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Judges appointed by Michelle Lujan Grisham

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This page lists judges appointed by Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) during her term as Governor of New Mexico. As of today, the total number of Lujan Grisham appointees was 40. For the full profile of Lujan Grisham, click here.

As of January 2019, governors in New Mexico were responsible for appointing state court judges, including judges of the New Mexico Supreme Court, the New Mexico Court of Appeals, and New Mexico District Courts.

Ballotpedia provides comprehensive coverage of the 100 largest cities in America by population. Some New Mexico judges are outside of that coverage scope. As a result, this page does not provide an exhaustive list of all judges appointed by Gov. Lujan Grisham.

Appointed judges

The tables below list the governor's appointees to the courts across the state. These lists are updated automatically with new appointments.

State Courts

Supreme Court

Name Court Active

Shannon Bacon

New Mexico Supreme Court

February 4, 2019 - Present

David K. Thomson

New Mexico Supreme Court

February 4, 2019 - Present

Briana H. Zamora

New Mexico Supreme Court

August 9, 2021 - Present

Julie Vargas

New Mexico Supreme Court

January 25, 2021 - Present

Court of Appeals

Name Court Active

Shammara Henderson

New Mexico Court of Appeals

March 1, 2020 - Present

Jane Yohalem

New Mexico Court of Appeals

July 29, 2020 - Present

Kristopher Houghton

New Mexico Court of Appeals

August 16, 2025 - Present

Zachary Ives

New Mexico Court of Appeals

2019 - Present

Katherine Anne Wray

New Mexico Court of Appeals

2021 - Present


Other State Courts

Name Court Active

Sonya Carrasco-Trujillo

New Mexico Workers' Compensation Administration Court

June 10, 2023 - Present

Tony Couture

New Mexico Workers' Compensation Administration Court

April 6, 2023 - Present

David Skinner

New Mexico Workers' Compensation Administration Court

April 8, 2023 - Present

Local Courts

Name Court Active

Asra Elliott

Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court Division I

2022 - Present

Joshua J. Sanchez

Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court Division IV

March 15, 2021 - Present

Brittany Maldonado Malott

Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court Division X

2019 - Present

Shonnetta Estrada

Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court Division XI

Jason Jaramillo

Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court Division XII

2019 - Present

Felicia Blea-Rivera

Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court Division XV

2019 - Present

David Murphy

Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court Division XVI

2019 - 2022

Claire Ann McDaniel

Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court Division XVI

September 6, 2022 - Present

Nina Safier

Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court Division XVII

March 14, 2022 - Present

Chris G. Perez

New Mexico 13th Judicial District Court

Shannon Broderick Bulman

New Mexico 1st Judicial District Court

2020 - Present

Daniel E. Ramczyk

New Mexico 2nd Judicial District Court Division VI

2019 - Present

Alma C. Roberson

New Mexico 2nd Judicial District Court Division VII

February 5, 2021 - Present

Catherine Begaye

New Mexico 2nd Judicial District Court Division VIII

January 22, 2021 - Present

Bruce Fox

New Mexico 2nd Judicial District Court Division X

February 5, 2021 - Present

Elaine P. Lujan

New Mexico 2nd Judicial District Court Division XII

July 11, 2021 - Present

Lisa Chavez Ortega

New Mexico 2nd Judicial District Court Division XIII

2019 - Present

Jennifer J. Wernersbach

New Mexico 2nd Judicial District Court Division XVI

February 5, 2021 - Present

Erin O'Connell

New Mexico 2nd Judicial District Court Division XVII

2019 - Present

Britt M. Baca-Miller

New Mexico 2nd Judicial District Court Division XX

February 5, 2021 - Present

Emet Rudolfo

New Mexico 2nd Judicial District Court Division XXI

2022 - Present

Amber Chavez Baker

New Mexico 2nd Judicial District Court Division XXII

2019 - Present

Joshua Allison

New Mexico 2nd Judicial District Court Division XXIII

2019 - Present

Lucy Solimon

New Mexico 2nd Judicial District Court Division XXIX

Joseph Montaño

New Mexico 2nd Judicial District Court Division XXVI

February 5, 2021 - Present

Clara Moran

New Mexico 2nd Judicial District Court Division XXVIII

David Murphy

New Mexico 2nd Judicial District Court Division XXX

2022 - Present

Michael A. Aragon

New Mexico 4th Judicial District Court


Judicial selection process

See also: Judicial selection in New Mexico
Judicial selection in New Mexico
Judicialselectionlogo.png
New Mexico Supreme Court
Method:   Partisan election
Term:   8 years
New Mexico Court of Appeals
Method:   Partisan election
Term:   8 years
New Mexico District Courts
Method:   Partisan election
Term:   6 years

Judicial selection refers to the process used to select judges for courts. At the state level, methods of judicial selection vary substantially in the United States, and in some cases between different court types within a state. There are six primary types of judicial selection: partisan and nonpartisan elections, the Michigan method, assisted appointment, gubernatorial appointment, and legislative elections. To read more about how these selection methods are used across the country, click here.

This article covers how state court judges are selected in New Mexico, including:

As of April 2025, all judges in New Mexico were selected through partisan elections followed by nonpartisan retention elections.

Click here to notify us of changes to judicial selection methods in this state.

Appellate state court selection in the United States, by general selection method[1]


State courts and their selection methods across the U.S., including the District of Columbia[1]
Method Supreme Court (of 53)[2] Courts of Appeal (of 46) Trial Courts (of 147)
Partisan elections (PE) 8 6 39
Nonpartisan elections (NPE) 13 16 34
Legislative elections (LE) 2 2 5
Gubernatorial appointment of judges (GA) 5 3 6
Assisted appointment (AA) 22 18 46
Combination or other 3[3] 1[4] 17[5]

State profile

Demographic data for New Mexico
 New MexicoU.S.
Total population:2,080,328316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):121,2983,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:73.2%73.6%
Black/African American:2.1%12.6%
Asian:1.4%5.1%
Native American:9.1%0.8%
Pacific Islander:0.1%0.2%
Two or more:3.3%3%
Hispanic/Latino:47.4%17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:84.2%86.7%
College graduation rate:26.3%29.8%
Income
Median household income:$44,963$53,889
Persons below poverty level:24.7%11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015)
Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in New Mexico.
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in New Mexico

New Mexico voted for the Democratic candidate in six out of the seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, three are located in New Mexico, accounting for 1.46 percent of the total pivot counties.[6]

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. New Mexico had three Retained Pivot Counties, 1.66 percent of all Retained Pivot Counties.

More New Mexico coverage on Ballotpedia

See also

New Mexico Judicial Selection More Courts
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External links

Footnotes

  1. 1.0 1.1 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection," archived February 2, 2015
  2. Both Oklahoma and Texas have two state supreme courts: one for civil matters and one for criminal matters.
  3. Michigan and Ohio use nonpartisan general elections with candidates selected through partisan primaries or conventions. In the District of Columbia, judges are selected in the same manner as federal judges.
  4. Judges of the North Dakota Court of Appeals are appointed on an as-needed basis by the supreme court justices.
  5. Most courts that use combination/alternative methods (for example, mayoral appointment) are local level courts. These courts are often governed by selection guidelines that are unique to their specific region.
  6. The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.