2018 United States House of Representatives elections in New Mexico

The 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in New Mexico were held on November 6, 2018, to elect the three U.S. Representatives from the state of New Mexico, one from each of the state's three congressional districts. The elections coincided with the gubernatorial election, as well as other elections to the House of Representatives, elections to the United States Senate and various state and local elections.

2018 United States House of Representatives elections in New Mexico

November 6, 2018
All 3 New Mexico seats to the United States House of Representatives
Party Democratic Republican Last election 2 1 Seats won 3 0 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 400,702 262,714 Percentage 58.25% 38.20% Swing 2.24% 5.79%
Results:      Democratic hold      Democratic gain

The Democratic party gained the 2nd Congressional seat, gaining unitary control of New Mexico's Congressional (House and Senate) delegation for the first time since 2008 and improving the advantage in the House delegation for New Mexico from 2–1 in favor of Democrats to 3–0.

Overview

Results of the 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in New Mexico by district:[1]

District	Democratic		Republican		Others		Total		Result
	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
District 1	147,336	59.13%	90,507	36.33%	11,319	4.54%	249,162	100%	Democratic hold
District 2	101,489	50.93%	97,767	49.07%	n/a		199,256	100%	Democratic gain
District 3	148,501	60.64%	76,427	31.21%	13,265	5.42%	244,893	100%	Democratic hold
Total	404,026	58.27%	264,701	38.18%	24,584	3.55%	693,311	100%

District 1

The 1st district is centered around the Albuquerque metropolitan area. Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham, who had represented the district since 2013, was reelected to a third term with 65% of the vote in 2016. Lujan Grisham did not run for reelection and instead successfully ran for Governor of New Mexico.[2]

New Mexico's 1st district was one of 36 Democrat-held House districts targeted by the National Republican Congressional Committee in 2018.[3]

Candidates

Declared

• Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, former law professor and executive director of non-profit working against domestic violence[4]
• Deb Haaland, former chair of the Democratic Party of New Mexico and nominee for lieutenant governor in 2014[5]
• Damian Lara, attorney[6]
• Damon Martinez, former United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico[7]

Withdrew

• Pat Davis, Albuquerque City Councilman[8][9] (endorsed Haaland)
• Dennis Dinge, physicist[10][11]
• Annie Chavez, Sandia National Laboratories government relations official[12][13]

Declined

• Terry Brunner, USDA Rural Development state director and former state director for former senator Jeff Bingaman[14]
• Jacob Candelaria, state senator[14][15]
• Tanya Giddings, Bernalillo County Assessor[14]
• Javier Martinez, state representative[14][15]
• Ken Sanchez, Albuquerque City Councilman[15]
• Michael Padilla, state senator (no longer running for Lieutenant Governor)[14][16]
• Maggie Hart Stebbins, Bernalillo County Commissioner[14][15]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Pat Davis	Deb Haaland	Damian Lara	Damon Martinez	Paul Moya	Antoinette Sedillo-Lopez	Other	Undecided
Albuquerque Journal	May 20–24, 2018	395	±4.9	5%	19%	4%	22%	3%	17%	—	29%
Lake Research Partners (D-Martinez)	May 13–14, 2018	390	±5.0	—	20%	—	23%	—	25%	5%	27%
Public Policy Polling (D-Davis)	April 13–15, 2018	508	±4.4	11%	15%	—	7%	—	15%	—	43%

Endorsements

Deb Haaland

• Congressional Black Caucus PAC
• National Organization for Women (NOW PAC)
• 350 Action
• Barack Obama, former President of the United States[17]
• Tom Perez, Chair of the Democratic National Committee[18]
• Terry McAuliffe, former Governor of Virginia[19]
• Martin Heinrich, U.S. Senator (D-NM)[20]
• Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Senator (D-MA)[21]
• Ben Ray Lujan, U.S. Representative (D-NM)[21]
• James Clyburn, U.S. Representative (D-SC)[22]
• Diane Denish, former lieutenant Governor of New Mexico[23]
• Colleen Hanabusa, U.S. Representative (D-HI)
• Fred Harris, former U.S. Senator and Chair of the National Democratic Party (D-OK)
• Pramila Jayapal, U.S. Representative (D-WA)[24]
• Ro Khanna U.S. Representative (D-CA)[25]
• Barbara Lee, U.S. Representative (D-CA)[26]
• Gregory Meeks, U.S. Representative (D-NY)
• Gwen Moore, U.S. Representative (D-WI)

Pre-primary convention results

Candidates for the Democratic nomination needed to either receive the votes of 20% of the delegates at the convention on March 10, or collect and submit signatures to the secretary of state to have made it to the June 5 primary.

