House District 37 candidates split over filling vacancy before November election
House District 37 candidates Isabella Solis and Lori Martinez disagree over whether the vacant Las Cruces-area legislative seat should be filled before voters choose a representative in November.
Republican Isabella Solis says appointing Democratic nominee Lori Martinez would alter the race; Martinez says the district should not remain without representation through the end of the year
Damien Willis, Organ Mountain News
LAS CRUCES - The two candidates seeking to represent New Mexico House District 37 are sharply divided over whether someone should fill the vacant legislative seat before voters choose its next representative in November.
Republican nominee Isabella Solis argues that appointing Democratic nominee Lori Martinez before the election would give her opponent the advantages of incumbency and allow political officials and outside interests to influence a contested race.
Lori Martinez acknowledges that incumbents generally have an advantage, but says that does not justify leaving District 37 without representation for the remainder of the year. She is calling for the Doña Ana County Commission to establish a transparent process and fill the vacancy promptly, regardless of who is ultimately selected.
Their disagreement follows the July 31 retirement of longtime Democratic Rep. Joanne Ferrary, who represented the Las Cruces-area district for nearly a decade.
House Speaker Javier Martínez has urged county commissioners to fill the vacancy and asked them to give Lori Martinez their “highest consideration.” Lori Martinez won the Democratic primary in June and will face Solis in the Nov. 3 general election for the full two-year term beginning in January.
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Solis: Appointment would tilt the race
In a letter submitted to Organ Mountain News, Solis argued that voters — rather than elected officials or political interests — should determine who represents the district.
“The people of House District 37 deserve a representative chosen by the people who live here — not a candidate selected by powerful interests outside our community,” Solis wrote.
Solis specifically argued that trial lawyers from outside Doña Ana County supported Lori Martinez during the Democratic primary and questioned the influence of the legal profession in the Legislature. She did not provide documentation with her letter supporting the claim about outside trial-lawyer involvement.
“District 37 needs a representative who answers to the people who call this district home — not to Santa Fe insiders, political power brokers or industries that helped put them in office,” Solis wrote.
She concluded:
“The people who live here should be the ones to decide.
“Not the Speaker. Not outside trial lawyers. Not political insiders.
“The voters of District 37.”
The Republican Party of New Mexico raised a similar objection Tuesday, describing a potential appointment of Lori Martinez as “election interference” and arguing that it would give her the benefits of incumbency shortly before early voting begins.
“By appointing the Democrat candidate as the interim replacement just 56 days before early voting begins, so that person can have the benefits of incumbency, Democrats are outright interfering with a contested election,” RPNM Interim Chairman Mike Nelson said in a statement.
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Support Organ Mountain NewsLori Martinez: District should not remain unrepresented
Lori Martinez, however, told Organ Mountain News that the first question commissioners should address is how to fill the seat transparently and in time for District 37 residents to have representation during the remainder of Ferrary’s term.
“I believe the County Commission first and foremost should put forward a clear and transparent process as to how they plan to fill the seat in a timely manner,” Lori Martinez said. “The public deserves that. The constituents of House District 37 deserve that. They also deserve to not be left without representation for the remainder of the year.”
Lori Martinez said she would put her own name forward if commissioners open an appointment process, but said Solis and other interested candidates should also have the opportunity to seek the appointment.
“As the Democratic candidate running for the seat, I would obviously put my name forward for consideration,” Lori Martinez said. “I would expect my republican opponent to do so as well. And it’s entirely reasonable to expect others would, too.”
On the question of whether an appointment would give her an advantage in November, Lori Martinez acknowledged the premise before rejecting the Republican argument that such an advantage would make the appointment unfair.
“Historically speaking, incumbents have an advantage over non-incumbents. Most people who pay attention to politics know that,” she said.
But Lori Martinez argued Republicans have accepted the same appointment process when their own party stood to benefit. She pointed to what she described as recent appointments to Republican-held House Districts 3 and 59 and accused Republican leaders of applying a different standard in District 37.
“As to the assertion that it gives an unfair advantage in this case, I would say it’s hard to keep a straight face hearing Minority Leader Representative (Gail) Armstrong make that claim given she seems to have no problem with it when her party benefits,” Lori Martinez said.
Speaker Javier Martínez made a similar argument in his July 30 letter to the County Commission, saying filling the remainder of Ferrary’s term and choosing the district’s representative for the next full term are separate decisions.
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“The Commission is in no way being asked to determine who will represent the district for the next two-year term,” Speaker Martínez wrote. “That decision remains, as it always has, with voters this November.”
Speaker Martínez also said the same vacancy process has been used for Republican-held legislative seats.
“The process for filling vacancies remains the same regardless of which party currently holds the seat or which party may benefit from filling it,” Speaker Martínez wrote.
He specifically encouraged commissioners to consider Lori Martinez for the appointment.
“If the state’s appointment process is appropriate for filling Republican vacancies, it is equally appropriate for filling the current Democratic vacancy,” Speaker Martínez wrote.
Lori Martinez said the district still has substantive legislative and constituent work underway before the next full term begins in January.
She pointed to state agency budgets being drafted, conversations over capital outlay and Government Results and Opportunity funding, preparation of legislation for the 2027 session, interim committee meetings and constituent casework.
“Contrary to what my Republican opponent Ms. Solis says, there are important things happening during the interim and we can’t afford to wait until November for the district to be represented,” Lori Martinez said.
“No matter what, in November the voters will decide who fills the seat and represents the district in 2027/2028,” she said. “The question right now is who will represent the needs of HD37 for the remainder of the year.”
Lori Martinez said she wants commissioners to act even if they ultimately choose someone else.
“There is a way to fill the seat in a timely and transparent manner, and I hope they do so, regardless of whether I’m the person who is appointed,” she said.
Solis’ argument is fundamentally different. She contends that appointing one of the candidates already seeking the seat would affect the political balance of the race before voters have their say.
“This is about more than one appointment,” Solis wrote. “It is about whether District 37 gets a representative who is working for them — or another hand-picked vote for the Santa Fe political establishment.”
The dispute leaves two overlapping questions for county commissioners: whether District 37 should remain vacant for the rest of Ferrary’s term and whether filling that vacancy with one of the candidates on the November ballot would materially alter the election.
Whatever happens with the remainder of Ferrary’s term, voters will choose between Lori Martinez and Solis on Nov. 3 for the next full two-year term.
Damien Willis is founder and editor of Organ Mountain News. If you have a personal story to share or a lead we should follow up on, reach out at OrganMountainNews@gmail.com or connect with him on X at @damienwillis.
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