Republican Party cruises to victory in southeast New Mexico State House races

Republicans won all three contested State House races in southeast New Mexico, maintaining control of the rural, conservative-leaning region at the Capitol in the Tuesday general election.

For New Mexico House District 66, Artesia Republican Jimmy Mason defeated Libertarian candidate Andrew G. Kennedy with 81 percent of the vote as Kennedy received 19 percent, according to unofficial results reported by the New Mexico Secretary of State's Office.

Both men ran for the seat vacated by Independent Phelps Anderson from Roswell.

The district now covers an area from east of Roswell to Lovington then to parts of Artesia and places in and around Carlsbad, after the boundaries were changed following the 2020 Census.

Before redistricting, District 66 covered parts of Chaves County, Roosevelt County and Lea County.

He has been part of the family business, Bennie's Western Wear, with locations in Artesia and Carlsbad for most of his life.

Mason said his primary goal was to restore people's faith and trust with elected representatives.

"I promise nobody anything, I'm a Christian and uphold my Christian principles to be fair and honest," he said.

"I think it's ridiculous for me to tell you I will go up there and fix X, Y or Z, because if we can't get enough votes to fix it we're not going to fix," Mason added.

As a rookie representative Mason said there will be plenty of work and preparation before the 2023 New Mexico Legislature meets starting Jan. 17.

"Looks like it's on the job training session to me. I can tell you more about this in March of next year," he said.

Kennedy said a Libertarian garnering nearly 20 percent of the vote was a victory in itself in a district that leans heavily to the GOP.

"I'm proud to have gotten the support that I got this year, and to have helped spread a message of protecting the civil and economic freedoms of District 66 and New Mexico as a whole. I will run for this seat again in the 2024 cycle," he said.

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In New Mexico House District 51 which covers Otero County, Republican John Block took the victory with about 63 percent of the vote after 91 percent of ballots were counted the the night of the election, records show. Democrat Sharonlee Cummins had about 37 percent.

Republican Block created conservative website the Pinon Post. He previously worked in the administration of former-President Donald Trump, and worked in government affairs at Chevron.

Block is a local "activist" in Alamogordo, according to his campaign website and is critical of "corruption" he said was evident at the State Capitol in Santa Fe.

He espoused conservative values on the campaign trail, opposing abortion and gun restrictions and supporting law enforcement.

"Together, we proved the establishment wrong and won. But the fight has only begun," Block said in a statement following the election. "As I promised throughout my campaign, I will fight tooth and nail to protect your rights and battle the Radical Left with everything I’ve got at the Legislature.

Democrat Sharonlee Cummins is a former U.S. Marine who ran and lost against District 3 Otero County Commissioner Vickie Marquart in 2020.

More:Every vote counts in southern New Mexico's closely watched congressional race. Here's the latest.

House District 56 encompassing parts of Lincoln and Otero counties saw Republican Harlan Vincent win the seat with about 68 percent of the vote after 93 percent of the ballots were counted Tuesday night, while his Independent opponent Elaine Allen won about 32 percent, according to initial unofficial results.

Vincent, a former fireman and emergency medical technician (EMT) who served as the Village of Ruidoso Fire Chief touted support of "Second Amendment rights" in his campaign, calling for stronger security at the U.S.-Mexico border and restoring "traditional family values."

Allen, who served as District 5 Lincoln County commissioner for the past eight years and ran as an Independent criticized Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham along the campaign trail and vowed to stand up to Democrats in Santa Fe if elected to the post.

She chided Lujan Grisham's COVID-19 response, arguing businesses were unfairly closed amid the pandemic − an effort to slow the spread of the virus − and vaccination requirements imposed by state health officials.

Allen, according to her campaign website, is a small oil producer and also attacked the governor for energy policy such as recently enacted air pollution restrictions on fossil fuel operations which Allen said only served to increase the fuel costs for consumers.

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on Twitter.

Mike Smith can be reached at 575-628-5546 or by email at MSmith@currentargus.com or @ArgusMichae on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Republican Party wins southeast New Mexico State House races