Major upset looms for Democrats in District 5; GOP too close to call
With partial results in from 68 percent of precincts and final results for 29 percent, progressive candidate Steve Fischmann was holding a solid lead over incumbent Sandy Jones in the Democratic primary for the Public Regulation Commission’s District 5 seat.
Fischmann was leading with 53 percent of the vote over Jones’ 47 percent more than three and a half hours after polling stations closed. If the trend held, it would be a major upset for Fischmann over Jones, who ousted Republican and former PRC member Ben Hall in 2014 for the southern New Mexico seat.
Jones faced significant opposition in the primary campaign from environmental and consumer advocacy organizations, many of which backed Fischmann’s progressive positions in support of renewable energy development and his promise to stand up against what he called “monopoly utility interests” at the PRC.
On the Republican side, conservative Chris Mathys was locked in a tight race against Hall, who is seeking to regain the seat he lost to Jones in 2014. Mathys and Hall both had about 35 percent of the votes late in the evening.
The third Republican candidate, retired gas and utility contractor Joseph Bizzell, was trailing with 28 percent.
In the PRC District 4 race in northwestern New Mexico, incumbent Lynda Lovejoy was fighting to retain her seat against two Democratic primary candidates, former PRC member
Theresa Becenti-Aguilar — who lost her seat to Lovejoy in 2014 — and indigenous rights activist Janene Yazzie.
With partial results in from all 278 precincts, Becenti-Aguilar had 35 percent of the vote, Lovejoy with 33, and Yazzie was trailing with 32 percent.
The primary winner in District 4 will emerge as the de facto victor in the general election, since no Republicans are competing for that PRC seat.
Meanwhile, in the PRC District 2, which covers the eastern half of New Mexico, environmental engineer and rancher Jeff Byrd appears to have won the Republican primary against retired electric cooperative manager Jerry Partin.
With final results in from 89 percent of precincts, Byrd was ahead with about 54 percent of the votes against 46 percent for Partin.
The Democratic candidate for District 2, Kevin Sanders, had no opposition in the primary.