Candidate	Percentage of delegates won	Automatically on ballot
Pat Davis	13.55%	N
Deb Haaland	34.80%
Damian Lara	12.09%	N
Damon Martinez	10.81%	N
Paul Moya	3.66%	N
Antoinette Sedillo-Lopez	25.09%

Results

Democratic primary results[27]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Deb Haaland	25,366	40.57
	Democratic	Damon Martinez	16,154	25.84
	Democratic	Antoinette Sedillo Lopez	12,885	20.61
	Democratic	Paul Moya	3,683	5.89
	Democratic	Pat Davis (withdrawn)	2,380	3.81
	Democratic	Damian Lara	2,059	3.29
Total votes			62,527	100.00

Candidates

Declared

• Janice Arnold-Jones, former state representative[28]

Declined

• Richard Berry, former Mayor of Albuquerque[15]
• Wayne Johnson, Bernalillo County Commissioner[14][15]
• John Sanchez, Lieutenant Governor and nominee for governor in 2002[15]

Results

Republican primary results[27]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Janice Arnold-Jones	19,264	100.0
Total votes			19,264	100.0

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Deb Haaland (D)	Janice Arnold-Jones (R)	Lloyd Princeton (L)	Undecided
Research & Polling, Inc.	October 26 — November 1, 2018	419	± 4.8%	50%	38%	5%	7%
Carroll Strategies	October 29, 2018	452	—	51%	43%	3%	2%
Emerson College	October 24–26, 2018	327	± 5.7%	51%	41%	—	6%
Research & Polling, Inc.	September 7–13, 2018	410	± 4.8%	49%	41%	3%	8%
Carroll Strategies	June 15–16, 2018	419	—	47%	43%	4%	6%

Results

New Mexico's 1st congressional district, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Deb Haaland	147,336	59.1
	Republican	Janice Arnold-Jones	90,507	36.3
	Libertarian	Lloyd Princeton	11,319	4.5
Total votes			249,162	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 2

The 2nd district is very expansive, covering rural Southern New Mexico, including Alamogordo, Las Cruces, and Roswell. Republican Steve Pearce, who had represented the district since 2011 and previously represented the district from 2003 to 2009, was reelected to a fourth consecutive and seventh total term with 63% of the vote in 2016. Pearce did not run for reelection and instead ran unsuccessfully for Governor of New Mexico.

New Mexico's 2nd district was one of the 80 Republican-held seats that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee was targeting in 2018.[29] It was successfully picked up by the Democrats.

Candidates

Declared

• Madeline Hildebrandt, veteran, history professor[30]
• Xochitl Torres Small, water attorney based in Las Cruces, NM

Withdrew

• Adolf Zubia, former Las Cruces Fire Chief[31][32]
• Tony Martinez, former pharmaceutical industry executive[33]

Declined

• Joe Cervantes, state senator (running for Governor)[34][35]
• Howie Morales, state senator and candidate for governor in 2014 (running for Lieutenant Governor)[36]

Pre-primary convention results

Candidates for the Democratic nomination needed to either receive the votes of 20% of the delegates at the convention on March 10, or collect and submit signatures to the secretary of state to have made it to the June 5 primary.

Candidate	Percentage of delegates won	Automatically on ballot
Xochitl Torres Small	65.75%
Madeline Hildebrandt	34.25%

Results

Democratic primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Xochitl Torres Small	25,193	72.62
	Democratic	Madeline Hildebrandt	9,500	27.38
Total votes			34,693	100.00

Candidates

Declared

• Yvette Herrell, state representative[37]
• Monty Newman, former mayor of Hobbs and former chair of the Republican Party of New Mexico[38]

Withdrew

• Aubrey Dunn, New Mexico State Commissioner of Public Lands (running for Senate as a Libertarian)[39][32]

Endorsements

Yvette Herrell

• House Freedom Fund[40]

Monty Newman

• Ted Cruz, U.S. Senator from Texas and presidential candidate in 2016[41]

