The Las Cruces Democrat defeated Republican Ben Luna Jr. with 61.4% of the vote, expanding her winning margin from 158 votes two years ago to 1,772.

Damien Willis, Organ Mountain News

LAS CRUCES - Democratic Rep. Sarah Angelina Silva won a second term representing New Mexico House District 53 on Tuesday, defeating Republican challenger Ben Luna Jr. by a substantially wider margin than in her first election two years ago.

Unofficial results from the New Mexico secretary of state's office showed Silva with 4,759 votes, or 61.4%, compared with 2,987 votes, or 38.6%, for Luna.

Silva won by 1,772 votes, more than 11 times her 158-vote margin in 2024. All 25 precincts in the district were fully reporting, according to the secretary of state's results portal Wednesday morning.

District 53 includes portions of Doña Ana and Otero counties. The results reflect votes across the full district.

Silva first won the seat in 2024, defeating Republican Elizabeth Winterrowd with 4,871 votes to Winterrowd's 4,713, according to official results from the secretary of state's office.

The latest figures were drawn from an official results export downloaded at 7:47 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4. Election results remain unofficial pending certification.

Candidates outlined different priorities

Luna, a Chaparral business owner and journeyman electrician profiled by the New Mexico Sentinel, emphasized infrastructure improvements, workforce development and health care recruitment.

In a candidate questionnaire published by Source New Mexico, Luna described walking eroded neighborhood roads in Chaparral with a resident, photographing the damage and bringing the issue to the Doña Ana County Commission.

He said those local infrastructure needs deserved priority over Project Jupiter, the data center development in Santa Teresa, which he noted is outside District 53.

Luna also called for expanding opportunities for young New Mexicans to enter skilled trades. He argued that housing costs and gross receipts taxes make it more difficult for the state to attract and retain health care workers.

Silva told Source New Mexico that she wanted to pursue an excise tax on artificial intelligence data centers and stronger state oversight of independent power plants, including the facility proposed for Project Jupiter.

She said she would support a temporary pause on new data centers if lawmakers needed additional time to develop appropriate regulations.

Silva also emphasized career and technical education and expanding opportunities for students to pursue union jobs.

Lobbying disclosure and water policy

Silva identified lobbying transparency as another legislative priority.

She and Sen. Jeff Steinborn, both Las Cruces Democrats, introduced House Bill 35 during the 2026 legislative session. The measure would have required lobbyists and their employers to disclose which bills they worked on and the positions they took.

In January reporting by Source New Mexico, Silva said the sponsors had revised their proposal after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham vetoed an earlier version in 2025.

The Legislature's official record shows that action on HB35 was postponed indefinitely. Neither chamber passed the bill, and it did not become law.

Water policy also distinguished the candidates' proposals.

In the League of Women Voters of Southern New Mexico's 2026 voters' guide, Luna cited Rio Rancho's water recycling efforts as an approach he wanted to pursue.

Silva called for mapping aquifers to guide decisions about water use and giving residents more input into decisions involving the purchase and retirement of water rights.

Organ Mountain News contacted both candidates for comment, but neither had responded by the time of publication.

All election results remain unofficial until certified by the state.

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.