As of 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, unofficial results from the Secretary of State’s office said Colón had 29.2 percent of the Democratic primary vote, against Rael’s 25 percent. Jose Campos II received 18.8 percent, Linda Lopez received 14.2 percent and progressive candidate Jerry Ortiz y Pino received 12.8 percent.

Colón “truly had a grassroots campaign, with over 1,700 individual donors,” the most money raised of any lieutenant governor in the country, said ActBlue, a Democratic fundraising website.

Colón will face Republican candidate John Sanchez in November.

“It’s been nerve-wracking waiting,” a smiling but subdued Rael told The Independent at the state Democratic Party watch party at 9:45 p.m. Tuesday, prior to conceding. “This was my first time running for public office.”

Rael conceded at 10:45 p.m. Tuesday.

Colón, an Albuquerque attorney raised in Los Lunas, emphasized the role of public schools in lifting New Mexicans out of poverty and improving the state’s economy. He has a law degree from UNM, and served as chairman of the state Democratic Party.

Rael noted very low turnout, blaming it partly on the holiday weekend.

“A lot of people probably didn’t realize it was election day,” he said. “Also, when you don’t have a competitive race at the Governor level, turnout’s not going to be high. At the end of the day, today was really about the Governor’s race. Hopefully voters are saving their energy for November.”

The economy will be the main issue in the November election, Rael said.

Things are still early — and much can change — but Martinez took the first battle.

Doug Turner had 9.92 percent of the early and absentee votes, Pete Domenici Jr. had 4.89 percent and Janice Arnold Jones had 2.99 percent of the early and absentee votes.

In the Democratic Lt. Gov. primary, Brian Colón took a narrow lead in early and absentee ballots in the state’s most populous county over Lawrence Rael – 32.15 percent to 30.30 percent.

On the Republican side, Kent Cravens and John Sanchez were in a very close race, which Cravens leading Sanchez 42.56 percent to 41.67 percent in Bernalillo County.

Afterward “The Line” guest panelists Phil Marquez of KIVA AM 1550 and UNM law professor Antoinette Sedillo Lopez will discuss the race.

Executive director of the Mid-Region Council of Governments Lawrence Rael had 13.5 percent of the vote, State Rep. Joe Campos had 12.9 percent, State Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino came in with 9.6 percent and State Sen. Linda Lopez was the pick of 8.9 percent of respondents.

“Brian has a seven point lead and unless the trend we are seeing in this survey is interrupted, he is positioned to win,” Republican political analyst Bruce Donisthorpe told Monahan.

Primary races are notoriously had to poll and more than a third of respondents were undecided in this poll. This could reflect that a primary for Lt. Gov. is a lower-tier race and does not have as much media attention on the race.

The poll does, however, have a somewhat high margin of error. Dialing Services, LLC surveyed 356 likely Democratic voters between 7:00 pm and 9:00 pm on May 12. The margin of error is 5.19 percent.

The primary election will be held on June 1.

Joe Campos (Photo by Heath Haussamen)

Joe Campos qualified to appear on the primary ballot for lieutenant governor on Saturday after all, the Democratic Party of New Mexico has decided.

The party says it’s required by state law to round up Campos’ 19.69 percent of delegate votes from the preprimary nominating convention to 20 percent – the threshold for qualifying for the ballot at the convention.

The ruling to reverse course and round up was made today by Party Chairman Javier Gonzales following a unanimous vote of the party’s judicial council in support of qualifying Campos for the ballot. That means the party will ask the Secretary of State’s Office to certify three lieutenant governor candidates as having qualified at Saturday’s convention – Campos, Brian Colón and Lawrence Rael.

“We’re back to work, rather us having to look for petition signatures, so obviously this is a lot better,” Campos said in an interview. “We’re going to keep pushing forward.”

Today’s ruling from the party is significant because, by law, those who fail to get 20 percent at the convention have to collect twice as many signatures as those who do get 20 percent if they want to appear on the ballot. And no candidate who has failed the organizational test of getting 20 percent at the convention has gone on to win the primary.

The statute the party cited in reversing courses states that, at any place in the election code “requiring counting or computation of numbers, any fraction or decimal greater than one-half of a whole number shall be counted as a whole number.”

“This is exactly why the Democratic Party of New Mexico waits three days before certifying, so everyone can thoroughly review the rules and make the right call,” attorney John Wertheim, a former state party chairman who was involved in the ruling, said. “In this case, the law is clear.”

