New Mexico 2022 primary election results

New Mexico voters were set to choose a Republican candidate for governor on Tuesday and select a Democratic nominee for the state's 2nd Congressional District, among other primary races. Polls closed at 9 p.m. ET.

State Significance

Democrats hope New Mexico's new congressional map will help them win back the 2nd District from GOP Rep. Yvette Herrell, who flipped it in 2020 under lines that were slightly more favorable to Republicans.

The district is now a toss-up post redistricting -- shifting 17 points from Donald Trump to Joe Biden -- and is politically dangerous for incumbent Herrell, who is unopposed in her primary.

She'll likely head into the toss-up race in November against progressive Gabe Vasquez, a Mexican-born former Las Cruces councilman and former aide to Sen. Martin Heinrich.

In an interview with the Albuquerque Journal, Vasquez said that some of the top issues he's focusing on are child care, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, reducing health care costs and prioritizing renewable energy transition.

Vasquez's competitor in the primary is Darshan Patel, a physician whose family immigrated to the U.S. from India. It was earlier this year that Patel decided to make the run for Congress while treating people in New Mexico for COVID-19 during the omicron surge. One of Patel's top issues is advocating for universal health care. Vasquez also wants to reform the health care system but wants people to have the choice of keeping their private insurers, he has said.

Meanwhile five Republican candidates are attempting to unseat Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, though she is favored to hold onto the seat she easily won four years ago. The front-runner Republican hopeful is Mark Ronchetti, a Trump-loyal former TV meteorologist who ran a relatively competitive but failed Senate campaign in 2020.

State Rep. Rebecca Dow and Sandoval County Commissioner Jay Block are other prominent GOP contenders. The former president has not endorsed in the race.