Results

Republican primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Yvette Herrell	15,811	49.00
	Republican	Monty Newman	10,346	32.06
	Republican	Gavin Clarkson	4,010	12.43
	Republican	Clayburn Griffin	2,101	6.51
Total votes			32,268	100.00

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Yvette Herrell (R)	Xochitl Torres Small (D)	Undecided
Research & Polling, Inc.	October 26 — November 1, 2018	413	± 4.8%	46%	45%	9%
Carroll Strategies	October 29, 2018	338	—	47%	42%	11%
Emerson College	October 24–26, 2018	278	± 6.1%	47%	47%	6%
NYT Upshot/Siena College	October 19–23, 2018	522	± 4.6%	45%	44%	11%
The Tarrance Group (R-Herrell)	September 30 — October 2, 2018	400	± 4.9%	49%	45%	6%
NYT Upshot/Siena College	September 13–18, 2018	503	± 4.9%	45%	46%	10%
Research & Polling, Inc.	September 7–13, 2018	405	± 4.9%	48%	41%	11%
Carroll Strategies	June 15–16, 2018	334	—	49%	35%	17%
DCCC (D)	June 6–11, 2018	456	± 4.6%	45%	43%	—

Results

New Mexico's 2nd congressional district, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Xochitl Torres Small	101,489	50.9
	Republican	Yvette Herrell	97,767	49.1
Total votes			199,256	100.0
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 3

The 3rd district covers Northern New Mexico, including the capital Santa Fe, as well as Farmington, Las Vegas, and Taos. The district also expands into parts of rural Eastern New Mexico, taking in Clovis and Portales. Democrat Ben Ray Luján, who had represented the district since 2009, was reelected to a fifth term with 62% of the vote in 2016.

New Mexico's 3rd district was one of 36 Democrat-held House districts targeted by the National Republican Congressional Committee in 2018.[3]

Results

Democratic primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ben Ray Luján (incumbent)	63,652	100.0
Total votes			63,652	100.0

Results

Republican primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jerald Steve McFall	20,421	100.0
Total votes			20,421	100.0

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Ben Ray Luján (D)	Jerald McFall (R)	Christopher Manning (L)	Undecided
Carroll Strategies	October 29, 2018	410	—	57%	33%	4%	6%
Emerson College	October 24–26, 2018	331	± 5.7%	54%	37%	—	5%
Carroll Strategies	June 15–16, 2018	446	—	58%	30%	5%	7%

Results

New Mexico's 3rd congressional district, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ben Ray Luján (incumbent)	155,201	63.4
	Republican	Jerald Steve McFall	76,427	31.2
	Libertarian	Christopher Manning	13,265	5.4
Total votes			244,893	100.0
	Democratic hold

