CIBOLA COUNTY, N.M. – After the General Election of 2020, held on November 3, Cibola County will have roughly the same elected officials, with a few changes, three federal and two stateside.
New officials
13th Judicial District Attorney
New Mexico’s longtime 13th Judicial District Attorney announced his retirement from the position in early 2020, which opened a battle for the seat. After a tumultuous primary election two candidates came out victorious: Barbara A. Romo (D) and Joshua Joe Jimenez (R).
The general election came and stayed many nights for this race. A recount was declared as the two candidates for this office were so close. Voting stopped on Nov. 3 at 11 p.m. and Jimenez was ahead by 1,041 votes. The election remained close until Nov. 10 when the total votes were tallied the two candidates were within 51 votes of each other. State law calls for an automatic recount when the race is this close and the DA race was recounted, coming to an end and certified by the state on Dec. 10. The final vote count swung to Romo (D) by 132 votes.
State Senate
Cibola County lost one of its New Mexico Senate seats to Valencia County in the June Primary election. Come the November election there were two candidates vying for New Mexico’s Senate District 30, Joshua Sanchez (R – Valencia County) will fill the seat.
U.S. Congressional delegation
On the federal level Cibola County will have a new congresswoman, Member-Elect Yvette Herrell (R), who lost to incumbent Rep. Xochitl Torres Small in Cibola County. Herrell won the House seat for New Mexico’s Second Congressional District.
Currently Cibola County rests in New Mexico’s Second Congressional District, while that may not be the case in the future after Speaker of the New Mexico House of Representatives Brian Egolf (D – Santa Fe) commented that NMCD2 would not look the same after redistricting from Santa Fe, N.M. Egolf’s threat to redraw the district came after Member-Elect Herrell’s victory, he later said, “No election outcome is going to play a role in how we look at the drawing of our congressional district boundaries.”
Cibola County will be receiving a new U.S. Senator after the state’s senior Senator Tom Udall (D) announced his retirement from the upper chamber in early 2020. Senator-Elect Ben Ray Lujan (D) not only won the election but Cibola County, too, netting 4,478 votes.
Cibola County, along with the U.S. will have new president. President-Elect Joe Biden (D) won Cibola County 4,745 votes to incumbent President Donald Trump’s (R) 3,975 votes and to candidate Jo Jorgensen’s (L) 99 votes.
Reelected officials
New Mexico’s State Senate district 4 was held by Senator George K. Munoz (D) of Gallup, N.M. Munoz represents the western portion of Cibola County in the
New Mexico State Legislature. Cibola voted overwhelmingly to keep Munoz, granting him 1,446 votes.
Representative Eliseo Lee Alcon (D) will maintain his seat as New Mexico State Representative. Alcon represents New Mexico’s Sixth House District, the western portion of the county. Alcon lost Cibola County by more than 200 votes, but he won the race after coming out on top in McKinley County.
New Mexico’s 69th House District will remain intact as well, with Harry Garcia (D) holding the position after handily defeating his opponent in Cibola.
County officials
Michelle E. Molina-Dominguez (D) will remain as Cibola County Clerk after a race with no opposition.
Kathy Lente-Gonzales (D) also remains in her position as Cibola County Treasurer after a race with no opposition.
Daniel Torrez (D), Chairman of the Cibola County Board of Commissioners, won reelection in his district and will remain on the commission.
Robert Windhorst (R), member of the Cibola County Board of Commissioners, won his reelection bid and will remain on the commission.
Martha Garcia (D), member of the Cibola County Board of Commissioners, won her reelection bid after having no opponent in the race.