New Mexico Supreme Court denies Democrats’ push to put 2 replacement candidates on November ballot

The New Mexico Supreme Court in a 4-1 ruling Thursday blocked two Democrats from appearing on the Nov. 3 general election ballot, paving the way for Republicans to gain control of a rural district in the state House of Representatives.

In San Juan County’s House District 4, incumbent Joseph Franklin Hernandez (D-Shiprock) last week announced he was scrapping his re-election bid after news reports that police had investigated him for public nudity on a recent trip to Chicago. And in Sandoval County’s House District 23, Democratic challenger Elise Falanga Taylor on Aug. 16 dropped out in the race against incumbent Republican Whip Alan Martinez (R-Rio Rancho).

Local Democratic parties in both counties appointed replacement candidates — Matthew Herman in HD23 and former state lawmaker Anthony Allison in HD4 — to take their places on the upcoming general election ballot. But county clerks in both cases argued that they had waited too long to declare their candidacies.

The clerks cited a state law that says general election replacements are permitted if they occur at least 90 days prior to the election. In court, an attorney representing the two Democratic hopefuls argued that the same law says nominations to fill a vacancy on the ballot aren’t required until 70 days before the election. 

In their Thursday order, a majority of state Supreme Court justices wrote that the 70-day deadline applies to filing the proper paperwork, not to declaring candidacy. Local political parties must authorize the candidate 90 days before the election, they wrote. Justice Michael Vigil was the lone dissenting justice.

The court’s decision leaves Martinez, the Rio Rancho Republican, running unopposed. It also leaves a lone Republican on the ballot for HD4, a seat that Democrats have held since 2019.

Linda Corwin, the chair of the Democratic Party of San Juan County, told Source NM that the Supreme Court’s decision was “a terrible disappointment.” However, Democrats hold such a strong majority in the state Legislature that she doesn’t believe flipping the district will lead to a “huge difference,” she added.

Allison, who held the seat before Hernandez and hoped to replace him on the ballot, told Source NM that he and other local Democrats dropped the ball.

“It was our fault for not staying on top of dates,” he said. “It will be hard flipping it back. But, like the saying goes, it is what it is.”

In a statement, the Republican Party of New Mexico praised the Supreme Court’s decision, writing that the pushes to get Herman and Allison on the ballot were “just more examples of how New Mexico Democrats have ZERO regard for the rules.”