Judges appointed by Susana Martinez

	Judicial selection in New Mexico
	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 Appointments
	Governor Susana Martinez
	Other Governors

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This page lists judges appointed by Susana Martinez (R) during her term as Governor of New Mexico. As of today, the total number of Martinez appointees was 80. For the full profile of Martinez, click here.

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. Martinez.

Appointment process

In New Mexico, the governor makes a judicial appointment after candidates are recommended by a judicial nominating commission. Following appointment, the new judge must compete for the seat in the next general election.^[1]

Appointed judges

The tables below list the governor's appointees to the courts across the state.

State Courts

Supreme Court

Name	Court	Active
Judith Nakamura	New Mexico Supreme Court	2015 - December 1, 2020
Gary L. Clingman	New Mexico Supreme Court	April 30, 2018 - December 31, 2018

Court of Appeals

Name	Court	Active
Jennifer Attrep	New Mexico Court of Appeals	2018 - Present
Stephen French	New Mexico Court of Appeals	2016 - December 31, 2018
Henry Bohnhoff	New Mexico Court of Appeals	2017 - December 31, 2018
J. Miles Hanisee	New Mexico Court of Appeals	2011 - Present
Daniel Gallegos	New Mexico Court of Appeals	2018 - December 31, 2018
Emil Kiehne	New Mexico Court of Appeals	2017 - December 31, 2018

Other State Courts

Name	Court	Active
David Skinner	New Mexico Workers' Compensation Administration Court	2011 - 2017

Local Courts

Name	Court	Active
Jason Greenlee	Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court
Peggy Ann Holguin	Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court
R. John Duran	Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court
Chris J. Schultz	Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court
Rosemary Cosgrove-Aguilar	Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court Division VII
Michelle Castillo Dowler	Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court Division XIII
Keith Rogers	Chaves County Magistrate Court
Enos Fouratt	Chaves County Magistrate Court
Nelson J. Goodin	Dona Ana County Magistrate Court
Richard Wellborn	Dona Ana County Magistrate Court
Jeanne Hetzel Quintero	Dona Ana County Magistrate Court
Beverly Singleman	Dona Ana County Magistrate Court
Craig La Bree	Lea County Magistrate Court
James D. Brown	Lea County Magistrate Court
David E. Finger	Lea County Magistrate Court
Katie Gene Lund	Lincoln County Magistrate Court
Mickie L. Vega	Lincoln County Magistrate Court
Robert B. Baca	McKinley County Magistrate Court
Albert Mitchell	New Mexico 10th Judicial District Court
Lyndy Dean Bennett	New Mexico 11th Judicial District Court
Brad Dalley	New Mexico 11th Judicial District Court
Daylene Marsh	New Mexico 11th Judicial District Court
Angie Schneider	New Mexico 12th Judicial District Court
Steven Blankinship	New Mexico 12th Judicial District Court
Daniel Bryant	New Mexico 12th Judicial District Court
Gina Manfredi	New Mexico 13th Judicial District Court
Allen R. Smith	New Mexico 13th Judicial District Court
James L. Sanchez	New Mexico 13th Judicial District Court
Pedro Rael	New Mexico 13th Judicial District Court
Gregory Shaffer	New Mexico 1st Judicial District Court
Matthew Justin Wilson	New Mexico 1st Judicial District Court
Jennifer Attrep	New Mexico 1st Judicial District Court	2014 - 2018
Sylvia LaMar	New Mexico 1st Judicial District Court
Francis Joseph Mathew	New Mexico 1st Judicial District Court
David Williams	New Mexico 2nd Judicial District Court
Brett Loveless	New Mexico 2nd Judicial District Court Division III	2013 - Present
Nancy Franchini	New Mexico 2nd Judicial District Court Division V	2014 - Present
Marie Ward	New Mexico 2nd Judicial District Court Division XIV	2014 - Present
Daniel Gallegos	New Mexico 2nd Judicial District Court Division XV	2019 - December 31, 2020
Debra Ramirez	New Mexico 2nd Judicial District Court Division XXIV	2015 - Present
Jane Levy	New Mexico 2nd Judicial District Court Division XXV
Jacinto Palomino	New Mexico 3rd Judicial District Court
Conrad Perea	New Mexico 3rd Judicial District Court
Gerald Baca	New Mexico 4th Judicial District Court
Raymond Romero	New Mexico 5th Judicial District Court
Kea Riggs	New Mexico 5th Judicial District Court	2014 - 2019
Laura Castillo	New Mexico 5th Judicial District Court
Lee A. Kirksey	New Mexico 5th Judicial District Court
James Hudson	New Mexico 5th Judicial District Court
Lisa Riley	New Mexico 5th Judicial District Court
Dustin Hunter	New Mexico 5th Judicial District Court
Timothy Aldrich	New Mexico 6th Judicial District Court
Jarod Hofacket	New Mexico 6th Judicial District Court
Mercedes Murphy	New Mexico 7th Judicial District Court
Andria Cooper	New Mexico 8th Judicial District Court
Sarah Backus	New Mexico 8th Judicial District Court	2011 - Present
Emilio Chávez	New Mexico 8th Judicial District Court
Fred Van Soelen	New Mexico 9th Judicial District Court
Donna Mowrer	New Mexico 9th Judicial District Court
Matthew E. Chandler	New Mexico 9th Judicial District Court
Irene Saiz Mirabal-Counts	Otero County Magistrate Court
Timothy O'Quinn	Quay County Magistrate Court
Rudy Martin	Rio Arriba County Magistrate Court
Patrick Cordell	San Juan County Magistrate Court
Connie Lee Johnston	San Juan County Magistrate Court
Edward Gallegos	San Miguel County Magistrate Court
Donna M. Bevacqua-Young	Santa Fe County Magistrate Court	2013 - 2018
Donita Sena	Santa Fe County Magistrate Court
Alan J. Brown	Sierra County Magistrate Court
Mateo Page	Torrance County Magistrate Court
John R. Chavez	Valencia County Magistrate Court

