Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Quay County will have a new commissioner and a new assessor after Republican challengers triumphed over the current officeholders Tuesday during the general election.
Republican challenger Dallas Dowell, a rancher and retiree from NuStar Energy, won by nearly a 2-to-1 margin over Democratic incumbent District 1 Commissioner Robert Lopez, a farmer who also served as chairman of the body.
Dowell gained 2,311 votes compared to Lopez’s 1,233 in unofficial results announced by the Quay County Clerk’s Office about 45 minutes after polls closed. Lopez had been seeking his second consecutive term on the county commission.
“I’m kind of humbled,” Dowell said moments after his victory was announced in the county courthouse. “Got a lot to learn on what I’m supposed to do now (on the commission).
“Robert was a good guy and worked hard, but I managed to come out on top,” he added.
A message to Lopez requesting comment was not returned.
District 1 encompasses the northwest part of the county, with U.S. 54 and Interstate 40 as the primary southern boundaries and the San Miguel County line and south shores of Ute Lake as the northern boundaries.
District 2 Commissioner Jerri Rush, a Republican from Forrest, breezed to re-election against Libertarian challenger David Holman.
Rush gained 2,564 votes against Holman’s 623.
“I am humbled and grateful the people of Quay County saw fit to re-elect me, and I will try to do a good job,” Rush said.
District 2 encompasses much of the southwestern part of the county and the caprock.
In the county assessor’s race, GOP challenger Jefferson Byrd, a rancher and windmiller, won by more than 700 votes over current assessor Dana Leonard, a Democrat.
The county commission in March 2023 appointed Leonard as assessor after previous officeholder Janie Hoffman resigned because she and her husband were buying a title company in Tucumcari.
The county also will have newcomers several other offices, but they were unopposed:
— Veronica Manley, Democratic candidate for clerk;
— Theresa Lafferty, a Republican candidate for treasurer;
— Heidi Adams, a Republican candidate for district attorney.
In the presidential race, Republican candidate Donald Trump won by more than a 2-to-1 margin against Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
Current County Clerk Ellen White, who is retiring at the end of the year, reported 66% voter turnout, which is the highest in recent memory. That rate even beat the 64% turnout in the 2020 presidential election.
When the polls opened Tuesday morning at the Tucumcari Convention Center, 14 people were waiting in line to obtain a ballot. That line dissipated quickly within a few minutes.
Carolina Rubio of Tucumcari, stationed off to the side at the convention center, was one of six official election observer for the Republican Party in the county.
“I doin’t expect many problems,” she said. “It’s a small county.”
Shortly after the polls opened Tuesday, county election official Danny Wallace removed a Trump-Vance yard sign planted near the convention center’s Route 66 monument, deeming it too close for comfort to comply with the 100-foot electioneering rules.