Doña Ana County Clerk announces campaign for NM Secretary of State

Amanda López Askin, a Democrat who has led the Doña Ana County Clerk’s office since 2018, announced her campaign Wednesday for New Mexico’s top election office.

López Askin, is so far the only Secretary of State candidate in the 2026 election. Current Secretary of State Maggie Tolouse Oliver has served two consecutive terms, and cannot run for the seat in the upcoming election. The position is third in succession, behind the governor and lieutenant governor. The Secretary of State administers elections, enforces ethics and keeps official records for state government.

Doña Ana County commissioners appointed López Askin to the office just two months before the 2018 mid-term elections after the previous county clerk resigned; she has since won two elections to keep the seat in 2020 and 2024.

López Askin will not step down from the Doña Ana County Clerk’s office during the campaign, she told Source, saying she will work more and lean on Deputy County Clerk Caroline Zamora.

“I’ll be working double-time evenings and weekends,” she said. “But I will continue to lead the office in Doña Ana County.”

López Askin said she has the “perseverance and dedication” to fight electoral changes at the federal level, such as House Republicans voting for a bill that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote, and the Trump Administration’s recent orders to overhaul election rules,

“It’s never been more important to protect the right to vote,” she said. “I’ve been battle-tested. Since 2018, I have been challenged. I have had to deal with extremists and election deniers and litigation. And in every single instance, I defended what we do, and I defended it well.”

Those challenges included a death threat  by former Republican candidate Solomon Peña, before his arrest for organizing four shootings at the homes of four Democratic politicians after he lost an election for a New Mexico House of Representatives seat.

López Askin has a masters in marriage and family therapy, along with a PhD in educational leadership from New Mexico State University.

According to campaign finance records, López Askin has just under $19,000 in the campaign’s coffers, transferred from her previous county clerk campaign.