Dems nominate candidate for justice

Members of the Democratic Party of New Mexico’s Central Committee announced Saturday that they had voted unanimously to place Court of Appeals Judge Michael Vigil on the November general election ballot as the Democratic nominee for state Supreme Court justice.

A vacancy on the court was created in March, after the primary election filing deadline, by the retirement of Justice Edward Chavez. Gov. Susana Martinez in April appointed 5th Judicial District Judge Gary Clingman of Hobbs to fill the position until voters choose a new justice. Clingman, a Republican, had served on the Southern New Mexico District Court since 1997.

He announced after his appointment that he would run in the November election to retain the seat.

Vigil, a graduate of the College of Santa Fe and Georgetown University Law Center, was appointed to the appeals court in 2003 and was elected to the post in 2004.

He lost an election bid for the Supreme Court in 2016 to Republican Justice Judith Nakamura, whom Martinez had appointed to the high court that year.

“I am very pleased that an outstanding jurist of Judge Vigil’s excellent ability and reputation has been selected to head our splendid team of Democratic judicial candidates,” said Marg Elliston, chairwoman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico, in a news release issued Saturday.

“The Democratic Party of New Mexico is already hard at work to elect Judge Vigil, and the whole Democratic judicial team.”