is looking to recapture the post.

Serna, who chose to campaign for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives rather than seek a second term in 2020, worked in the 8th Judicial District Attorney's Office in Taos for a year after losing his bid for Congress. He has since been employed by the New Mexico District Attorney Association, a job he recently resigned from to campaign for the DA's seat.

The office oversees the prosecution of criminal cases in Santa Fe, Los Alamos and Rio Arriba counties, administers a budget of about $8.8 million and manages a staff of about 80 employees.

Two candidates — Morgan Wood and Melissa Mascareñas — are vying for election to the Santa Fe Magistrate Court Division II judgeship.

The person elected to the post will preside over a docket of domestic violence, small claims and traffic cases.

Wood has been in the position since being appointed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in July to a vacancy created by the resignation Dev Atma Khalsa, who left his post after being charged with DWI.

Wood worked as a public defender for more than a decade and as a Children's Court prosecutor for about three years before her appointment.

Wood said she's the most qualified and has the best training and experience "to continue being judge," pointing to her "two decades of public service" as both a prosecutor and public defender.

This is Mascarenas' second time seeking election to the Santa Fe Magistrate Court Division II post. She was one of four candidates who declared her candidacy for the seat ahead of the 2022 primary election. She finished second to Khalsa.

Mascareñas is not an attorney — magistrate judges are not required to be — and said part of the reason she's running is because the Magistrate Court has always been a "people's court" and should continue to be.

"I'm passionate about my community and that's why I'm running," she said.