Noblin, Ramsell reelected; Chavez will be Peralta’s mayor

The polls are closed and these are the unofficial results for the 2025 Regular Local Election as of Wednesday morning.

With some races sitting at a literal tie and others separated by only a few votes, there’s a chance automatic recounts could be triggered. As per state statute, an automatic recount happens when the margin between the two candidates who have received the most votes is less than 1 percent.

Valencia County voter turnout this year surpassed the 2021 election, with 18.46 percent of registered voters casting a ballot. In 2021 turnout hit 12.09 percent.

Out of 49,111 registered voters, 9,068 cast ballots in this year’s elections, compared to 5,288 out of 43,726 registered voters in 2021.

The unofficial numbers are for ballots cast in Valencia County only and do not include votes cast in other counties for races with multi-county jurisdictions.

Election results aren’t considered official until they are canvassed and certified by the Valencia County Commission and accepted by the New Mexico Secretary of State.

City of Belen

Mayor

Unchallenged incumbent Robert C. Noblin received 842 votes in his bid for a second term.

Council

The two incumbents running for the two council seats were unchallenged as well. Steven Holdman received 465 votes, and Frank F. Ortega took 667.

Judge

Challenger Pauline Vallejos came within 10 points of the incumbent, taking home 45 percent of the vote with 457 votes to Keith Norwood’s 559.

Village of Los Lunas

Council District 1

Incumbent Christopher Ortiz seems to be holding off challenger John B. Walker with 53 percent of the votes, with 327, to Walker’s 293 votes.

Council District 3

In a three-way race, Matthew D. Chavez has 35 percent of the votes — 203 — as of Wednesday morning to Naithan Gurule’s 34 percent — 199 votes. Incumbent Cruz Munoz trails with 184 votes.

Village of Bosque Farms

Council

With five candidates vying for only two council seats, the numbers are tight as of Wednesday morning. No incumbents ran in this race.

Manuel Zamora has 519 votes, 29 percent of the total. He’s followed by James Bruhn and Dolly Wallace who both received 326 votes, 18 percent.

With 17 percent of the votes, Clinton Kettle and Stefanie Scanland round out the field, with 296 and 311 votes, respectively.

Town of Peralta

Mayor

Joseph P. Chavez was the only candidate running for mayor and received 433 votes. Mayor Bryan Olguin elected not to run for reelection.

Council

Unchallenged incumbents Claudio J. Moya and Randy A. Smith retain their seats with 317 and 293 votes, respectively.

Judge

Unchallenged incumbent Tracy L. Aragon received 429 votes.

City of Rio Communities

Mayor

It looks like Matthew Marquez will return to his council seat after receiving 43 percent of the votes in his challenge to incumbent Joshua D. Ramsell in the race for mayor.

He received 487 votes to Ramsell’s 634. Marquez is half way through his first term as a city councilor.

Council

Two council seats were on the ballot and it looks like incumbent Lawrence Gordon will retain his, receiving 487 votes. He was followed by Michael Melendez with 446 votes.

The other three candidates, Alan Sinclair, Jo Skelton and MaryJo Palmer, received 347, 281 and 182 votes, respectively.

Judge

Newly-appointed incumbent Victor Williams is leading challenger Loedesta Silva 620 to 472 as of Wednesday morning.

Williams was appointed to the bench in July.

Belen Board of Education

Unchallenged across the board, the incumbents for the board will return. In District 1, Joanne Silva received 540 votes. Jim Danner, representing District 4, received 581 votes, and District 5 incumbent Larry Garley received 437.

Los Lunas Board of Education

District 1

Incumbent Frank Otero is leading two challengers with 725 votes. Challengers Nicole Bradshaw and R. Craig Schlotterback received 679 and 292, respectively.

District 2

Incumbent Sonya C’Moya received 613 votes.

District 3

Incumbent P. David Vickers received 503.

District 5

There will most likely be a new but familiar face representing this district with former Los Lunas Schools superintendent Dana Sanders taking 44 percent of the vote — 366 votes.

Incumbent Bruce Bennett received 172, but was slightly outdone by challenger Christopher Burkhard, who took home 221 votes. James Fischer received 70 votes in the race.

UNM-VC Advisory Board

In the race for the Los Lunas at-large, seat incumbent Roberta Scott leads Chris Schick 2,984 to 1,960.

The incumbent for the Belen at-large position on the advisory board, Eloisa Tabet, filed as a write-in candidate. Those ballots will have to be hand-tallied starting Wednesday morning, and results hadn’t been posted before News-Bulletin deadline.

Valencia Soil and Water Conservation Board of Supervisors

The top two vote-getters will serve four years terms, and the person with the third most votes will serve for two years.

As of Wednesday, incumbent Teresa Smith de Cherif had the most votes in Valencia County with 3,177 votes, 22 percent, followed by Gail Goodman with 21 percent, 3,021 votes.

They are followed by Sharon Hagaman, with 2,419 votes; incumbent Eugene Pickett Jr. with 2,118; incumbent James Fischer with 2,033 and Andrew Hautzinger with 1,712.

Valencia County Arroyo Flood Control District Board of Supervisors

With five candidates running for five seats, there were no losers in this race.

Incumbents Danny Goodson and Michael Montoya received 3,450 and 3,613 votes, respectively, while Brenda Hume received 2,571, Tyler Otero got 2,744 and Charles Schick took 2,515.