Kernan maintains lead over Palmer

Hobbs lawmaker Gay Kernan late Tuesday looked as if she may hold onto her Senate seat.

Kernan held a 59-41 percent lead over opponent William Palmer for the Senate District 42 Republican seat, according to Palmer and the Secretary of State’s Web site.

Kernan had received 1,136 votes and Palmer 788. More than 50 percent of the precincts statewide had been reported.

In Curry County, Kernan 48 percent or 139 votes, while Palmer had 51.9 percent or 150 votes. In Roosevelt County, Kernan had 63 percent or 155 votes, while Palmer had 37 percent or 91 votes.

The winner of the race will face no Democratic competition in November.

Kernan, 57, said she was pleased to be leading, but had not declared victory by 10 p.m.

“It’s always better to be in the lead,” she said. “This isn’t over though. There are still precincts out. We want to see the final numbers. But I am pleased with my position at this point.”

While Palmer, 41, a Lovington oil man, was also waiting for more votes to trickle in, he said he figured the chance of him pulling ahead of Kernan was pretty unlikely.

“I still want to see all of the votes,” he said. “Not all are being reported from Curry County and I felt good about Curry. But it’s going to be hard to overcome Gay’s lead. We’ll just have to see what else comes in.”

The election between Kernan and Palmer has been filled with words traded between supporters of the two camps, setting up a unique showdown on Tuesday.

“I’m not surprised at all that this is so close,” Kernan said. “I knew this would be this close and that’s why I was out working so hard to get votes. This is exactly what we thought this would be like. We will stay late tonight to find out who wins.”

Palmer also said he expected a close race.

“I prayed to God that I would get 50 percent, plus one,” he said.

Kernan, who is a school teacher, said she spent Election Day visiting different polling sites around the district, checking to see what turnout was like.

“It was really low everywhere,” she said.