SCC on Call to Select No. 2
Candidates Have Announced
State Central Committee members have been informed by DPNM that five candidates have officially declared to run to fill the ballot vacancy of lieutenant governor. Write-in candidates will also be accepted. Declared as of the July 3 deadline:
George P. Luehrink
Stephanie Garcia Richard
Toni Pinedo
Harold James Pope Jr.
Phillip Lawrence Trujillo
The SCC and NM Democrats will hear from them at a DPNM candidate forum July 18 at 11 a.m. via Zoom.
State Democratic Party Chair Sara Attleson gave the official call on June 25 for a brief virtual meeting of the State Central Committee at noon July 25 to fill the vacancy for the lieutenant governor ballot position, as required by state law. The vacancy was created by the official resignation of the party nominee, Maggie Toulouse Oliver. Absentee (online) voting will follow through 5 p.m. July 29. Party rules provide the election will be by a ranked choice, non-secret ballot because SCC members are representatives of the Democrats in their county. See rules: CLICK HERE
Gubernatorial nominee Deb Haaland has endorsed Garcia Richard, state land commissioner and former New Mexico representative. Her endorsement came after nine people expressed interest in the position. Nominee Haaland and her team interviewed the five who submitted their questionnaire. Haaland said she respects the role of the SCC and said Garcia Richard will be “an engaged, collaborative partner from day one.”
Garcia Richard represented Dist. 43 (all of Los Alamos County and parts of Sandoval and Santa Fe counties) in the State Legislature and has won two statewide elections as land commissioner. Pope, state senator from Bernalillo County (Dist. 23), who ran in the primary against Toulouse Oliver, also hopes to win approval of the SCC and be on the ballot.
In the end, some 500 SCC members (56 from Santa Fe County) will make the selection, and the winner will run on the Democratic ballot where they and Haaland will square off against Republicans Greg Hull for governor and David Gallegos for lieutenant governor. SCC members were elected in March 2025 for a two-year term, and this is a different body than the pre-primary delegates elected in March 2026 to vote at the 2026 pre-primary convention.
Whoever is selected, DPSFC pledges its full support and an aggressive get-out-the-vote campaign.
