The filing deadline for candidates running for Congress in New Mexico this year was March 24, 2022. Eight candidates are running for New Mexico’s three U.S. House districts, including four Democrats and four Republicans. That’s 2.67 candidates per district, less than the 6.3 candidates per district in 2020 and the five in 2018.
Here are some other highlights from this year’s filings:
- This is the first election to take place under new district lines following the 2020 census. New Mexico was apportioned three districts, the same number it was apportioned after the 2010 census.
- The eight candidates running this year are the fewest candidates running for New Mexico’s U.S. House seats since 2016, when seven candidates filed.
- All three incumbents are running for re-election, meaning there are no open seats.
- There are two contested primaries this year, the fewest since 2016, when there was one contested primary.
- Candidates filed to run in the Republican and Democratic primaries in all three districts, so no seats are guaranteed to either party this year.
- No incumbents are facing primary challengers this year. The last year an incumbent was in a contested primary was 2014, when then-incumbent Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D) and Robert Blanch ran in the 3rd Congressional District.
New Mexico and six other states — California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota — are holding primary elections on June 7. In New Mexico, the winner of a primary election is the candidate who receives the greatest number of votes, even if he or she does not win more than 50 percent of votes cast.
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