References

1. Johnson, Cheryl L. (February 28, 2019). "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 6, 2018". Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
2. Boyd, Dan (December 13, 2016). "U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham announces 2018 gubernatorial bid". Albuquerque Journal. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
3. "NRCC Announces Initial Offensive Targets For The 2018 Cycle - NRCC". February 8, 2017. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
4. Shepard, Maggie (April 20, 2017). "Sedillo Lopez launches run for 1st Congressional District". Albuquerque Journal. Retrieved April 21, 2017.
5. Oxford, Andrew (May 2, 2017). "Haaland, former Dem Party state chairwoman, running for Congress". The Santa Fe New Mexican. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
6. McKay, Dan (May 30, 2017). "Fifth democrat joins race to replace Lujan Grisham". Albuquerque Journal. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
7. Boyd, Dan (July 10, 2017). "Ex-U.S. attorney enters race for ABQ-based congressional seat". Albuquerque Journal. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
8. "Albuquerque city councilman running for U.S. House". The Santa Fe New Mexican. April 4, 2017. Retrieved April 5, 2017.
9. KOB Web Staff (May 29, 2018). "Democrat Pat Davis drops out of congressional race, endorses Haaland". KOB.
10. Oxford, Andrew (May 8, 2017). "N.M. physicist announces run for Lujan Grisham's seat". The Santa Fe New Mexican. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
11. "Security Check Required". www.facebook.com. Retrieved November 13, 2017.
12. Boyd, Dan (July 27, 2017). "8th Dem candidate enters race for congressional seat". Albuquerque Journal. Retrieved July 28, 2017.
13. McKay, Dan (October 2, 2017). "Chavez drops out of congressional race due to health concerns". Albuquerque Journal. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
14. Lyman, Andy (December 14, 2016). "Here's who's considering running to replace Lujan Grisham in Congress". New Mexico Political Report. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
15. McKay, Dan (December 14, 2016). "Lujan Grisham's run shaking up politics". Albuquerque Journal. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
16. Terrell, Steve (July 19, 2017). "State Sen. Padilla will run for lieutenant governor". The Santa Fe New Mexican. Retrieved September 1, 2017.
17. Barack Obama [@BarackObama] (August 1, 2018). "Today I'm proud to endorse such a wide and impressive array of Democratic candidates – leaders as diverse, patriotic, and big-hearted as the America they're running to represent:" (Tweet). Retrieved August 1, 2018 – via Twitter.
18. "Tom Perez on Twitter". Retrieved July 22, 2018.
19. "Terry McAuliffe on Twitter". Retrieved July 22, 2018.
20. Martin Heinrich. "For too long, our native communities have been underrepresented and undervalued in Washington. This November, we have the chance to make progress by electing the first Native American woman to Congress. @Deb4CongressNM #IndigenousPeoplesDay2018". Twitter.
21. "Deb Haaland on Twitter". Retrieved July 22, 2018.
22. "Deb Haaland on Twitter". Retrieved June 6, 2018.
23. "Deb Haaland on Instagram: "I am very excited to announce that I have been endorsed by New Mexico's former Lt. Governor and one of the strongest champions for women,…"". Instagram. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
24. Michael Coleman - Journal Washington Bureau. "NM candidates for Congress win high-level endorsements from D.C." www.abqjournal.com. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
25. "Congressman Ro Khanna Endorses Deb Haaland for Congress". Retrieved June 6, 2018.
26. "Congresswoman Barbara Lee Endorses Deb Haaland for Congress". Retrieved June 6, 2018.
27. "New Mexico Election Results". New Mexico Secretary of State. June 6, 2018.
28. Terrell, Steve (June 19, 2017). "Republican enters race for 1st Congressional District seat". The Santa Fe New Mexican. Retrieved June 20, 2017.
29. http://dccc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/MEMO-Charging-Forward-DCCC-Announces-Battlefield-Expansion-18.pdf
30. Oxford, Andrew (June 11, 2017). "All eyes on Pearce's next step". The Santa Fe New Mexican. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
31. Oxford, Andrew (July 24, 2017). "Former Las Cruces fire chief jumps into race for 1st Congressional District". The Santa Fe New Mexican. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
32. Haussamen, Heath (October 2, 2017). "Dunn drops out of 2nd Congressional District race". NMPolitics.net. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
33. Oxford, Andrew (July 4, 2017). "Endorsements gaining steam". The Albuquerque Journal. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
34. Oxford, Andrew (June 11, 2017). "All eyes on Pearce's next step". The Santa Fe New Mexican. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
35. Peters, Joey (July 7, 2017). "Las Cruces legislator cites budget, jobs crisis for why he's running for governor". NMPolitics.net. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
36. "Morales will not run for Pearce seat". Las Cruces Sun-News. August 22, 2017. Retrieved September 17, 2017.
37. Barbati, Duane (July 11, 2017). "Yvette Herrell running for Congressional seat vacated by Pearce". Alamogordo Daily News. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
38. D'Ammassa, Algernon (August 14, 2017). "Former Hobbs Mayor runs for Congress". Deming Headlight. Retrieved August 14, 2017.
39. Oxford, Andrew (July 18, 2017). "NM Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn announces bid for Congress". The Santa Fe New Mexican. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
40. The Associated Press. "Freedom Caucus fund endorses New Mexico candidate". The Seattle Times.
41. Monty Newman. "I look forward to working with @TedCruz on legislation that will improve the lives of New Mexicans. #nmpol". Twitter.

External links

• Candidates at Vote Smart
• Candidates at Ballotpedia
• Campaign finance at FEC
• Campaign finance at Center for Responsive Politics

Official campaign websites of first district candidates

• Janice Arnold-Jones (R) for Congress
• Deb Haaland (D) for Congress

Official campaign websites for second district candidates

• Yvette Herrell (R) for Congress
• Xochitl Torres Small (D) for Congress

Official campaign websites for third district candidates

• Ben Ray Luján (D) for Congress
• Jerald Steve McFall (R) for Congress