United States Senate election in New Mexico, 2026

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← 2024
U.S. Senate, New Mexico
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: Pending
Primary: Pending General: November 3, 2026
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voting in New Mexico
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Solid Democratic DDHQ and The Hill: Pending Inside Elections: Solid Democratic Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026
See also
U.S. Senate, New Mexico U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd New Mexico elections, 2026 U.S. Congress elections, 2026 U.S. Senate elections, 2026 U.S. House elections, 2026 Alabama U.S. Senate raceAlaska U.S. Senate raceArkansas U.S. Senate raceColorado U.S. Senate raceDelaware U.S. Senate raceGeorgia U.S. Senate raceIdaho U.S. Senate raceIllinois U.S. Senate raceIowa U.S. Senate raceKansas U.S. Senate raceKentucky U.S. Senate raceLouisiana U.S. Senate raceMaine U.S. Senate raceMassachusetts U.S. Senate raceMichigan U.S. Senate raceMinnesota U.S. Senate raceMississippi U.S. Senate raceMontana U.S. Senate raceNebraska U.S. Senate raceNew Hampshire U.S. Senate raceNew Jersey U.S. Senate raceNew Mexico U.S. Senate raceNorth Carolina U.S. Senate raceOklahoma U.S. Senate raceOregon U.S. Senate raceRhode Island U.S. Senate raceSouth Carolina U.S. Senate raceSouth Dakota U.S. Senate raceTennessee U.S. Senate raceTexas U.S. Senate raceVirginia U.S. Senate raceWest Virginia U.S. Senate raceWyoming U.S. Senate raceSubmit

Voters in New Mexico will elect one member to the U.S. Senate in the general election on November 3, 2026. The election will fill the Class II Senate seat held by Ben Ray Luján (D), who first took office in 2021. To learn more about other elections on the ballot, click here.

Candidates and election results

Note: The following list includes official candidates only. Ballotpedia defines official candidates as people who:

• Register with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline
• Appear on candidate lists released by government election agencies

Note: At this time, Ballotpedia is combining all declared candidates for this election into one list under a general election heading. As primary election dates are published, this information will be updated to separate general election candidates from primary candidates as appropriate.

General election

The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.

General election for U.S. Senate New Mexico

Incumbent Ben Ray Luján and Benjamin Luna are running in the general election for U.S. Senate New Mexico on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Ben Ray Luján (D)
		Benjamin Luna (R)

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= 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.
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Candidate profiles

There are currently no candidate profiles created for this race. Candidate profiles will appear here as they are created. Encourage the candidates in this race to complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey so that their profile will appear here. You can ask candidates in this race to fill out the survey by clicking their names below:

• Ben Ray Luján

Voting information

See also: Voting in New Mexico

Ballotpedia will publish the dates and deadlines related to this election as they are made available.

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

No candidate in this race has completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Ballotpedia is seeking 100 percent participation so voters can learn more about all the candidates on their ballots.

You can ask candidates in this race to fill out the survey by clicking their names below:

• Ben Ray Luján

Campaign finance

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Ben Ray Luján	Democratic Party	$4,770,455	$2,169,143	$2,680,636	As of June 30, 2025
Benjamin Luna	Republican Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). * According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." ** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election. *** Candidate either did not report any receipts or disbursements to the FEC, or Ballotpedia did not find an FEC candidate ID.

General election race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

• Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
• Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
• Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.
• Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.

Race ratings: U.S. Senate election in New Mexico, 2026
Race tracker	Race ratings
	9/9/2025	9/2/2025	8/26/2025	8/19/2025
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic
Decision Desk HQ and The Hill	Pending	Pending	Pending	Pending
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Safe Democratic	Safe Democratic	Safe Democratic	Safe Democratic
Note: Ballotpedia reviews external race ratings every week throughout the election season and posts weekly updates even if the media outlets have not revised their ratings during that week.

Ballot access

This section will contain information on ballot access related to this state's elections when it is available.

Election history

The section below details election results for this state's U.S. Senate elections dating back to 2018.

2024

See also: United States Senate election in New Mexico, 2024

General election

General election for U.S. Senate New Mexico

Incumbent Martin Heinrich defeated Nella Domenici in the general election for U.S. Senate New Mexico on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Martin Heinrich (D)	55.1	497,333
		Nella Domenici (R)	44.9	405,978

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 903,311
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Jerry Rose (Independent)
• Cameron Chick (Independent)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. Senate New Mexico

Incumbent Martin Heinrich advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate New Mexico on June 4, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Martin Heinrich	100.0	122,961

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 122,961
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Joshua Kenderdine (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. Senate New Mexico

Nella Domenici advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. Senate New Mexico on June 4, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Nella Domenici	100.0	79,809

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 79,809
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Manuel Gonzales III (R)
• Robert Kwasny (R)
• Benjamin Luna (R)
• Reece Wright-McDonald (R)
• John Roberts (R)

2020

General election

General election for U.S. Senate New Mexico

Ben Ray Luján defeated Mark Ronchetti and Bob Walsh in the general election for U.S. Senate New Mexico on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ben Ray Luján (D)	51.7	474,483
		Mark Ronchetti (R)	45.6	418,483
		Bob Walsh (L)	2.6	24,271

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 917,237
= 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 U.S. Senate New Mexico

Ben Ray Luján advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate New Mexico on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ben Ray Luján	100.0	225,082

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 225,082
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Maggie Toulouse Oliver (D)
• Giovanni Haqani (D)
• Andrew Perkins (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. Senate New Mexico

Mark Ronchetti defeated Elisa Martinez and Gavin Clarkson in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate New Mexico on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mark Ronchetti	56.5	89,216
		Elisa Martinez	26.1	41,240
		Gavin Clarkson	17.4	27,471

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 157,927
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Mick Rich (R)
• Rick Montoya (R)
• Louie Sanchez (R)

Libertarian primary election

Libertarian primary for U.S. Senate New Mexico

Bob Walsh advanced from the Libertarian primary for U.S. Senate New Mexico on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Bob Walsh	100.0	1,454

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,454
= 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.

2018

General election

General election for U.S. Senate New Mexico

Incumbent Martin Heinrich defeated Mick Rich and Gary Johnson in the general election for U.S. Senate New Mexico on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Martin Heinrich (D)	54.1	376,998
		Mick Rich (R)	30.5	212,813
		Gary Johnson (L)	15.4	107,201

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 697,012 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Aubrey Dunn (L)

Election analysis

This section will contain facts and figures related to this state's elections when those are available.

See also

New Mexico	2026 primaries	2026 U.S. Congress elections
New Mexico congressional delegation Voting in New Mexico New Mexico elections: 2026 • 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018	Democratic primary battlegrounds Republican primary battlegrounds U.S. Senate Democratic primaries U.S. Senate Republican primaries U.S. House Democratic primaries U.S. House Republican primaries	U.S. Congress elections U.S. Senate elections U.S. House elections Special elections Ballot access

External links

• Search Google News for this topic

Footnotes

[show]

New Mexico's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Martin Heinrich (D)

Ben Luján (D)

Representatives

District 1

Melanie Ann Stansbury (D)

District 2

Gabriel Vasquez (D)

District 3

Teresa Leger Fernandez (D)

Democratic Party (5)

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