Balderas had received 277,484 votes (54.1%), according to unofficial Secretary of State returns as of 11:10 p.m. Tuesday. His Republican challenger Errol Chavez had received 235,666 votes (45.9%).

A former Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agent, Chavez, 61, was diagnosed with brain cancer last month and was rushed to Houston, Texas, for emergency treatment during the final weeks of the campaign. He has not answered The Independent’s calls or e-mails over the past week and was reported to have effectively dropped out of the race.

Balderas, 37, is a former prosecutor and state legislator from Wagon Mound and Mora.

During his first term, Balderas investigated former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron, who faces money laundering and fraud charges, and the infamous $3.3 million Jemez Mountain School District embezzlement case.

Over the past two years, Balderas reduced the number of at-risk government agencies and districts — those that had not submitted annual audits as required under state law — from nearly 100 to fewer than 30.

Balderas is expected to push the Legislature for more staff auditors and new legislation expanding his office’s ability to impose penalties to agencies that violate the state Audit Act or interfere with audits.

The audit agency has suffered budget cuts of 22 percent since Balderas took office, and now faces a budget crisis that could impact his ability to identify fraud and waste, he has said.

Haussamen included in his post a statement from GOP state party chairman Harvey Yates that included some details about Chavez’s condition and a sentiment I’m sure everyone will second:  ”Our thoughts and prayers are with Errol and his family during this difficult time.”

Totals in the statewide races for the fundraising period from October to April 5 are posted, by race, after the jump.

Attorney General:

Matthew Chandler, Republican: Chandler began the reporting period with $3,548.41 in the bank and raised $67,883.43 throughout the fundraising period. Chandler spent $8,711.57 and has $62,720.27 cash on hand.

Commissioner of Public Lands:

Mike Anaya, Democrat: Anaya began with no money in the bank and raised $15,655.22 throughout the fundraising period. Anaya’s campaign spent $15,586.97 and now has $68.25 cash on hand.

Errol Chavez, Republican: Chavez began with no money and raised $2,364.64 throughout the fundraising period. Chavez’s campaign spent $883.80 and now has $1,480.84 cash on hand. The campaign also reported $314.64 in loans to the campaign and $1,045.10 in in-kind donations.

Spiro Vassilopoulos, Republican: Vassilopoulos dropped his bid for public lands commissioner earlier this month. He reported raising $25,800.00, including $25,750.00 in loans. Vassilopoulos reported no cash in hand.

Lieutenant Governor:

Brian Colón, Democrat: Colón began the filing period with $251,049.01 and raised $156,489.80 throughout the filing period. His campaign spent $201,651.91 and finished with $205,886.90 cash on hand. Colón also reported $14,427.62 in in-kind donations.

Kent Cravens, Republican: Cravens began the filing period with no money and raised $57,990. Cravens’ campaign spent $34,583.91 and finished the period with $23,406.09 cash on hand. Cravens reported $1,525.00 in in-kind donations.

J.R. Damron, Republican: Damron also dropped his bid for elected office. He reported raising $24,975 in the filing period, spending $24,451 and finished the fundraising period with $524 cash on hand. Damron reported $7,000 in loans and $2,555 in in-kind donations.

Secretary of State:

Mary Herrera, Democrat, incumbent: Herrera began the fundraising period with $33,459.03 and raised $17,086. Herrera reported spending $7,634.28 and finished the fundraising period with $42,910.75 cash on hand. Herrera also reported $9,590 in in-kind donations.

Dianna Duran, Republican: Duran began the fundraising period with $2,867.44 and spent $1,525.37. This left Duran with $1,342.07 cash on hand.

State Auditor:

Hector Balderas, Democrat, incumbent: Balderas began the fundraising period with $110,182.02 and raised $24,379.80 in the fundraising period. Balderas spent $8,330.33 and finished the fundraising period with cash on hand $126,231.49. Balderas reported $1,080.70 in in-kind donations.

Errol Chavez, Republican: Chavez began the fundraising period with no money and raised $5,764.84 in the period. Chavez spent $1,086.20 in the period and had $4,678.64 cash on hand. Chavez reported $3,239.00 in loans.