The party originally announced Saturday that Colón had 34.3 percent of the vote, Rael had 21.9 percent, Campos had 19.9 percent, Jerry Ortiz y Pino had 18.86 percent and Linda Lopez had 5 percent. After a recount, Colón had 34.54 percent, Rael had 22.15 percent, Campos had 19.69 percent, Ortiz y Pino had 18.87 percent and Lopez had 4.73 percent.

Though Campos’ support fell slightly with the recount, it’s still above the 19.5 threshold at which the party would have rounded up.

Campos says he’ll keep leaping over ‘hurdles’

Campos said the new challenge to the party’s interpretation of the rules came only after a number of county party chairs complained. He said the original interpretation of the election code was an attempt to keep him off the ballot.

“It’s just tough running against the Richardson machine putting up hurdles,” he said. “We just have to keep leaping over them.”

Asked who was putting hurdles in his campaign’s path, Campos declined to specify. Richardson has not endorsed any candidate in the race, and he did not specifically accuse Richardson.

“What I’m saying is that there’s been hurdles. A lot of my supporters have been strong-armed. Donors have been threatened. It’s one after another,” he said.

Ortiz y Pino has said, though he didn’t qualify for the ballot Saturday, that he’s staying in the race.

What about Kokesh?

There’s another candidate, on the Republican side, who might be interested in the Democratic Party’s ruling. Republican 3rd Congressional District candidate Adam Kokesh won the support of 19.5 percent of delegates at his party’s preprimary convention on Saturday.

The GOP decided after considering the situation that the number should not be rounded up, citing the provision in the election code stating that “every candidate receiving twenty percent or more of the votes” at the convention qualified for the ballot.

Kokesh has said he’s staying in the race even though the party ruled that he didn’t qualify for the ballot at the preprimary convention.

The state GOP did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Update, 8:30 p.m.

Gonzales, the Democratic Party chairman, responded to Campos’ comments about “hurdles” and donors being “threatened” by saying that the state party has done nothing to try to keep Campos off the ballot.

“To the contrary,” Gonzales said, he made the decision earlier today to qualify Campos for the ballot “prior to any county party chair involvement” – despite what Campos claimed – and prior to the meeting of the judicial council. Gonzales said the council’s vote was simply to ratify his decision.

“I’m proud of the fact that we had a successful convention,” Gonzales said. “… At the end of the day, I’m glad that we were able to cite a law that allowed a candidate (Campos) access to the ballot.”

Meanwhile, state GOP spokeswoman Janel Causey said the party is “currently reviewing this matter” as it relates to Kokesh “to ensure that the party is in strict adherence with the law, and where applicable, rules, which determine when a candidate has reached the 20 percent threshold of delegate votes necessary to earn a place on the primary ballot.”

“The delegate voting shows we have a tight race among the top candidates. In the weeks leading to the June 1 primary, any one of the top candidates has the opportunity to break away from the pack and win the election,” he wrote in an e-mail to supporters. “My campaign team has shifted into high gear and we aim to take the lead.”

“I’ve competed in some tough elections in the past. I have challenges ahead in the upcoming campaign, but my whole career as a public servant is about meeting challenges head-on and with gusto,” he said.

Brian Colón finished first at the convention with the votes of 34.54 percent of delegates. Lawrence Rael finished second at 22.15 percent, while Campos finished with 19.69 percent, Jerry Ortiz y Pino finished with 18.87 percent, and Linda Lopez finished with 4.73 percent.

By law, those who fail to get 20 percent at the convention have to collect twice as many signatures as those who do get 20 percent if they want to appear on the ballot. And no candidate who has failed the organizational test of getting 20 percent at the convention has gone on to win the primary.

Ortiz y Pino said yesterday that he’s also staying in the race. Lopez hasn’t responded to an e-mail asking whether she’s staying in the race.

Ortiz y Pino wrote that a “race this close in the mainstream Democratic Party convention…. is simply reinforcing the basic idea that we began this campaign with.”

“That thought was that this year provides a great opportunity to mobilize progressive voters and to recapture the Democratic Party for its base: the working families of this state,” the e-mail states.

