New Mexico Senate Election: How Many Voters Will Turn Out

Incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján will face Republican Larry Marker on the Nov. 3 general election ballot for New Mexico's U.S. Senate seat, a six-year term paying $174,000 annually. Luján won his primary decisively, while the state Republican Party failed to field an official candidate, prompting Marker, a Roswell oil and gas businessman, to mount a write-in campaign that drew nearly as many votes as Luján's primary opponent.

Luján, in office since 2020 and a veteran of New Mexico politics, cites the cost of living and water access as top priorities, touts legislation like the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, and has criticized Trump administration policies on tariffs, Medicaid and immigration enforcement. Marker, making his first bid for statewide office after previous unsuccessful runs, is focused on stabilizing Social Security, reducing federal debt, and supporting oil, gas and ranching industries, while expressing measured support for Trump's agenda. Republicans haven't won statewide in New Mexico in a decade, but Marker points to shifting voter registration trends as reason for optimism.

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez has sued Jeffrey Epstein's longtime attorney Darren Indyke and accountant Richard Kahn, accusing them of concealing Epstein's sex trafficking operation at his Zorro Ranch near Santa Fe. The suit seeks to block the pair from receiving payments from Epstein's estate, valued at more than $100 million, arguing those funds should instead go to survivors. Torrez said the abuse "could [not] be done by just one man" and was facilitated by handlers, lawyers and accountants who have faced no real consequences.

Indyke and Kahn have told Congress they were unaware of the abuse, a claim Torrez disputes. Witnesses at Ghislaine Maxwell's trial alleged abuse occurred at the ranch, which Epstein bought in 1993 and later sold to the family of Texas Comptroller Don Huffines; probate proceedings continue in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

A Texas House committee held a hearing to examine the legal, fiscal, and constitutional questions surrounding a potential annexation of New Mexico territory. The House Select Committee on Governmental Oversight, chaired by Rep. Cody Vasut, R-Angleton, took invited and public testimony on the Texas-New Mexico boundary but did not vote on any annexation measure.

The inquiry stems from an interim charge issued by House Speaker Dustin Burrows, directing lawmakers to study what it would take to add one or more contiguous New Mexico counties to Texas, including constitutional and statutory hurdles at both the state and federal level. The dispute traces back to boundary lines set by the Compromise of 1850.

The study follows a New Mexico legislative proposal earlier this year that would have let border counties petition to secede and join an adjoining state, requiring voter petitions, special elections, county approval, debt settlement, and ultimately an act of Congress. That congressional requirement remains the central obstacle to any real annexation effort.
Texas lawmakers are studying the legal and fiscal feasibility of annexing New Mexico counties, though no vote is planned.

Sheryl Williams Stapleton, a former New Mexico House majority leader and Albuquerque Public Schools administrator, pleaded guilty to state fraud and money laundering charges, three weeks after a federal jury convicted her of dozens of similar charges in a related case. State prosecutors had charged her with money laundering, racketeering and other counts in 2021, ahead of an October trial. Under the plea deal, all but four charges were dropped, with an agreed 10.5-year prison sentence and more than $1.8 million in restitution. A New Mexico Department of Justice spokesperson said the plea holds Stapleton accountable for defrauding taxpayers, and noted the federal sentence will exceed what the state system alone could impose.

Prosecutors say Stapleton, as the district's career and technical education director, steered more than $3 million in federal vocational education funds to Robotics Management Learning Systems LLC, a Washington, D.C.-based company owned by her friend and federal co-defendant Joseph Johnson, by pushing its invoices through procurement while he supplied blank checks to her. She resigned from the legislature and was fired by the district after a 2021 search of her home. Both she and Johnson, also convicted federally, have yet to be sentenced and have signaled plans to appeal.

New Mexico has filed a lawsuit against Jeffrey Epstein's longtime attorney and accountant, accusing them of knowingly concealing his sex trafficking operation and enabling abuse to continue for years. The suit alleges the two professionals provided legal and financial services that helped shield Epstein's activities from scrutiny, despite warning signs. New Mexico officials argue the pair bear responsibility for facilitating harm to victims by failing to report or act on suspicious conduct. The case adds to the broader legal fallout from Epstein's case, which continues to produce new litigation against associates accused of enabling his crimes, as survivors and state authorities pursue accountability beyond Epstein himself.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation banning marriage for anyone under 18, making California the 18th state in the past decade to enact an absolute minimum marriage age. The state had been one of only three, alongside New Mexico and Mississippi, with no minimum age, allowing minors to marry with parental consent and a judge's approval.

The ban follows a nearly decade-long push by advocates and survivors of forced marriage, who argue children cannot meaningfully consent to marriage and that the previous system created a loophole around California's statutory rape laws. A 2018 compromise law had only added screening for coercion and abuse rather than an outright ban, after opposition from the ACLU, the Children's Law Center and Planned Parenthood over concerns about minors' reproductive and health care autonomy. Planned Parenthood did not oppose this year's bill, saying it was focused on other priorities, while the ACLU maintained its opposition, citing lost legal protections for minors. Research cited by advocates links child marriage to higher poverty, school dropout and health risks for girls.

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed it issued a waiver on Oct. 2 suspending New Mexico's Water Code to secure groundwater for border wall construction, fueling an ongoing dispute between the state and federal government. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin's directive, published in the Federal Register, cited the El Paso Sector's status as an "area of high illegal entry" to justify bypassing state water protections for road building, concrete production, and dust suppression.

New Mexico officials, including state engineer's office counsel Nathaniel Chakeres, called the move unconstitutional, arguing the state's water belongs to the public under its constitution. Officials say Customs and Border Protection has continued pumping from unpermitted wells despite agreeing to pause new drilling, and described unsafe well conditions risking groundwater contamination. The conflict follows months of tension, including a land dispute with a Catholic diocese, farmer complaints over aquifer depletion, and an August lawsuit by the state against the federal government and its contractors over unauthorized drilling near the border.

New Mexico Acting Gov. Howie Morales declared a state of emergency on Sept. 30 as flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Polo damaged infrastructure, cut off transportation routes, and threatened homes across the state. Morales signed five executive orders, each releasing $750,000 in immediate assistance, putting up to $3.75 million toward response and recovery through the state's Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Funds can cover temporary lodging, shelter, healthcare, food, and transportation, and the National Guard may be deployed if local authorities need help.

Parts of the state are under evacuation orders. In Doña Ana County, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning after officials warned McLeod Dam was at risk of imminent failure, raising fears of life-threatening flooding downstream. The Hatch Valley Public School District closed schools due to impassable roads, and Ruidoso issued a voluntary evacuation notice over landslide risk. More rain is forecast.