Judicial selection process

See also: Judicial selection in New Mexico

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:

New Mexico Supreme Court,
New Mexico Court of Appeals,
New Mexico District Courts, and
Limited jurisdiction courts

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^[2]

State courts and their selection methods across the U.S., including the District of Columbia^[2]
Method	Supreme Court (of 53)^[3]	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^[4]	1^[5]	17^[6]

State profile

Demographic data for New Mexico
	New Mexico	U.S.
Total population:	2,080,328	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	121,298	3,531,905
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.^[7]

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

External links

Office of the Governor

Footnotes

↑ American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: New Mexico," archived October 3, 2014
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection," archived February 2, 2015
↑ Both Oklahoma and Texas have two state supreme courts: one for civil matters and one for criminal matters.
↑ 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.
↑ Judges of the North Dakota Court of Appeals are appointed on an as-needed basis by the supreme court justices.
↑ 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.
↑ The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.

New Mexico courts

Federal courts:

Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of New Mexico • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of New Mexico

State courts:

New Mexico Supreme Court • New Mexico Court of Appeals • New Mexico District Courts • New Mexico Magistrate Court • New Mexico Municipal Courts • New Mexico Probate Courts • New Mexico Problem-Solving Courts • New Mexico Workers' Compensation Administration Court • Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court

State resources:

Courts in New Mexico • New Mexico judicial elections • Judicial selection in New Mexico

[1] American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: New Mexico," archived October 3, 2014

[define-2] 2.0 ^2.1 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection," archived February 2, 2015

[3] Both Oklahoma and Texas have two state supreme courts: one for civil matters and one for criminal matters.

[4] 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.

[5] Judges of the North Dakota Court of Appeals are appointed on an as-needed basis by the supreme court justices.

[6] 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.

[7] The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.

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New Mexico	Judicial Selection	More Courts

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Judges appointed by Susana Martinez

Appointment process

Appointed judges

State Courts

Supreme Court

Court of Appeals

Other State Courts

Local Courts

Judicial selection process

State profile

Presidential voting pattern

Pivot Counties (2016)

Pivot Counties (2020)

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

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