Brian Colón finished first at the convention with the votes of 34.54 percent of delegates. Lawrence Rael finished second at 22.15 percent, while Joe Campos finished with 19.69 percent, Ortiz y Pino finished with 18.87 percent, and Linda Lopez finished with 4.73 percent.

By law, those who fail to get 20 percent at the convention have to collect twice as many signatures as those who do get 20 percent if they want to appear on the ballot. And no candidate who has failed the organizational test of getting 20 percent at the convention has gone on to win the primary.

Campos and Lopez haven’t yet responded to e-mails asking whether they are staying in the race.

Here’s the ad:

tThe ad is airing on network television in the Albuquerque market and on cable throughout the state, according to the news release.

“Most people around the state already know Lawrence’s strong record of achievement,” said Steve Wedeen of Vaughn Wedeen Kuhn, the Albuquerque-based agency that produced the spot. “What we wanted to show was the unique power of his leadership, from his personal warmth to his integrity and commitment. We wanted to show Lawrence up close for the voters to see.”

Rael is running in the Democratic primary against former state Democratic Party Chairman Brian Colón, State Rep. Joe Campos of Santa Rosa and state Sens. Linda Lopez and Jerry Ortiz y Pino of Albuquerque.

Five Republicans have announced their candidacies for lieutenant governor — state Sen. Kent Cravens of Albuquerque, 2006 Republican gubernatorial candidate J.R. Damron, former state Rep. Brian Moore of Clayton, 2002 Republican gubernatorial nominee John Sanchez and Albuquerque nurse Bea Sheridan.

Jerry Ortiz y Pino (Photo by Heath Haussamen)

Jerry Ortiz y Pino says progressives have been “used” by the Democratic Party in New Mexico for a long time.

“We do the work. We lick the stamps… and do the rest of the grunt work,” he said, adding that, after Democrats win elections, they “turn to the business at hand, which is imitating the Republican Party.”

“How many times do we have to have the ball kicked out from under us before we realize this team isn’t for us?” asked Ortiz y Pino, a Democrat who’s running for lieutenant governor.

He’s banking his entire candidacy on motivating the party’s progressive base to support him.

“This is a great opportunity for the progressive wing of the party to assert itself,” he said during a recent interview in Las Cruces.

There are six Democrats in the race. The others are former state Democratic Party Chairman Brian Colón, State Rep. Jose Campos of Santa Rosa, state Sen. Linda Lopez of Albuquerque, former Mid-Region Council of Governments Executive Director Lawrence Rael and Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano.

Colón and Rael established themselves as formidable candidates in October by posting impressive fundraising reports, and Campos put in $50,000 of his own money to keep himself a contender. Ortiz y Pino said he hopes Campos also attracts significant support.

“If the three of them are busy cutting up the centrist wing of the party and split that vote, I have a chance to win,” Ortiz y Pino said.

He’s raised between $50,000 and $60,000 thus far, and is making a strong fundraising push before the legislative session begins in mid-January – when he’ll be barred from raising funds for 30 days. Ortiz y Pino said he hopes raise about $200,000 for his race.

That would put him at only about 40 percent of the $500,000 he expects Colón and Rael to raise.

Ortiz y Pino doesn’t plan television ads, saying he’s instead focusing on a ground game and motivating new voters who voted for Barack Obama in 2008 to come out again in 2010. Ortiz y Pino noted that those same voters didn’t turn out in the October municipal election in Albuquerque, but said there wasn’t an obvious progressive candidate in that race.

“We’ve got to give them a reason to come out,” he said.

Focusing on six issues

With motivating progressives in mind, Ortiz y Pino is focusing on six issues:

• Ethics reform: Ortiz y Pino said he supports Think New Mexico’s proposal to ban campaign contributions from state contractors and lobbyists. He also supports the creation of a 5-7 member ethics commission, whose members would be appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. And he favors the enactment of a whistleblower protection law.

“The Democratic Party has somehow gotten itself into this pay-to-play culture,” Ortiz y Pino said. “… We’ve got to change it.”

• Education: Ortiz y Pino wants to return the focus to a “varied curriculum” that includes more vocational education. Such education, he said, “has largely disappeared from our curriculum, and that was a huge mistake.”

“We don’t need No Child Left Behind testing to tell us education isn’t working when 50 percent of our students are dropping out,” he said.

He also wants to expand pre-Kindergarten and after-school programs.

