Reynolds defeats Republican challenger to hold on to county commission seat
LAS CRUCES – Incumbent Shannon Reynolds, a Democrat, held on to his District 3 seat on the Doña Ana County Commission Tuesday.
Reynolds collected 55 percent of the vote while his Republican opponent, Patricia Susan Kimble, collected 45 percent, unofficial results show.
Salud! restaurant co-owner Christopher Schaljo-Hernandez, a Democrat, was unopposed and will replace commissioner Lynn Ellins as District 1 county commissioner.
Reynolds, a Democrat, is currently serving his first term in a seat he was elected to in 2018. Reynolds worked a desk job in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War and received a degree in general engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
As a commissioner, Reynolds has chaired the Spaceport America Regional Spaceport Tax District Board and chaired the Mesilla Valley Regional Dispatch Authority Board. He's served on the New Mexico Association of Counties Board and served as treasurer and secretary of the New Mexico Commissioner Affiliate Board. He also previously served as a city councilman in Milford, Ohio.
Kimble, the Republican nominee in District 3, has been an insurance agent, did marketing and business development for Mesilla Valley Hospital and marketing for Memorial Medical Center and chaired Local Collaborative 3 and the New Mexico Behavioral Health Planning Council.
Neither candidate could be reached Tuesday night.
In other county races, Gina Montoya Ortega, a Democrat, was unopposed in the assessor's race. The former bakery owner and mayoral candidate will succeed Leticia Duarte-Benavidez.
Also running unopposed as a Democrat, Judith Ann Baca will become probate judge. The current probate judge, Diana A. Bustamante, was prevented from running again due to term limits.
Democrat Kim Stewart was reelected county sheriff, defeating Republican challenger Byron Hollister.
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Justin Garcia is a public safety reporter for the Las Cruces Sun-News. He can be reached at JEGarcia@lcsun-news.com.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Reynolds defeats Republican challenger to hold on to county commission seat
