Portales native wins CD3 race

The Republican Party of New Mexico announced Saturday that Portales native Alexis Johnson has been declared the winner in the Republican 3rd Congressional District Primary race.

The announcement came after a four-day delay so thousands of absentee votes could be counted.

According to the GOP announcement:

Johnson won the nomination with 37% of the vote. Harry Montoya took 35% and Karen Bedonie got 28%.

Officials still did not know Friday night who would face Democratic nominee Teresa Leger Fernandez in the November general election. Late Friday, Johnson was leading longtime Northern New Mexico civil servant Montoya by a 1.7 percent margin, only 737 votes.

Johnson and Leger Fernandez will battle for outgoing Rep. Ben Ray Luján’s seat.

Johnson was born in Portales but says on her website she grew up in Roswell and graduated high school in Las Cruces. She currently lives in Santa Fe.

Her unexpected support came after receiving just 11 percent of delegates’ backing at the GOP pre-primary convention, where delegates had overwhelmingly backed Montoya.

Despite lacking financial resources against the well-financed Leger Fernandez and Republicans being outnumbered nearly 2-to-1 in the safe Democratic district, Johnson said she remains optimistic. She said Friday in an interview at the warehouse where the vote count was still underway that she believes she can sway enough moderate Democrats to beat her Democratic opponent in November.

Montoya said much the same earlier last week despite slightly trailing Johnson. He argued he would appeal to the “heart and soul” of New Mexico residents who oppose abortion and want more conservative representation in Congress, although the district has elected only one Republican in its history.