After being exposed to months of campaigning, and in some cases mud-slinging at whatever cost, McKinley County voters will pick winners June 7 in a number of interesting primary races, from possible new persons in the District 3 McKinley County Board of Commissioners seat to perhaps somebody equally new in seats related to District 5 and District 4 of the New Mexico House of Representatives and Senate.
In McKinley County hundreds of poll workers are set to start working. Besides who will win each of the races, and there are quite a few that pertain to McKinley County, one question yet to be answered is how many registered votes will actually turn out to vote. Early voting numbers around the county aren’t always that high during elections, as most folks simply wait practically to the last voting day to go to the polls or just don’t vote at all.
Over the years, less than 30 percent of registered voters in McKinley County have actually bothered to go out and vote for a candidate of their choice. That’s not a lot and as the old saying goes, if you don’t vote then you don’t really have a right to complain.
The June primary is the precursor to the November general election and there are a few area races that will be closely watched. Former State Representative Sandra Jeff of Crownpoint is in a District 22 Senate race against incumbent attorney Benny Shendo of Jemez Pueblo. Jeff was previously the darling of District 5, but lost that race to write-in candidate D. Wonda Johnson of Church Rock in 2014. Jeff has been labeled by fellow Democrats as cozying up to Republicans when it comes to important votes, such as a key vote on the state budget a couple of years ago.
Johnson reportedly owes a former campaign manager $26,000, a matter which hasn’t been resolved as of this week. According to court documents, the matter was a verbal agreement between Campaign Manager Keegan King and Johnson, but apparently King considered the matter serious enough to file an official complaint in the 2nd District Court in Albuquerque earlier this year.
Johnson faces School Board member Kevin Mitchell in the District 5 race. Mitchell is vice-president of the Gallup-McKinley County School Board, but hasn’t been very vocal on where exactly he stands on the issues. We know Mitchell is pro-education, but we know little else.
Incumbent George Muñoz, the son of a former Gallup mayor, will face political newcomer Felisha Adams, a San Diego transplant originally from Iyanbito. First elected in 2009, Muñoz possesses a proven record of accomplishment at local and state levels and will be hard to unseat as witnessed in past House contests.
Voters will also decide the district attorney race as well as a few contests in neighboring Cibola County. Voting is a constitutional right that shouldn’t be taken for granted.
By Bernie Dotson