• Environment: Ortiz y Pino said the state must protect itself from the “assault” from the oil and gas, dairy and uranium industries on the state’s ability to enforce environmental regulations.

He said, regardless of what the oil and gas industry claims, that the rate of drilling is dropping in New Mexico not because of regulations, but because of “the glut of oil and gas drilling” around the nation.

• Economy: Instead of giving in to industries’ demands for less regulation, Ortiz y Pino said the state should focus its economic development efforts on building the renewable energy industry by investing perhaps as much as 20 percent of the state’s severance tax funds — roughly $3 billion — to build transmissions lines and storage facilities.

“We can become a leader nationally in alternative energy,” he said. “We’ve got to think forward with this.”

Ortiz y Pino also favors raising taxes on the wealthiest New Mexicans and enacting some “sin taxes.” He said fixing the state’s budget crisis next year will probably involve a mix of $300 million or more in tax increases and perhaps $300 million in budget cuts, though he’s hoping for more federal stimulus money to reduce the amount that must be cut.

• Universal health care: Ortiz y Pino wants the state to enact the New Mexico Health Security Act, a proposal 15 years in the making that’s never had a hearing on the floor of the House or Senate.

The act would replace private insurance as the primary insurance for New Mexicans with a cooperative system in which people could choose their own doctors and benefits packages. Ortiz y Pino said the state would save billions of dollars over 10 years if it implemented the act. Insurance companies could still sell supplemental insurance.

The health-insurance industry opposes the act, but Ortiz y Pino said it’s time to tell the industry, “You guys have dropped the ball. You had your chance.”

Ortiz y Pino said he hopes pending federal reform will leave states with the ability to enact such a system.

• Gay marriage: Ortiz y Pino favors legalizing gay marriage.

“It’s just discriminatory to say you can’t get married,” Ortiz y Pino said.

Winning the progressive vote isn’t a given

But winning the progressive vote isn’t a guarantee for Ortiz y Pino. Although he appears to be the favorite candidate of many die-hard progressives, Colón also enjoys a great deal of support from progressive activists.

“Brian is one of the most likeable persons in the world,” Ortiz y Pino said, but added that he’s “clearly Bill Richardson‘s candidate in this race.” Ortiz y Pino said that “scares me.”

That’s because, though Richardson has been good on some issues like the death penalty and domestic partner benefits, he has also reduced taxes on the wealthy “so that we’re now upside down.”

“I don’t think this has been a progressive administration,” said Ortiz y Pino, who has also taken Richardson to task recently over his proposal to end double dipping but exempt current double dippers.

“With Brian, what you get is the Bill Richardson machinery for eight more years (as lieutenant governor), and then eight more years as governor,” Ortiz y Pino said.

Ortiz y Pino, by contrast, said he’ll be 76 when the 2018 election comes around, and won’t be running for governor. He said he’s not looking to the office of lieutenant governor as a stepping stone.

Ortiz y Pino had kind words for Rael, for whom he once worked at the City of Albuquerque, but said the job of lieutenant governor isn’t the right fit for him.

“Lawrence is very good at what he does,” Ortiz y Pino said. “My concern is that he doesn’t have much vision about what he would do as lieutenant governor. He’ll get done what the governor wants done.”

“It’s the wrong job for his talent,” Ortiz y Pino said. “He probably would make a good governor, because it’s more of a management position.”

Ortiz y Pino said Rael also might make a good chief of staff for the next governor.

The only Democrat in the race for governor, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, is nearly certain to win in November, Ortiz y Pino said, so the Democratic lieutenant governor primary is the real battle over what type of administration the next will be. And while Denish is good on some progressive issues, Ortiz y Pino said she has more of a “low-key, moderate style.”

“I think the safest thing for her is to have a running mate who’s not a clone of herself,” he said.

That total includes almost $113,000 in individual contributions and $19,500 in in-kind contributions. He also loaned his campaign $15,000, according to a finance report you can view by clicking here.

“This is quite humbling for someone like me who grew up with a single mom and seven brothers and sisters in a small village in northern New Mexico,” Rael said in a news release. “The support I’ve received shows that if you work hard every day and have integrity, anything is possible.”

Rael spent just under $23,000 and finished the reporting period with a little more than $105,000 in on-hand cash.

The only other lieutenant governor candidate who has released his finance report is Democrat Greg Solano, whose finance report says he raised $11,865 and spent $7,192.50.