Third Democrat joins race for seat
A third candidate has announced she will join the race to represent District 4 on the Santa Fe County Commission.
Mika Old, 32, will face off against 62-year-old Stephen Chiulli, a local automobile shop owner, and 39-year-old Adam Fulton Johnson, director of a Santa Fe historic preservation nonprofit, in the June 4 Democratic primary.
Incumbent Commissioner Anna Hamilton reaches her twoterm limit at the end of the year. Hamilton has twice run unopposed to represent the district, which stretches east and south from the city of Santa Fe and includes the communities of Cañada de los Alamos, Cañoncito and Glorieta.
Old is a lifelong resident of Santa Fe, whose family history in the city spans three generations, according to a news release.
She received bachelor’s degrees in international business and marketing from Texas Tech University, worked in the technology sector in Austin, Texas, after college and returned to Santa Fe to help run her family’s wood products manufacturing business, Old Wood.
Old also co-chairs the Buckaroo Ball, a nonprofit that fundraises for at-risk youth in Santa Fe County, has served on Santa Fe Community Foundation’s grant committee and has worked in central and southern Africa to improve health care outcomes in neonatal clinics and empower women and girls to become entrepreneurs, the news release said.
Old’s campaign for County Commission is “built on the pillars of sustainable development, enhanced community health services and fostering economic opportunities that benefit all residents of Santa Fe County,” the news release said.
No Republicans have yet announced an intent to run for the seat; the filing deadline is March 12.
The winner of the November election will serve a four-year term on the commission.