State Treasurer:

James Lewis, Democrat, incumbent: Lewis began the fundraising period with $31,028.28 and raised $8,590 in the period. Lewis reported $11,081.67 in expenditures and finished the fundraising period with $28,536.61 cash on hand.

Update, 5:25 p.m.: The fundraising totals for Lt. Gov. candidate Lawrence Rael, a Democrat, are now available.

Rael had $105,283.08 coming into the fundraising period and raised $183,000, but $105,000 of that was money he loaned himself. Rael’s campaign spent $162,175.43 in the period and finished the fundraising period with $126,195.42 cash on hand.

Montoya cited ethics and transparency as an important part of his platform.

“I will run an open and transparent office, where the public has access to the information regarding the way their public lands, minerals and resources are managed in New Mexico,” he said.

Montoya pledged to digitize all land office records and provide access to them on the office’s Web site. He also pledged to call for an audit of all resources on his first day in office and require all staff to “sign a code of conduct and ensure no conflicts of interests exist.”

Montoya confirmed last month that he was running and said a formal announcement would come this month. Public Regulation Commission Chairman Sandy Jones and former state Land Commissioner Ray Powell have also entered the Democratic primary.

On the Republican side, GOP activist Bob Cornelius and retired law-enforcement agent Errol Chavez are running.

They’re all battling to replace the GOP’s Pat Lyons, the current land commissioner who is term limited from seeking re-election.

Montoya was first elected county commissioner in 2002. In 2006, he ran unopposed and won re-election. Before elected to the commission, he served eight years on the Pojoaque Valley School Board, and he is a past president of the state school board association.

He’s a native New Mexican who has been married to Doris for 28 years. They have two children, Brian, 27 and Angelo, 22, and three grandchildren. He is CEO of Hands Across Cultures, a non-profit agency involved in community mobilization efforts that includes educational, health and social services programs.

Montoya has a master’s degree in counseling psychology from New Mexico State University and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Westmar University in LeMars, Iowa.

As a former president of the school board association, Montoya said in Wednesday’s news release that he understands education and will look for additional ways to use state trust land to fund higher education in New Mexico.

“The public Land Office and education are one in the same in New Mexico, and education will be a top priority for me,” he said.

Former state Land Commissioner Ray Powell is the only Democrat who has formally announced his candidacy for the seat. Like Montoya, former state Attorney General Patricia Madrid has said she’s thinking about running.

On the Republican side, GOP activist Bob Cornelius and retired law-enforcement agent Errol Chavez are running.

They’re all battling to replace the GOP’s Pat Lyons, the current land commissioner who is term limited from seeking re-election.

Montoya was first elected county commissioner in 2002. In 2006, he ran unopposed and won re-election. Before elected to the commission, he served eight years on the Pojoaque Valley School Board, and he is a past president of the state school board association.

He’s a native New Mexican who has been married to Doris for 28 years. They have two children, Brian, 27 and Angelo, 22, and three grandchildren. He is CEO of Hand Across Culture Corp., a non-profit agency involved in community mobilization efforts that includes educational, health and social services programs.

Montoya has a master’s degree in counseling psychology from New Mexico State University and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Westmar University in LeMars, Iowa.

The commissioner is the head of the State Land Office, which manages land held in trust primarily for public schools.

“Oil and gas continue to be the backbone of our state, but we must diversify our energy economy in order to provide new jobs, new opportunities and new funding sources for the Land Grant Permanent Fund,” Cornelius said in a news release.

Cornelius had previously announced that he had formed an exploratory committee “with the intent” to run, and he’s been traveling the state since early June to campaign.

In today’s news release announcing his candidacy, Cornelius said he plans to “advocate a for a more sound energy policy for New Mexico.”

“All points of view need a seat at the table. We must be straight forward with the citizens of New Mexico and admit that our current policies are not working,” he said. “Over-regulation for regulation sake, to appease a few while hurting the many, must end.”

If various parties work together, Cornelius said, “we can create a sound policy that protects jobs, protects families, protects the environment, and protects the solvency of the Land Grant Permanent Fund.”

Above all, Cornelius said, he plans to “take the necessary steps to ensure that the State Land Office is transparently accountable, fiscally prudent and thoroughly efficient.”

