Which legislative, Bernalillo County candidates are headed to the general election?

By Andy Lyman / The Paper. and Elise Kaplan / City Desk ABQ

City clerk, county treasurer and two county commission seats were all on the ballot in Bernalillo County, with a mix of new and familiar faces vying to compete in the general election.

Two Republicans competed for the chance to represent the Democratic stronghold of Congressional District 1 in the United States Congress.

With all 687 precincts in the county reporting, here are the results:

Bernalillo County races

County Clerk

Michelle Kavanaugh (D): 60%
Karen Montoya (D): 40%

Clayton Pryor (R): 67% 
Robert Kwasny (R): 33%

Kavanaugh, who was endorsed by outgoing clerk Linda Stover, will face off against Pryor, who campaigned on election security. 

County Treasurer
Tim Eichenberg (D): 67%
Kenneth Edward Scott, Jr (D): 33%

Eichenberg, who served as state treasurer for eight years, will face Lelan Morrison (R) in the general election.

County Commission District 2 
Frank Baca (D): 73%
William Walker (D): 27%

Baca will face Mary Kay Ingham (R) in the general election. The seat was vacated by Steven Micheal Quezada (D) who has held it since 2016. 

County Commission District 3 
Adriann Barboa (D): 53%
Robert Padilla (D): 30%
Laura Nasaria Chavez (D): 17%

Barboa, the incumbent who has held the seat since 2020, will face Rene Coronado (R) in the general election.

U.S. Representative for District 1:
Steve Jones: 51%
Louie Sanchez: 49%

Jones, who ran on protecting the economy and border security, will face off against incumbent Melanie Stansbury (D) in the general election.

There were several legislative races where the winner will not face an opponent in the general election — all but guaranteeing a secured spot next year in the Roundhouse, according to unofficial results as of 11 p.m.

Legislative races:

House District 18
Marianna Anaya (D): 49%
Anjali Teneja (D): 41%
Gloria Doherty (D): 7%
Juan Larrañaga (D): 2%

The four Democratic candidates faced off to replace Rep. Gail Chasey (D), who’s held her seat since 1996. Marianna Anaya is a longtime lobbyist and community activist who received media attention after she accused Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto (D) of bullying and harassment.  

Senate District 11
Linda Lopez (D): 81%
Richard Carrion (D): 19%

Lopez, who’s been in the Senate since 1997, was one of a handful of Democratic politicians who police say was targeted in shooting attempts by Solomon Pena, a failed Republican legislative candidate, in 2023. 

Senate District 13 
Debbie O’Malley (D): 52%
Bill O’Neill (D): 48%

Thanks to a surge of election day voters, O’Malley was able to overtake the incumbent O’Neill by about four percentage points according to unofficial results as of publication. O’Malley served as a Bernalillo County commissioner for about a decade and as an Albuquerque city councilor for nearly a decade before that. O’Neill has been a state senator since 2013 and served as a state representative from 2009 to 2012. 

Senate District 26
Antonio “Moe” Maestas (D): 59%
Julie Radoslovich (D): 41%

Longtime legislator Maestas left his position as a House representative in 2022 to throw his hat in the ring to replace former state Sen. Jacob Candelaria. While he’s been in his current Senate seat for about two years, this is his first election to the position. 

Other races we watched

House District 13
Patricia Roybal Caballero (D): 58%
Teresa Garcia (D): 42%

House District 16
Yanira Gurrola Valenzuela (D): 64%
Marsella Duarte (D): 36%

Valenzuela will face Leland Benwood Bohannon (R) in the general election

House District 27
Marian Matthews (D): 56%
Greg Seeley (D): 44%

Matthews will face Gregory Gallegos (R) in the general election.

House District 30 
Jared Secret (R): 54%
Victoria Doré (R): 46%

Secret will face Elizabeth Diane Torres-Velasquez (D) in the general election.

House District 31 
Nicole Chavez (R): 57%
Sarah Jane Allen (R): 30%
Patrick Huested (R): 13%

Chavez emerged as an advocate for harsher criminal penalties after her son Jaydon Chavez-Silver was killed in a drive-by shooting in 2015.

Chavez will face Vicky Estrada-Bustillo (D) in the general election. This was the seat vacated when longtime representative Bill Rehm (R) retired.

House District 68
Nathan Brooks (R): 59%
Virginia Gonzales (R): 41%

Brooks will face incumbent Charlotte Little (D) in the general election.

Senate District 15
Heather Berghmans (D): 80%
Daniel Ivey-Soto (D): 20%

Ivey-Soto, who’s served in the Senate since 2013, was effectively ousted according to unofficial vote totals as of publication time. Ivey-Soto faced accusations of harassment and bullying by Marianna Anaya, a lobbyist-turned House candidate. In October Berghmans said she decided to run against the long-time senator because he had “become a distraction and he is no longer effective.”

Ivey-Soto did not return a text message seeking comment and a call to his cellphone went straight to voicemail. 

Berghmans will face Republican Craig Degenhardt in the general election.

Senate District 21 
Athena Ann Christodoulou (D): 76%
Philip Snedeker (D): 24%

Nicole Tobiassen (R): 44%
Michael Wiener (R): 30%
John Morton (R): 26%

Christodoulou, a retired U.S. Navy engineer, scientist and technology entrepreneur, will face off against Tobiassen, who is involved in Rotary International Foundation, the Hispano Chamber of Commerce, the Metro Federation of Republican Women and more. This was the seat vacated when longtime Sen. Mark Moores (R) retired.

Senate District 23:
Terry Lynne Aragon (R): 58%
Manuel “Manny” Gonzales III (R): 42%

Gonzales, the former sheriff of Bernalillo County, ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Albuquerque in 2021. Since then he switched his party affiliation from Democratic to Republican and threw his hat in the ring to challenge Sen. Martin Heinrich — he was disqualified.  

Aragon will face off against incumbent Harold Pope Jr., (D) who has served in the Legislature since 2020 and is the Majority Caucus chair.