The 2026 primary election has wrapped up and the general election for many state representative seats is set.
In district 33, incumbent Micaela Lara Cadena beat challenger Ramona Martinez in the democratic primary.
In an interview to KRWG Public Media Cadena said she is relieved to have won and that a lot is at stake this November.
“We showed up, we knocked on doors, we held lots of conversations and we moved with integrity. Unfortunately this was a pretty dirty election with lots of outside interest and dark money coming in but voters saw right through that and here we are to celebrate tonight,” Cadena said.
Cadena faces Republican and former Doña Ana county Sheriff Enrique “Kiki” Vigil in the general election. Vigil was not challenged in the republican primary.
In district 34, incumbent Ray Lara defeated Juan Fuentes in the democratic primary election.
Lara said that this means it's back to work for him.
“The next plan after this is getting back to business, going to the interim committees, talking about upcoming legislation that I may be interested in or may be considering so right now it is just getting back to work at my full time job,” Lara said.
Lara faces no challenger in the general election.
For district 37, Lori Martinez came out on top over Matilda “Tilli” Villalobos in the democratic primary.
Martinez says that she is ready to get to work.
“In my day to day work we do legislative work so there were all of these things that I talked about during the campaign that we want to continue working on. I really want to see paid family medical leave get across the finish line, I want to make sure that we are taking precautions and making sure to protect our environment, there are investments in education that we really need to be making, we have a real chance at universal healthcare in New Mexico and there are things that we can do that will drastically improve the quality of life for everyone and so we have to take that so seriously,” Martinez said.
She faces republican Isabela Solis in the general election. Solis ran unopposed for the republican nomination.
State representative Nathan Small ran unopposed in the democratic primary in district 36 but will face republican Julia Ruiz in the general. Ruiz also faced no opponent in her primary.
District 35 state representative Angelica Rubio ran unopposed in the primary and faces no opposition in the general.
