1996 New Mexico Senate election

1996 New Mexico Senate election

← 1992 November 5, 1996 2000  →
All 42 seats in the New Mexico Senate 22 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Manny Aragon Party Democratic Republican Leader since 1988 Leader's seat District 14 Last election 27 15 Seats after 25 17 Seat change 2 2 Popular vote 267,200 228,391 Percentage 53.59% 45.81%
President pro tempore before election Manny Aragon Democratic Elected President pro tempore Manny Aragon Democratic

The 1996 New Mexico Senate election was held on November 5, 1996, to determine which party would control the New Mexico Senate for the following four years in the 43rd New Mexico Legislature. All 42 seats in the New Mexico Senate were up for election. Prior to the election, 27 seats were held by Democrats and 15 seats were held by Republicans. The general election saw Republicans flip a two seats, thereby meaning that Democrats retained their majority in the State Senate. ^{[1] [2]}

Retirements

Democrats

1. District 13: Tito D. Chavez retired.
2. District 16: Thomas T. Rutherford retired.
3. District 24: Edward J. Lopez retired.
4. District 41: Cary Don Reagan retired.

Republicans

1. District 2: Christine Donisthorpe retired.
2. District 19: Duncan Scott retired.
3. District 20: Michael C. Wiener retired.
4. District 33: Emmit M. Jennings retired.

Incumbents defeated

In primary

Democrats

1. District 5: Emilio Naranjo lost renomination to Arthur Rodarte.
2. District 11: Tom R. Benavides lost renomination to Linda M. Lopez.
3. District 39: Liz Stefanics lost renomination to Phil Griego.

Republicans

1. District 21: Tom C. Wray lost renomination to William Davis.

In general

Democrats

1. District 10: Janice D. Paster lost re-election to Ramsay Gorham.
2. District 18: Ann J. Riley lost re-election to Mark Boitano.

Republicans

1. District 9: Virgil O. Rhodes lost re-election to Pauline Eisenstadt.

Closest races

Seats where the margin of victory was under 10%:

1. District 38, 0.10%
2. District 41, 2.82% (gain)
3. District 36, 3.00%
4. District 9, 3.02% (gain)
5. District 10, 5.08% (gain)
6. District 29, 6.60%
7. District 15, 6.82%

Results

District 1

District 1 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Raymond Kysar (incumbent)	11,126	100.0%
Total votes			11,126	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 2

District 2 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	R. L. Stockard	7,157	55.91%
	Democratic	Darla Whitney-Welles	5,644	44.09%
Total votes			12,801	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 3

District 3 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John Pinto (incumbent)	7,981	79.31%
	Republican	Gregory R. Begay	2,082	20.69%
Total votes			10,063	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 4

District 4 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Gloria Howes (incumbent)	6,355	100.0%
Total votes			6,355	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 5

District 5 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Arthur Rodarte	8,581	67.17%
	Republican	Howard L. Bancroft III	3,548	27.78%
		Scattering	645	5.05%
Total votes			12,774	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 6

District 6 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Carlos Cisneros (incumbent)	10,677	81.99%
	Independent	Daniel J. Pearlman	2,345	18.01%
Total votes			13,022	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 7

District 7 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Patrick H. Lyons (incumbent)	8,984	59.81%
	Democratic	Warren F. Frost	6,036	40.19%
Total votes			15,020	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 8

District 8 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Pete Campos (incumbent)	11,455	100.0%
Total votes			11,455	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 9

District 9 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Pauline Eisenstadt	9,152	51.51%
	Republican	Virgil O. Rhodes (incumbent)	8,616	48.49%
Total votes			17,768	100.0%
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 10

District 10 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ramsay Gorham	7,692	52.54%
	Democratic	Janice D. Paster (incumbent)	6,948	47.46%
Total votes			14,640	100.0%
	Republican gain from Democratic

District 11

District 11 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Linda M. Lopez	6,467	100.0%
Total votes			6,467	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 12

District 12 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Richard M. Romero (incumbent)	7,845	100.0%
Total votes			7,845	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 13

