2022 New Mexico State Auditor election

2022 New Mexico State Auditor election
	Maestas: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90%; Sanchez: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90%; Tie: 50% No votes
State Auditor before election; Brian Colón; Democratic	Elected State Auditor ; Joseph Maestas; Democratic

The 2022 New Mexico State Auditor election took place on November 8, 2022, to elect the next New Mexico State Auditor. Incumbent Democratic Auditor Brian Colón did not seek re-election, and instead opted to unsuccessfully run for Attorney General of New Mexico.^[1]

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Joseph Maestas, chairman of the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (2021–present) and former mayor of Española (2006–2010)^[2]

Eliminated in primary

Zackary Quintero, state ombudsmen and candidate for Albuquerque City Council in 2019^[3]

Results

Democratic primary results^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joseph Maestas	74,701	57.27%
	Democratic	Zackary Quintero	55,732	42.73%
Total votes			130,433	100.0%

Libertarian primary

Vaillancourt received enough write-in votes to advance to the general election as the Libertarian nominee. However, Vaillancourt withdrew and was replaced on the ballot by Travis Sanchez, the Libertarian nominee for New Mexico Lieutenant Governor.^[5]

Candidates

Nominee

Travis Sanchez, territory manager^[6]

Withdrawn

Robert Vaillancourt^[5]

Results

Libertarian primary results^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Libertarian	Robert Vaillancourt (write-in)	284	100.0%
Total votes			284	100.0%

General election

Results

2022 New Mexico State Auditor election^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Joseph Maestas	399,810	61.93%	+4.37%
	Libertarian	Travis Sanchez	245,725	38.07%	N/A
Total votes			645,535	100.0%
	Democratic hold

Maestas easily won the open seat, garnering close to 62% of the vote and overperforming the rest of the Democrats on the ballot. Maestas also was the only Democrat running statewide that obtained over 60% of the vote. This likely can be attributed to the fact that his opponent was a Libertarian, not a Republican. However, Sanchez's 38% of the vote was one of the strongest third party performances in the entire country in 2022.

By congressional district

Maestas won all 3 congressional districts.^[8]

District	Maestas	Sanchez	Representative
1st	63%	37%	Melanie Stansbury
2nd	59%	41%	Yvette Herrell (117th Congress)
2nd	59%	41%	Gabe Vasquez (118th Congress)
3rd	63%	37%	Teresa Leger Fernandez