John Morton (New Mexico)

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

John C. Morton

Republican Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

June 4, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

University of Idaho, 1981

Military

Years of service

1977 - 2005

Personal

Religion

Episcopalian

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

John C. Morton (Republican Party) ran for election to the New Mexico State Senate to represent District 21. He lost in the Republican primary on June 4, 2024.

Biography

John Morton was born in Virginia. He obtained an undergraduate degree from the University of Idaho in January 1981. Morton served in the U.S. Air Force from 1977 to 2005. His professional experience includes working in the U.S. Department of Energy. He is a unit commissioner for the Boy Scouts of America.

Elections

2024

See also: New Mexico State Senate elections, 2024

General election

General election for New Mexico State Senate District 21

Nicole L. Tobiassen defeated Athena Christodoulou in the general election for New Mexico State Senate District 21 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Nicole L. Tobiassen (R)	52.8	15,719
		Athena Christodoulou (D)	47.2	14,048

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 29,767
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for New Mexico State Senate District 21

Athena Christodoulou defeated Philip A. Snedeker in the Democratic primary for New Mexico State Senate District 21 on June 4, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Athena Christodoulou	76.1	2,827
	Submit photo	Philip A. Snedeker	23.9	888

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 3,715
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for New Mexico State Senate District 21

Nicole L. Tobiassen defeated Michael C. Wiener and John C. Morton in the Republican primary for New Mexico State Senate District 21 on June 4, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Nicole L. Tobiassen	44.0	1,832
	Submit photo	Michael C. Wiener	30.4	1,269
		John C. Morton	25.6	1,067

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 4,168
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Morton in this election.

2020

See also: New Mexico State Senate elections, 2020

General election

General election for New Mexico State Senate District 20

Martin Hickey defeated John C. Morton in the general election for New Mexico State Senate District 20 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Martin Hickey (D)	54.1	15,101
		John C. Morton (R)	45.9	12,808

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 27,909
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for New Mexico State Senate District 20

Martin Hickey defeated Rebecca Stair, Idalia Lechuga-Tena, and Nancy Savage in the Democratic primary for New Mexico State Senate District 20 on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Martin Hickey	32.2	2,249
		Rebecca Stair	30.1	2,102
		Idalia Lechuga-Tena	21.9	1,532
		Nancy Savage	15.7	1,099

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 6,982
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for New Mexico State Senate District 20

John C. Morton defeated Karin Foster in the Republican primary for New Mexico State Senate District 20 on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		John C. Morton	55.9	3,070
	Submit photo	Karin Foster	44.1	2,424

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 5,494
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

John C. Morton did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

John C. Morton completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Morton's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

John C. Morton is a conservative Republican candidate for New Mexico Senate District 20. As your senator, John will fight to rebuild the economy, protect the unborn, protect the 2nd Amendment, and reform education.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Rebuild our economy - bring jobs to NM
• Reform education - make students job-ready
• Fight crime - stop violent offenders

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

1. I believe that everyone in New Mexico deserves to live in safe neighborhoods without the fear of violent perpetrators roaming our streets. I will work to propose stricter penalties for violent offenders to Stop the Revolving Door of "Catch and Release." I will help to secure the border with Mexico to prevent illegal immigrants crossing into New Mexico. I will enforce legislation to end sanctuary/illegal immigration friendly cities and counties and hold those responsible for sheltering illegal immigrants who commit violent crimes. I will propose legalization to change magistrate courts to courts of record this will help to improve the court system in New Mexico. I will also protect your Second Amendment Rights to defend against violent criminals.

2. The New Mexico public school system currently fails many New Mexico students. I would propose legislation to improve our education system by holding school districts accountable for results. We should overhaul New Mexico education by providing vocational education to the level of apprenticeship certification at graduation for all New Mexico High School Students not planning to attend college. This will reduce dropout rates, attract industry, and make students self-reliant.

