New Mexico's 3rd Congressional District election, 2024

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New Mexico's 3rd Congressional District
	Democratic primary; Republican primary; General election
Election details
	Filing deadline: Candidates seeking pre-primary designation February 6, 2024; All other candidates March 12, 2024
	Primary: June 4, 2024; General: November 5, 2024
How to vote
	Poll times: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Voting in New Mexico
Race ratings
	Cook Political Report: Solid Democratic; Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Democratic; Inside Elections: Solid Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
	U.S. Senate battlegrounds; U.S. House battlegrounds; Federal and state primary competitiveness; Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2024
See also
	New Mexico's 3rd Congressional District; U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd; New Mexico elections, 2024; U.S. Congress elections, 2024; U.S. Senate elections, 2024; U.S. House elections, 2024; Alabama U.S. House racesAlaska U.S. House racesArizona U.S. House racesArkansas U.S. House racesCalifornia U.S. House racesColorado U.S. House racesConnecticut U.S. House racesDelaware U.S. House racesFlorida U.S. House racesGeorgia U.S. House racesHawaii U.S. House racesIdaho U.S. House racesIllinois U.S. House racesIndiana U.S. House racesIowa U.S. House racesKansas U.S. House racesKentucky U.S. House racesLouisiana U.S. House racesMaine U.S. House racesMaryland U.S. House racesMassachusetts U.S. House racesMichigan U.S. House racesMinnesota U.S. House racesMississippi U.S. House racesMissouri U.S. House racesMontana U.S. House racesNebraska U.S. House racesNevada U.S. House racesNew Hampshire U.S. House racesNew Jersey U.S. House racesNew Mexico U.S. House racesNew York U.S. House racesNorth Carolina U.S. House racesNorth Dakota U.S. House racesOhio U.S. House racesOklahoma U.S. House racesOregon U.S. House racesPennsylvania U.S. House racesRhode Island U.S. House racesSouth Carolina U.S. House racesSouth Dakota U.S. House racesTennessee U.S. House racesTexas U.S. House racesUtah U.S. House racesVermont U.S. House racesVirginia U.S. House racesWashington U.S. House racesWest Virginia U.S. House racesWisconsin U.S. House racesWyoming U.S. House racesSubmit

New Mexico 2024 elections

U.S. Senate • U.S. House • State executive offices • State Senate • State House • Supreme court • Appellate courts • State ballot measures • Municipal • How to run for office

All U.S. House districts, including the 3rd Congressional District of New Mexico, are holding elections in 2024. The general election is November 5, 2024. The primary is June 4, 2024. The filing deadline for candidates seeking pre-primary designation was February 6, 2024.^[1] All other candidates had to file by March 12, 2024.^[2] The outcome of this race will affect the partisan balance of the U.S. House in 2025.

All 435 seats are up for election. Republicans have a 217 to 213 majority with five vacancies.^[3] As of May 2024, 44 members of the U.S. House had announced they were not running for re-election. To read more about the U.S. House elections taking place this year, click here.

Daily Kos calculated what the results of the 2020 presidential election in this district would have been following redistricting. Joe Biden (D) would have received 54.4% of the vote in this district and Donald Trump (R) would have received 43.6%.^[4]

For more information about the primaries in this election, click on the links below:

Candidates and election results

General election

The primary will occur on June 4, 2024. The general election will occur on November 5, 2024. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House New Mexico District 3

Incumbent Teresa Leger Fernandez is running in the Democratic primary for U.S. House New Mexico District 3 on June 4, 2024.

		Candidate
		Teresa Leger Fernandez

	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.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House New Mexico District 3

Sharon E. Clahchischilliage is running in the Republican primary for U.S. House New Mexico District 3 on June 4, 2024.

		Candidate
		Sharon E. Clahchischilliage

	There are no incumbents in this race.
= 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.

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.

Voting information

See also: Voting in New Mexico

Election information in New Mexico: June 4, 2024, election.

What is the voter registration deadline?

In-person: June 4, 2024
By mail: Received by May 7, 2024
Online: May 7, 2024

Is absentee/mail-in voting available to all voters?

N/A

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot request deadline?

In-person: May 21, 2024
By mail: Received by May 21, 2024
Online: May 21, 2024

What is the absentee/mail-in ballot return deadline?

In-person: June 4, 2024
By mail: Received by June 4, 2024

Is early voting available to all voters?

N/A

What are the early voting start and end dates?

May 7, 2024 to June 1, 2024

Are all voters required to present ID at the polls? If so, is a photo or non-photo ID required?

N/A

When are polls open on Election Day?

7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

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.

Campaign finance

Name

Party

Receipts*

Disbursements**

Cash on hand

Date

Teresa Leger Fernandez

Democratic Party

$1,439,730

$657,117

$818,932

As of May 15, 2024

Sharon E. Clahchischilliage

Republican Party

$34,339

$25,495

$8,844

As of May 15, 2024

Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2024. 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.

General election race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from three outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, and Sabato's Crystal Ball. 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.^[5]
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.^[6]^[7]^[8]

Race ratings: New Mexico's 3rd Congressional District election, 2024
Race tracker	Race ratings
	May 21, 2024	May 14, 2024	May 7, 2024	April 30, 2024
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic
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

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in New Mexico in the 2024 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in New Mexico, click here.

Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2024
State	Office	Party	Signatures required	Filing fee	Filing deadline	Source
New Mexico	U.S. House	Ballot-qualified party	2% of votes cast for all the party's gubernatorial candidates in the last primary election (within the district)	N/A	2/6/2024 if seeking pre-primary designation; 3/12/2024 if not	Source
New Mexico	U.S. House	Unaffiliated	3% of all votes cast for governor in the last election (within the district)	N/A	6/27/2024	Source

District analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.

District map - A map of the district in place for the election.
Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2024 U.S. House elections in the state.
Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.

District map

Competitiveness
Presidential elections

State party control

Below is the district map in place for this election. Click the map below to enlarge it.

See also: Primary election competitiveness in state and federal government, 2024

This section contains data on U.S. House primary election competitiveness in New Mexico.

New Mexico U.S. House competitiveness, 2014-2024
Office	Districts/ offices	Seats	Open seats	Candidates	Possible primaries	Contested Democratic primaries	Contested Republican primaries	% of contested primaries	Incumbents in contested primaries	% of incumbents in contested primaries
2024	3	3	0	7	6	0	1	16.7%	0	0.0%
2022	3	3	0	8	6	1	1	33.3%	0	0.0%
2020	3	3	1	19	6	1	3	66.7%	0	0.0%
2018	3	3	2	15	6	2	1	50.0%	0	0.0%
2016	3	3	0	7	6	0	1	16.7%	0	0.0%
2014	3	3	0	8	6	1	1	33.3%	1	33.3%

Post-filing deadline analysis

The following analysis covers all U.S. House districts up for election in New Mexico in 2024. Information below was calculated on March 18, 2024, and may differ from information shown in the table above due to candidate replacements and withdrawals after that time.

Seven candidates filed to run for New Mexico’s three U.S. House districts, including three Democrats and four Republicans. That's 2.3 candidates per district, less than in the previous three election cycles. There were 2.67 candidates per district in 2022, 6.3 candidates per district in 2020, and five in 2018.

No seats were open in 2024, meaning all incumbents ran for re-election. There was one House seat open in 2020 and two in 2018, the only two election cycles this decade in which House seats were open.

Three candidates filed to run for New Mexico's 1st Congressional District, the most candidates who ran for a district in 2024. The candidates included Democratic incumbent Melanie Ann Stansbury and two Republicans.

The Republican primary in the 1st Congressional District was the only contested primary, tying with 2016 as the fewest this decade. Between 2014 and 2022, an average of 2.4 primaries were contested.

No incumbents faced primary challengers in 2024. The last year an incumbent was in a contested primary was 2014, when then-incumbent Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D) and Robert Blanch ran in the 3rd Congressional District.

Candidates filed to run in the Republican and Democratic primaries in all three districts, meaning no seats were guaranteed to either party.

Partisan Voter Index

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

Heading into the 2024 elections, based on results from the 2020 and 2016 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district is . This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were the national average. This made New Mexico's 3rd the district nationally.^[9]

2020 presidential election results

The table below shows what the vote in the 2020 presidential election would have been in this district. The presidential election data was compiled by Daily Kos.

2020 presidential results in New Mexico's 3rd based on 2024 district lines
Joe Biden	Donald Trump
54.4%	43.6%

Inside Elections Baselines

See also: Inside Elections

Inside Elections' Baseline is a figure that analyzes all federal and statewide election results from the district over the past four election cycles. The results are combined in an index estimating the strength of a typical Democratic or Republican candidate in the congressional district.^[10] The table below displays the Baseline data for this district.

Inside Elections Baseline for 2024
Democratic Baseline	Republican Baseline	Difference
56.0	42.1	D+14.0

Presidential voting history

See also: Presidential election in New Mexico, 2020

New Mexico presidential election results (1900-2020)

16 Democratic wins
12 Republican wins

Year	1900	1904	1908	1912	1916	1920	1924	1928	1932	1936	1940	1944	1948	1952	1956	1960	1964	1968	1972	1976	1980	1984	1988	1992	1996	2000	2004	2008	2012	2016	2020
Winning Party	N/A	N/A	N/A	D	D	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	R	D	D	D	D

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of New Mexico's congressional delegation as of May 2024.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from New Mexico
Party	U.S. Senate	U.S. House	Total
Democratic	2	3	5
Republican	0	0	0
Independent	0	0	0
Vacancies	0	0	0
Total	2	3	5

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in New Mexico's top four state executive offices as of May 2024.

State executive officials in New Mexico, May 2024
Office	Officeholder
Governor	Michelle Lujan Grisham
Lieutenant Governor	Howie Morales
Secretary of State	Maggie Toulouse Oliver
Attorney General	Raul Torrez

State legislature

New Mexico State Senate

Party		As of February 2024
	Democratic Party	27
	Republican Party	15
	Independent	0
	Other	0
	Vacancies	0
Total		42

New Mexico House of Representatives

Party		As of February 2024
	Democratic Party	45
	Republican Party	25
	Independent	0
	Other	0
	Vacancies	0
Total		70

Trifecta control

The table below shows the state's trifecta status from 1992 until 2024.

New Mexico Party Control: 1992-2024
Seventeen years of Democratic trifectas • No Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24
Governor	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D
Senate	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D
House	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D

District history

The section below details election results for this office in elections dating back to 2018.