2022 midterm election results shift balance in New Mexico Roundhouse

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Election night ended with changes at the Roundhouse. The Republican Party was hoping for a red wave, but a lot of New Mexico remains blue.

All 70 New Mexico House seats were up for grabs and across the state, we saw a few seats flip parties.

Republican wins

The current unofficial election numbers from the Secretary of State’s Office shows the Republicans were able to flip two seats for sure and another two are still in question.

One of the flips was up in District 23, that covers parts of Rio Rancho and Bernalillo. Now this is a re-drawn district but previously this area was held by a Democrat.

Republicans technically put District 66, in southeastern New Mexico, back in their column. The previous representative was a Republican turned independent.  

Automatic Recounts

Now there are two more seats expected to be flipped to the Republican party but the races are so close they are going to go into an automatic recount.

One of those races, District 32, down in southwest New Mexico near Demming had a difference of only 41 votes as of 6 p.m. Wednesday.

The next race in recount territory up in District 68 over on Albuquerque’s West side. This race keeps going back and forth. Wednesday afternoon the Republican candidate had a 12 vote lead but by 6 p.m. numbers flipped and the Democrat has a 30 vote lead. But this is still in the automatic recount range.

Democrat wins

The Republican party was hoping to grab a few more seats in the metro. Namely seats 27, 28, & 30 in the Northeast Heights and District 29 on the West side. They were hoping the surge in crime would push voters to the right but all four of those seats were all held by the Democrats.

While the Democrat held a majority of their seats they were also able to flip a few as well.

One was right here in the metro. District 44, covering Rio Rancho, Corrales, and the North Valley, was flipped blue. This district was also reshaped during the last census.

The second seat the Democrats were able to flip was down in the Southwest. District 38 was previously held by Republican governor hopeful, Rebecca Dow but now it in the hands of Democrat Tara Jaramillo.

Now with this handful of changes the breakdown of the house is looking like it will be 45 Democrats and 25 Republicans.