Ramos appointed to Morales’ Senate seat

SANTA FE — Gabriel Ramos, a Democrat from Silver City, won appointment to the state Senate on Wednesday, filling the vacancy created by Howie Morales’ move to lieutenant governor.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham made the appointment just a few days after she’d asked for more candidates to consider.

The three counties in Morales’ old district — Grant, Catron and Socorro — had each nominated Ramos.

Lujan Grisham subsequently asked two of the counties to nominate different candidates because, she said, state law anticipates the governor having a “list of names” to choose from, not just one person.

But she also said that she wasn’t necessarily opposed to appointing Ramos, and ultimately did just that after the counties declined to provide additional names.

Ramos will represent Senate District 28, which covers much of southwestern New Mexico.

An insurance agent, Ramos is a former Grant County clerk and commissioner. He is also a former school board member and an ex-member of the Hurley Town Council in Hurley. He now lives in Silver City. “I’m excited to work,” Ramos said Wednesday. “I think things are going to go very well.”

Morales, a Democrat, resigned from the Senate at the end of 2018, just before he was sworn in as lieutenant governor.