# New Mexico U.S. Senate 2026 ## Snapshot **Settled June 2: [[Ben Ray Luján]] (84.2% in the Democratic primary) vs. [[Larry Marker]]**, a Roswell contractor who won the Republican nomination as a **write-in** with roughly 4,500 votes after the party's only filed candidate was disqualified for bad petition signatures in February. Had Marker missed the 2,351-vote write-in threshold, New Mexico would have held its first Senate general since 1914 without both major parties on the ballot. The Forward Party's Bob Perls did not make the ballot either — a federal judge refused on September 2 to enjoin the state's 14,000-signature requirement for minor parties (Democrats need 2,500); Perls is appealing to the Tenth Circuit. The only public general-election poll (Journal/Research & Polling, Aug 21–28) has **Luján 53–38**. Solid/Safe D everywhere. ## Incumbent - **[[Ben Ray Luján]]** (D), 54 — senator since 2021; U.S. Representative NM-03 2009–2021, DCCC chair 2015–2019, House Assistant Speaker 2019–2021; state Public Regulation Commission 2004–2008. Recovered from a January 2022 stroke. $8.28M raised, $4.40M cash on hand through June 30. ## How the nominations were decided (June 2, 2026) ### Democratic primary | Candidate | Votes | % | |---|---|---| | **Ben Ray Luján** | 182,360 | **84.2** | | Matt Dodson | 34,289 | 15.8 | Dodson, a self-described democratic socialist from Farmington who had been suspended by the state party, took 15.8% — roughly the same ceiling left-flank challengers found against Markey and Reed. ### Republican nomination — by write-in - **Christopher Vanden Heuvel**, the only Republican to file, was disqualified February 10 for insufficient valid signatures. - **[[Larry Marker]]** won the nomination as a write-in with about 4,500 votes (4,470 per the Roswell Daily Record; 4,579 per Ballotpedia) against a 2,351-vote threshold. Wikipedia's "31,220" is wrong. ## General election Luján vs. Marker. Libertarian Rhett Trappman's ballot status is unconfirmed. **No debate is scheduled** — Marker asked NMSU to add him to the September 8–9 Domenici Public Policy Conference where Luján keynotes, and to convert it into a debate; NMSU declined, saying the lineup was set before the primary. | Poll | Dates | Luján | Marker | |---|---|---|---| | Journal Poll / Research & Polling (516 LV, ±4.3) | Aug 21–28, 2026 | 53 | 38 | Money through June 30: Luján $8.28M / $4.40M COH; Marker $33,525 / $11,850 — a 247-to-1 gap. ## Ratings history - Cook Solid D (Aug 20) · Sabato Safe D (Aug 26) · Inside Elections Solid D (Aug 6). The prior "Likely D" on this page was an error. ## Key dates - 2026-02-10 — Vanden Heuvel disqualified - 2026-06-02 — primaries (held); Marker clears the write-in threshold - 2026-09-02 — Judge Strickland denies the Forward Party injunction - 2026-11-03 — general election ## Intel notes - **A major party that could not put a name on the ballot for a Senate seat** is the story, and it is a party-infrastructure story, not a candidate story: the NMGOP had one filer and did not check his petitions. The write-in rescue produced a nominee with no elected experience and $11,850. - **The ballot-access asymmetry** — 14,000 signatures for a minor party against 2,500 for a Democrat — is now Tenth Circuit litigation (Forward Party v. New Mexico). If the vault builds a ballot-access page, this and Montana's independent-signature threshold (13,327) are the two 2026 data points. - **The 38% floor.** Even a write-in nominee with no money polls 38% in New Mexico; that is the Republican baseline in a state Trump lost by 6, and it is the number to compare with Marker's eventual result. ## Related KB entities - [[Ben Ray Luján]] — incumbent - [[Larry Marker]] — Republican nominee (write-in) ## Content leads - **Blog**: "How New Mexico Republicans Stopped Contesting Senate Races" — now with the write-in ending. - **Data**: NM statewide Republican fundraising 2018 → 2026. ## Sources - [Source NM — Luján wins primary (June 2, 2026)](https://sourcenm.com/2026/06/02/nm-u-s-sen-lujan-wins-primary/) - [Roswell Daily Record — Write-in campaign gets Marker the GOP nomination](https://www.rdrnews.com/news/local/results-of-the-new-mexico-primary-2026-write-in-campaign-gets-marker-gop-nomination-in/article_af4014da-b950-4d3c-a8f2-17bda428111d.html) - [Source NM — Judge denies Forward Party ballot-access injunction (Sept 2, 2026)](https://sourcenm.com/2026/09/02/federal-judge-denies-new-mexico-forward-partys-request-to-halt-enforcement-of-ballot-access-law/) - [Albuquerque Journal — Journal Poll: Luján has comfortable lead](https://www.abqjournal.com/news/journal-poll-us-sen-ben-ray-lujan-has-comfortable-lead-in-reelection-campaign/3112569)