State representative Joanne Ferrary announced that she would be retiring before her term was up, leaving county officials to decide how to handle the vacancy.
Democratic state representative Joanna Ferrary decided not to run for reelection early this year, but last week made a decision to retire before her term is up.
Ferrary, who has represented district 37 since 2017, told KRWG that her decision came after attending interim committees and thought that the democratic primary winner, Lori Martinez, could fill in for her until the election. The Doña Ana Board of County Commissioners will ultimately make the decision on the path forward.
“The candidate who won our primary as a democrat, since we are a democratic district since I won for the past five elections, I think that would be the most logical person to succeed during this interim until voters have the opportunity to choose their next representative,” Ferrary said.
However not everyone sees this as the clear path forward. Republican state representative from district 49 Gail Armstrong wrote an open letter to the county commission urging them to leave the seat vacant until the election.
In the letter, Armstrong called the move by Ferrary “suspect” and “highly unethical” claiming that if Martinez gets appointed to take over before the election, it will give her an unfair advantage in the general election.
Isabella Solis, the republican candidate running against Martinez, posted a video online agreeing with Armstrong saying that the county should leave the position vacant until November.
“Early voting is just 64 days away and there is no legislative session before then and not a single legislative vote that requires an immediate appointment yet three commissioners could choose our state representative instead of thousands of voters. The law may allow an appointment, but that doesn't mean it is the best choice,” Solis said in a video posted to Facebook.
However Ferrary said that if Martinez gets appointed, that won't sway the election.
“I don't think it gives Lori, as a democrat filling a democrat vacancy, any advantage in the election. She will just be able to attend interim committees and if she wants to plan on certain legislation with the idea that only if she is elected she would be able to do that but it doesn't give any advantage,” Ferrary said.
Martinez agrees with Ferrary's view saying that the district is deep blue and this is a process that happens around the state.
“She also knows that my opponent ran for the seat in 2020 and lost. So there are certain realities that this district is highly democratic so I think for house republicans it is a strategy to say that there is an unfair advantage but the voters sent a democrat to the legislature for this district five times now,” Martinez said.
Ultimately, the decision on what happens next rests in the hands of The Doña Ana Board of County Commissioners. Chair Manuel Sanchez said that no decision has been made and they are currently taking all sides into account, but he doesn't see how this can sway the election.
“This is just my personal opinion but one of the things we see is that this hasn't stopped other counties or other locations from doing that. I have not seen any particular cases where this has swayed an election. We will have to look at that and discuss it a little bit further but I haven't seen an instance where this has significantly impacted an election,” Sanchez said.
As for when a vote will take place on what to do with the vacant seat, Sanchez said that will most likely happen this month.
