Democratic Party of Bernalillo County

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Democratic Party of Bernalillo County

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Democratic Party of Bernalillo County, New Mexico

11/03/2026

What a rally! Tomorrow we leave it all on the field. Are you ready? It’s time to elect democrats across Bern Co and run up the numbers for our Statewide and Federal candidates.

We need one more push tomorrow.

10/29/2026

It’s clear: there are races that will come down to a handful of votes. We need one last big push to get people out to vote. Join us and Melanie Stansbury tomorrow morning to leave it all on the field.

10/26/2026

Melanie Stansbury, Lisa Curtis, and Abby Foster know how to draw a crowd on the middle of a Monday💙🙌🏽

Have you voted yet? Have you talked to your friends about it yet? Let’s do all we can to win big.

10/06/2026

What about municipal?

These four are Albuquerque questions. Vote yes on all of them.
The performing arts question repeals the charter rule that forces a separate citywide vote before the city can put more than $10 million into a performing arts center. A yes vote lets the Council fund a center the same way it funds other city buildings, instead of making the project wait on its own election.

The ACS question makes the director of Albuquerque Community Safety the ACS Chief, appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the Council, on the same terms as the police chief and the fire chief. ACS is already the third branch of first response. This puts the person who runs it on the same footing.

The public safety GRT question does not raise the tax. It updates how the existing public safety gross receipts tax is split: 35 percent police, 38 percent fire, 8 percent Albuquerque Community Safety, 8 percent health, housing, and homelessness, 6 percent prisoner transport, and 5 percent code enforcement. The old split was written before ACS and code enforcement were part of the system.

The flood question is the Albuquerque Metropolitan Arroyo Flood Control Authority. A yes vote authorizes up to $30 million in bonds to extend, repair, and improve the flood control system. That is the ditch and dam network that keeps a summer storm from ending up in someone’s living room.

10/06/2026

Vote for the state bonds and for the county bonds!

The state questions are general obligation bonds. They do not raise the tax rate. They keep the existing property-tax levy and send it to projects the Legislature already passed. Bond Question 1 is $21.6 million for senior centers: improvements, construction, and equipment. Bond Question 2 is $19.3 million for books and materials at academic, public school, public, and tribal libraries. Bond Question 3 is $352.2 million for buildings and equipment at colleges, special schools, and tribal schools, including the UNM School of Medicine and branch campuses in Gallup, Los Alamos, Taos, and Valencia. A no vote does not cut anyone’s taxes. It just sends the projects back.

The county questions fund Bernalillo County facilities without a rate hike: parks and recreation, public safety buildings and fleet, roads, affordable housing, libraries, and storm drainage. The package on the ballot is about $45 million against a capital backlog several times that size. For is how the unincorporated county gets a park, a road, or a housing project instead of another year on a list.

10/06/2026

What about constitutional amendments?

Vote for all four.

Amendment 1 ends the pocket veto. If the governor does not sign or veto a bill in the time the constitution allows, the bill becomes law. Every veto, full or partial, has to come with a written reason. A bill should not die because nobody wrote a message.

Amendment 2 removes the rule that school elections have to be held apart from partisan elections. School boards stay nonpartisan. Districts could put a bond or a mill levy on a general-election ballot, when more people actually vote, instead of a low-turnout off-year election.

Amendment 3 changes how university regents get appointed. Nominating committees send the governor a list for non-student seats. Student regents come from a list the elected student government sends. A non-student regent cannot have switched parties in the twelve months before appointment. The point is a board that was screened, not a friend of the governor.

Amendment 4 pays legislators. New Mexico is one of the last states that expects a citizen legislature to work for free. Pay would be capped at the state’s median household income, drop if that income drops, and rise only if it rises. The job is a session, interim committees, and a district. People who are not retired or wealthy should be able to do it.

10/06/2026

What about judicial retention?

Vote yes to retain.

Retention is not a race. Sitting judges do not have an opponent. The question is whether they keep the job. In New Mexico a judge needs 57 percent to stay. These are the judges already on the district court, the Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court, and Metro Court whose terms are up. A no vote does not elect a replacement. It opens a vacancy for the governor to fill.

DPBC’s recommendation is retain all of them. They went through the nominating commission, they have been hearing cases, and the alternative is a hole in the docket. Yes keeps the court staffed.

10/06/2026

Veronica Hernandez — Probate Judge

This is the county office families hit when someone dies and the estate is not contested. Contested cases go to District Court. No Republican qualified.

Veronica Hernandez is the Democratic nominee for Bernalillo County probate judge. The seat is open. Cristy Carbon-Gaul is the current judge. Hernandez is the only name on the November ballot.

Probate Court is limited and part-time. It handles informal, uncontested estates: wills, appointments of personal representatives, and the paperwork that lets a family close out a house, a bank account, or a car without hiring a lawyer for a fight that does not exist. If someone objects, the case moves to the Second Judicial District. The job is speed, plain language, and not making people spend the estate to get through the office.

10/06/2026

Andrea Gunderson — Metro Court, Division 19

Why this race matters: Same court, civil docket. No Republican qualified. The line still has to be voted.

Andrea Gunderson is the Democratic nominee for Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court, Division 19. Governor Lujan Grisham appointed her in March 2025, on a bipartisan nominating commission recommendation, to the seat Judge Linda Rogers left. She is on the Civil Division. She has to win this election to keep the seat.

Before the bench she was special commissioner in the Second Judicial District Children’s Court, hearing abuse and neglect, juvenile delinquency, and mental health commitments. She started as an assistant district attorney in Bernalillo County on DWI and domestic violence, then spent more than a decade in private practice on child welfare, criminal defense, and civil cases. More than 20 jury trials and more than 300 bench trials. UNM Law, and an MBA from Anderson. She has taught evidence and trial practice at UNM Law for over a decade.

Civil Metro Court is evictions, debt, and small claims, and most people walk in scared. Her site’s line is the right one: patience and the law, not a lecture. Vote to keep Judge Gunderson.

10/06/2026

Ramon Maestas — Metro Court, Division 5

Why this race matters: This is a real November race. Kerry Morris is the Republican. Metro Court is where most people in Bernalillo County actually meet a judge.

Ramon Maestas is the Democratic nominee for Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court, Division 5. Governor Lujan Grisham appointed him in March 2025, on a bipartisan nominating commission recommendation, to the seat Judge Frank Sedillo left. He has to win in November to stay on the bench.

He sits in the Civil Division, civil disputes up to $10,000, one of the busiest dockets in the state. A lot of the people in that courtroom do not have a lawyer. Before the appointment he was chief clerk of the New Mexico Court of Appeals, deputy general counsel for the Second Judicial District Court, and a felony prosecutor in the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office. He also worked as a staff attorney and assistant general counsel for the City of New York, on contracts, landlord-tenant, and appeals. South Valley. UNM Law.

His standard is the one this docket needs. A person representing themselves gets the same application of the law as someone with a lawyer, and the case moves without sitting for months. Vote to keep Judge Maestas.

Address

Bernalillo County, NM
87105

Website

https://bernalillodems.org/, https://bernalillodems.org/, https://form.jotform.com/252735512267155

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