3.I'm running to make New Mexico a more prosperous state to live, work and raise a family. New Mexico needs to be a business-friendly by diversifying our economy. I will propose legislation to eliminate burdensome regulations, and wasteful spen

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

I look up to Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan and try to live up to their ideals of integrity, service and excellence.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

They must have integrity, be dedicated to service, and seek to excel in their position.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I'm a good listener, I speak truth to power, I'm going to be responsive to to constituents, working for the people.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

When my father was based in Stuttgart, Germany I got up early to watch the moon landing on July 20, 1969 in the living room of ourbase housing.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My first job was mowing the lawn at the Eglin AF Base base exchange and worked at the Eglin AF Base commissary where I bagged groceries. These were summer jobs.

Every state besides Nebraska has two legislative chambers. What do you consider the most important differences between the legislative chambers in your state?

Debates tend to be more deliberative and tend to have more of an oversight role of the other branches of state government.

Do you believe that it’s beneficial for state legislators to have previous experience in government or politics?

No, I'm bringing a fresh outlook and new leadership and vision to the Senate. I have a proven record of success from the private sector to chart a new direction for the state.

What do you perceive to be your state’s greatest challenges over the next decade?

To revive the state's economy, tackle crime and improve education.

What do you believe is the ideal relationship between the governor and the state legislature?

The ideal relationship between the governor and the state legislature is a strong collaborative partnership. However, I will not compromise my principles just to "go along to get along."

Do you believe it’s beneficial to build relationships with other legislators? Please explain your answer.

I do believe in working with others, and look forward to working with them.

If you are not a current legislator, are there certain committees that you would want to be a part of?

I will serve on whichever committees to which I'm assigned.

Are you interested in running for a different political office (for example, the U.S. Congress or governor) in the future?

I'm focused only on winning this Senate seat at this time.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Campaign finance summary

---

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

---

John C. Morton campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	New Mexico State Senate District 21	Lost primary	$17,320	$21,911
2020	New Mexico State Senate District 20	Lost general	$99,812	N/A**
Grand total			$117,132	$21,911
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

See also

2024 Elections

What's on the ballot? U.S. President U.S. Congress U.S. Congress special elections State executives State legislatures State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards Election analysis hub

Government

Who represents me? U.S. Congress State executives State legislators State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards

Newsletters

The Daily Brew The Weekly Brew The Ballot Bulletin Checks and Balances Economy and Society Hall Pass Number of the Day Robe & Gavel

External links

Search Google News for this topic

Candidate

New Mexico State Senate District 21

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Footnotes

[show]

Current members of the New Mexico State Senate

Leadership

Majority Leader:Peter Wirth

Minority Leader:William Sharer

Senators

District 1

William Sharer (R)

District 2

Steve Lanier (R)

District 3

Shannon Pinto (D)

District 4

George Munoz (D)

District 5

Leo Jaramillo (D)

District 6

Roberto Gonzales (D)

District 7

Pat Woods (R)

District 8

Pete Campos (D)

District 9

Cindy Nava (D)

District 10

Katy Duhigg (D)

District 11

Linda Lopez (D)

District 12

Jay Block (R)

District 13

Debbie O'Malley (D)

District 14

Michael Padilla (D)

District 15

Heather Berghmans (D)

District 16

Antoinette Lopez (D)

District 17

Mimi Stewart (D)

District 18

Natalie Figueroa (D)

District 19

Anthony Thornton (R)

District 20

Martin Hickey (D)

District 21

Nicole Tobiassen (R)

District 22

Benny Shendo (D)

District 23

Harold Pope (D)

District 24

Linda Trujillo (D)

District 25

Peter Wirth (D)

District 26

Antonio Maestas (D)

District 27

Patrick Boone (R)

District 28

Gabriel Ramos (R)

District 29

Joshua Sanchez (R)

District 30

Angel Charley (D)

District 31

Joseph Cervantes (D)

District 32

Candy Ezzell (R)

District 33

Nicholas Paul (R)

District 34

James Townsend (R)

District 35

Crystal Diamond Brantley (R)

District 36

Jeff Steinborn (D)

District 37

William Soules (D)

District 38

Carrie Hamblen (D)

District 39

Liz Stefanics (D)

District 40

Craig Brandt (R)

District 41

David Gallegos (R)

District 42

Larry Scott (R)

Democratic Party (26)

Republican Party (16)