Easy wins for tax, sheriff

Quay County’s sheriff easily won re-election, and a renewal of a gross-receipts tax for Tucumcari’s hospital breezed to victory on Election Day.

The campaign for sheriff was the only Quay County contested race. According to certified results from the county clerk’s office, incumbent Sheriff Russell Shafer, a Republican, earned 1,955 votes, or nearly 64 percent, compared to the 1,102 votes for Democratic challenger Reyes Gonzales, a Tucumcari police officer.

Gonzales eked out a 442-433 edge in voting at the Tucumcari Convention Center but sustained heavy losses in outlying precincts of the county, including Logan by a 5-to-1 margin.

“It was a learning experience that I really enjoyed,” Gonzales said about his first bid for public office. “I guess I could have gotten out and knocked on some more doors. I thank everyone for the support I got.”

Gonzales said he wouldn’t discount the possibility of running again.

“Maybe there’ll be a next time,” he said. “Who knows?”

Shafer said his re-election indicates voters are satisfied with his performance.

“I made a promise to the people four years ago that I would bring this office to a higher level of law enforcement,” he said Tuesday night. “I’ve done that. Now I can practice it for four more years without the worry of an election. I can assure you I’ll keep it going. I’ll make it better than it was when I got here.”

Approval of a continuation of a gross-receipts tax for Dan C. Trigg Memorial Hospital earned 2,353 votes, or just shy of 80 percent of the vote, compared to 605 “no” votes. The tax brings in about $200,000 annually to Tucumcari’s hospital. Quay County and other area officials had urged the renewal’s passage.

Magistrate judge Timothy James O’Quinn, District 3 county commissioner Franklin McCasland, county assessor Janie Hoffman and probate judge Nelda Burson were unopposed for election.

County Clerk Ellen White said voter turnout in Quay County was 52 percent, which was higher than any her office had counted in the last 20 years, including presidential elections. A total of 3,134 people voted out of 5,976 registered in the county.

Other Quay County election results of note, compared to state results:

• County voters picked Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Pearce (63 percent) over Democratic candidate Michelle Lujan Grisham. Statewide, Lujan Grisham captured the office by nearly 57 percent over Pearce’s 43 percent.

That divergence repeated itself in other state races — including secretary of state, state auditor, state treasurer, attorney general, commissioner of public lands, state Supreme Court, court of appeals, U.S. senate and U.S. representative District 3 — where the Republican candidate won in Quay County, but the Democrat prevailed in New Mexico.

• Quay County and New Mexico voters each passed the two constitutional questions and four bond questions by mostly comfortable margins. Voters approved most of the questions by 65 percent to 75 percent of the vote. The only somewhat close vote was Constitutional Amendment 1, which gives the state legislature authority to provide for appellate jurisdiction by statute. In Quay County, it passed with less than 52 percent of the vote. In the state, it passed with 58 percent.

Mesalands Community College in Tucumcari campaigned for the passage of bond questions B and D, which will provide more than $800,000 for campus renovations and boosting its library. Tucumcari Public Library will get about $14,900 from Question B’s passage, and area school libraries will receive more money, as well. Question A’s passage will provide about $208,000 for the Tucumcari Senior Center for renovations. Question C’s passage allows school districts to buy new buses.

n In District 67 for state representative, Republican candidate Jack Chatfield prevailed over Democratic hopeful Mark McDonald by 62 percent to 38 percent in the district. In Quay County, Chatfield earned nearly 64 percent of the vote.

• In District 2 for public regulation commissioner, Jefferson Byrd, a Republican, prevailed over Democratic candidate Kevin Sanders. In Quay County, Byrd earned nearly 60 percent of the vote. In the district, Byrd got 62 percent.