Eddy County Commission welcomes new members Beard and Cordova

The future of the Eddy County Board of County Commissioners appears to be set. Come 2021, two new faces will occupy the seats in District 5 and District 3.

Three commission seats were up for grabs during Tuesday’s 2020 Primary Election.

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Artesia Republican Jon Henry secured the District 2 spot for another four years. He had no Republican opposition in the primary and no Democrat signed up to face him in November.

Democrats claimed the District 5 chair as Sarah Marie Cordova will replace Susan Crockett.

Crockett couldn’t seek another term due to term limits and Cordova managed to pick up 523 votes from District 5 Democrats.

More:Yvette Herrell wins Republican primary election for New Mexico's 2nd Congressional District

District 3 had two combatants on the Republican side. Artesia incumbent Larry Wood squared off against Fred Beard. Beard defeated Wood 874 to 850.

“It was closer than I thought it would might be,” Beard said after the unofficial numbers were released late Tuesday night at the Eddy County Clerk’s office in Carlsbad.

More:Live primary election results for New Mexico, Eddy County

“I’ve got a few things I’d like to do for Eddy County, starting with roads that will be my big push for Eddy County.”

Beard admits he has a steep learning curve between now and January 2021, but  said he plans to attend upcoming meetings and talk to people to familiarize himself with the inner-workings of Eddy County government.

“I’m in this to do a good job for Eddy County,” he said.

Beard said District 3 has some unique characteristics.

“Geographically, it’s pretty big. We start in Texas and go all the way to the Cloudcroft/Hope highway (United States Highway 82) and encompasses the whole westside of the county. There’s a lot of rural area and being a rural guy, I think I can do pretty well as far as that goes,” he said.

More:Eddy County prepares for June Primary Election, takes precautions amid COVID-19

While the Board of County Commissioners is set for 2021, there will be two contested races in November.

Republican incumbent Eddy County Treasurer Laurie Pruitt faces Democrat Rosie Garcia.

Neither had primary opposition Tuesday as Pruitt had 6,092 votes and Garcia had 2,680.

Republican incumbent Eddy County Sheriff Mark Cage faces Democratic challenger Donald Cantrell in November.

Cage and Cantrell had no opposition in Tuesday’s primary.

More than 6,000 Republicans voted for Cage and 2,447 Democrats voted for Cantrell.

“I'm very happy with the numbers. I received about 73 percent of the total votes cast and that's a big win,” Cage said Wednesday morning.

He expects to get votes from Democrats and Independents in November.

“I plan to keep doing the job I was elected to do by the people of Eddy County,” he said. “What you see is what you get with me and from the feedback I get, folks are pretty happy with what the Eddy County Sheriff's Office is doing.”

There were two statewide offices that crossed county lines Tuesday.

In the State Senate race for District 41, outgoing David Gallegos defeated Gregg Fulfer in Lea County, 1,438 to 895. Gallegos lost to Fulfer in Eddy County, 772 to 465.

Gallegos defeated Fulfer overall with 1,903 votes to Fulfer's 1,667.

“We’re quite excited, it had been a real ugly, ugly race. We spent a lot of time educating the public even in doing that, I’m still a little disappointed in the Eddy County numbers,” Gallegos said.

“It gives me four years to go over there and meet people and gain their trust. We’re very excited that we’re able to endure and win.”

Fulfer finished out the term for Carroll Leavell who retired in 2018 from public office.

Fulfer was appointed by former Republican Gov. Susana Martinez after the Eddy and Lea County Board of County Commissioners approved his appointment.

Wednesday morning, Fulfer congratulated Gallegos and thanked the voters in Eddy County for their support.

“We gave it our best run I think, we did very well in Eddy County and I have to thank our supporters over there as well. They came out and supported us and we can’t do it without the people. We’ve got the best people in our district,” he said.

Gallegos has no Democratic opponent in November.

In the New Mexico Public Education Commission District 9 race, Hobbs Republican K.T. Mantis from Hobbs defeated Carlsbad Republican Arleen Beverley Standiford in both counties.

Mannis had a combined 7,640 votes to Standiford’s 4,447. Mannis faces Democrat incumbent Trish Ruiz in November. Ruiz had a combined vote total of 3,896.

According to figures released by the Eddy County Clerk’s Office, 32,345 people were eligible to vote in Tuesday’s election and 10,366 turned out to polling places in Carlsbad, Artesia and Loving.

Tuesday’s results are unofficial, per Eddy County Clerk Robin Van Natta.

Mike Smith can be reached at 575-628-5546 or by email at MSmith@currentargus.com or @ArgusMichae on Twitter.