Dozens of candidates file to run for office in 2024 election

It was a festive candidate filing day as dozens of individuals officially threw their hats in the ring to run for office at a well-decorated Sandoval County Administration Building Tuesday.

Current Sandoval County Treasurer Jennifer Taylor was the first candidate to file her paperwork, followed by 30 others who plan to have their names on the ballot for the June primary election or the general election in November.

“I’m very excited. I feel optimistic,” Taylor said. “I just consider it an honor to be able to run, especially for this county.”

Among the 31 people who filed Tuesday in Sandoval County were several first-time candidates, including 26-year-old Jordan Juarez, who is running for Sandoval County Commission District 4.

“We’ve been going at this since summer last year, so we’re ready. The train is rolling hard and heavy, so let’s keep it going,” Juarez said. “We’re ready to go and keep the commission the way it should be and keep our county on the right path.”

Another first-time candidate is 66-year-old Frank Smith, who cited his military background as his main reason to run for state House of Representatives in District 23. Smith was happy to have filing day over with and praised the county for making the process as easy as possible.

“It’s kind of a big sigh of relief; I don’t really have anything else planned for the rest of the day. I’ll get back to work tomorrow,” Smith said. “I have to say that the county clerk’s office had a pretty streamlined system. People just kind of sort of went through, and they had a lot of assistance and they had plenty of people there to help.”

Current District 2 County Commissioner Jay Block also praised County Clerk Anne Brady-Romero and her staff for the filing process going smoothly as he filed his paperwork to run for State Senate District 12.

“I love being a county commissioner and serving Sandoval County, but I’m looking forward to getting elected to represent the people of Sandoval County and Bernalillo County in the state Senate. We’re very excited to just blow through the primary and get to the general election, get elected and go to work for the people in New Mexico,” Block said. “This is my third time filing at the county, and this is the best by far I’ve seen it. They have done just an amazing job getting the candidates in, and the staff had been very efficient and competent. This this is incredible what they’ve done. Kudos to Anne Brady and her staff for what they’ve done here. It’s just an amazing, amazing job.”

Primary elections will be held on June 4 to determine the general election candidates in several races.

Candidate filing day

Here’s the candidates who filed before the 5 p.m. deadline Tuesday:

State Senate

District 9

Heather Balas (D)

Cindy Nava (D)

Susana Vasquez (R)

Audrey Trujillo (R)

District 12

Jay Block (R)

Candace Gould (R), filed in Bernalillo County

Phillip Ramirez (D), filed in Bernalillo County

District 22

Benny Shendo (D)

District 40

Amina Everett (D)

Craig Brandt (R)

State Representative

District 23

Frank Smith (D)

Alan Martinez (R)

District 44

Kathleen Cates (D)

Leticia Munoz-Kaminski (R)

Ali Ennenga (R), filed in Bernalillo County

District 57

Catherine Cullen (R)

Corrine Rios (R)

John Dantonio (R)

Michelle Sandoval (D)

District 60

Luke Jungmann (D)

Joshua Hernandez (R)

District 65

Derrick Lente (D)

Public Education commissioner

District 4

Rebekka Burt (D)

District attorney

13th Judicial District

Barbara Romo (D)

County clerk

Anne Brady-Romero (D)

Tanya Watkins (R)

County treasurer

Jennifer Taylor (D)

Richard Shanks (R)

County commissioner

District 2

Beau Sandoval (D)

Jon Herr (R)

District 4

Madigan Ray (D)

Jordan Juarez (R)

District 5

Joshua Jones (D)

Justin Garcia (R)