Cornelius is a former executive director of the Bernalillo County Republican Party. He briefly entered the 2nd Congressional District race in 2008 but ultimately didn’t file to run in the Republican primary. He has recently been working for the Public Regulation Commission in Santa Fe, assisting investigations of those who are suspected of committing fraud against New Mexicans.

Cornelius, who grew up in Tatum, is also part owner of a company that is looking to bring a biogas plant to southeastern New Mexico.

He’s not the only Republican to declare his candidacy for the seat, which is being vacated next year by Republican Pat Lyons, who is term-limited from seeking re-election. Retired law-enforcement agent Errol Chavez, a Republican who lives in Las Cruces, is also running for land commissioner.

Former State Land Commissioner Ray Powell is the only Democrat who has announced his candidacy for the seat, but former two-term Attorney General Patricia Madrid has said she’s thinking about running.

“Always thinking of options and this is one of them, but way too soon to contemplate details,” Madrid wrote in response to an e-mail asking if she’s thinking about running for land commissioner.

Madrid’s name most recently surfaced in November when The Politico reported that she was on the short list for interior secretary in President Barack Obama’s administration. It’s a job that instead went to former U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo.

Madrid, a Democrat who is originally from Las Cruces, became the first woman elected to be a district court judge in New Mexico in 1978 when she won a judgeship in Albuquerque. In 1998, she was elected attorney general, and she won re-election in 2002.

In 2006, Madrid ran against then-U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., but lost by fewer than 1,000 votes out of about 211,000 cast.

Since 2007, Madrid has worked as a consultant to a high-powered Washington law firm that represents some of the companies she took to court on behalf of New Mexico’s citizens as AG. Madrid has also said she may run for governor in 2010, but few expect that to happen.

The current land commissioner, Republican Pat Lyons, is term-limited from seeking re-election and is instead running for a spot on the Public Regulation Commission next year. Former state Land Commissioner Ray Powell is the only Democrat who has announced his candidacy for the seat.

On the Republican side, retired law-enforcement agent Errol Chavez is running for land commissioner, and GOP activist Bob Cornelius has formed an exploratory committee “with the intent to seek” the office.

Errol Chavez, 60, said in a phone interview that he is running because he has been disappointed with “poor strategy” and “infighting” that has hampered the GOP in recent elections. He considered running for Congress, but ultimately decided that his executive experience in law enforcement made land commissioner a better fit.

“To run the office you need an executive with the experience to control budgets, deal with regulations,” he said.

The other Republican hopeful is former congressional candidate and Bernalillo County GOP executive director Bob Cornelius. Former state Land Commissioner Ray Powell is the only Democrat who has announced his candidacy.

They’re vying to replace current Land Commissioner Pat Lyons, a Republican who is term-limited from seeking re-election.

Chavez, who grew up in Española, spent 31 years with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration before moving to Las Cruces in 2004 to be director of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program for the state. The program seeks to improve efforts by local, state and federal officials to stop drug trafficking through coordination and providing equipment, technology and other resources.

Chavez has since left that position.

He has served as president of the Hispanic American Police Command Officers Association and International Narcotic Enforcement Officers Association. Chavez said he has been traveling the state since February to meet with people and learn about issues the land office deals with.

Chavez said his lack of political experience means he can “bring some fresh blood into the state land office without the political ties and baggage that’s out there.”

Without being asked, Chavez brought up the controversy Lyons has faced over his dealings with Las Cruces developer Philip Philippou. Lyons agreed to lease thousands of acres in Las Cruces to Philippou in 2006 and, around the same time, received approximately $30,000 in campaign contributions from Philippou and a political committee and lobbyists tied to the developer.

It’s a land deal Attorney General Gary King has said is flawed. The AG’s formal opinion states that the lease agreement’s method of compensating Philippou’s company for developing the land is “not comprehended by and in conflict with” a statute that allows developers who improve land for the state to be compensated only for the appraised value of the improvements.

Chavez said he has discussed the situation with Lyons and others, and while he doesn’t believe anything illegal happened, he thinks Lyons could have handled the situation better.

“People were not properly informed… fairness is a question, as is communication,” Chavez said.

He added that he’s big on transparency and believes his law enforcement experience means he will “be able to handle the issues without a hint of corruption.”