Elijah Rosas catches voters’ attention on Election Day. Photo by Russell Huffman.

In Socorro County, voter turnout was at 54%, with 6,137 ballots cast out of 11,329 registered voters. With several tight races, Socorro voters can clearly see that their vote made a difference.

Highlights

The next Socorro County Sheriff will be Republican Lee Armijo, who captured 62% of the vote. In the unofficial county results, the sheriff’s race had the second highest number of total ballots cast, 6,005. Armijo received over 3,700 votes and Democrat Demecio Silva came in at approximately 2,200 votes.

Incumbent Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham was re-elected for a second term. Although if it were up to Socorro County, Republican challenger Mark Ronchetti might have won. More Socorro voters cast ballots in the governor’s race than anything else on the ballot, with 6,089 total votes. Ronchetti took 49% of the Socorro County vote, while Grisham had 48%.

Democrat Gabe Vasquez appears to have won the 2nd Congressional District, with just over 1,000 votes. While the margin is tight, it’s outside of the one-quarter of 1 percentage point that would trigger an automatic recount.

In Socorro County, incumbent Yvette Herrell received 2,894 votes, 48.67%, while Vasquez received 3,052, 51.33%.

Democrat Tara Jaramillo won a tight victory in the race for District 38 State Representative against Republican Sandy Hammack. In the unofficial results on the Secretary of State’s website, Jaramillo has 51%, 4,473 votes, to Hammack’s 49%, 4,369 votes.

Hammack appears to have fared better in Dona Ana County, at 51% of the votes, and Sierra County, at 61%, but Jaramillo was the clear favorite in Socorro County with 59% of the votes. More ballots were cast in the race in Socorro County, 3,461, than Dona Ana or Sierra.

As of Wednesday morning, Socorro County had tallied all but write-ins. Election results will not be official until they have been canvassed.

Cathy Cook | El Defensor Chieftain Editor