District 13 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dede Feldman	7,897	69.25%
	Republican	Bill Turner	3,507	30.75%
Total votes			11,404	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 14

District 14 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Manny Aragon (incumbent)	5,341	100.0%
Total votes			5,341	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 15

District 15 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Skip Vernon (incumbent)	8,151	53.41%
	Democratic	Karen A. Durkovich	7,111	46.59%
Total votes			15,262	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 16

District 16 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Cisco McSorley	8,602	63.70%
	Republican	Daniel R. Armstrong	4,901	36.30%
Total votes			13,503	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 17

District 17 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Shannon Robinson (incumbent)	4,633	55.66%
	Republican	Daniel Lopez	3,690	44.34%
Total votes			8,323	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 18

District 18 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mark Boitano	8,174	56.05%
	Democratic	Ann J. Riley (incumbent)	6,408	43.95%
Total votes			14,582	100.0%
	Republican gain from Democratic

District 19

District 19 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Sue Wilson Beffort	10,010	67.15%
	Democratic	Joshua R. Simms	4,896	32.85%
Total votes			14,906	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 20

District 20 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	William Payne	10,060	65.28%
	Democratic	Todd M. Aakhus	5,350	34.72%
Total votes			15,410	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 21

District 21 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	William Davis	10,781	56.40%
	Democratic	Anita Miller	8,335	43.60%
Total votes			19,116	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 22

District 22 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Leonard Tsosie (incumbent)	8,219	100.0%
Total votes			8,219	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 23

District 23 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Joseph Carraro (incumbent)	9,295	61.70%
	Democratic	A. Mickey Soto	5,769	38.30%
Total votes			15,064	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 24

District 24 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Nancy Rodriguez	10,015	100.0%
Total votes			10,015	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 25

District 25 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Roman Maes (incumbent)	13,332	69.05%
	Republican	Jack M. Stamm	5,977	30.95%
Total votes			19,309	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 26

District 26 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Phillip Maloof (incumbent)	7,669	63.99%
	Republican	Jerry T. Daniele	4,316	36.01%
Total votes			11,985	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 27

District 27 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Stuart Ingle (incumbent)	5,579	60.54%
	Democratic	Travis D. Foster	3,637	39.46%
Total votes			9,216	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 28

District 28 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ben D. Altamirano (incumbent)	10,994	100.0%
Total votes			10,994	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 29

District 29 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Michael S. Sanchez (incumbent)	7,702	53.30%
	Republican	Irene J. Lee	6,747	46.70%
Total votes			14,449	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 30

District 30 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joseph Fidel (incumbent)	7,929	62.70%
	Republican	Michael W. Zmuda	4,716	37.30%
Total votes			12,645	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 31

District 31 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Cynthia Nava (incumbent)	4,965	58.79%
	Republican	Samuel Reyes	3,480	41.21%
Total votes			8,445	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 32

District 32 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Timothy Jennings (incumbent)	5,380	62.48%
	Republican	James P. Bignell	3,231	37.52%
Total votes			8,611	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 33

District 33 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Rod Adair	10,623	100.0%
Total votes			10,623	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 34

District 34 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Don Kidd (incumbent)	10,565	100.0%
Total votes			10,565	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 35

District 35 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John Arthur Smith (incumbent)	7,370	55.37%
	Republican	Nancy C. Stovall	5,940	44.63%
Total votes			13,310	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 36

District 36 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Mary Jane Garcia (incumbent)	6,026	51.50%
	Republican	Thomas F. Bulger	5,674	48.50%
Total votes			11,700	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 37

District 37 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Leonard Lee Rawson (incumbent)	7,888	63.01%
	Democratic	Roger Flemming	4,631	36.99%
Total votes			12,519	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 38

District 38 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Fernando Macias (incumbent)	5,297	50.05%
	Republican	Marendra N. Gunaji	5,286	49.95%
Total votes			10,583	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 39

District 39 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Phil Griego	8,393	57.47%
	Republican	Simon Bickley	6,210	42.53%
Total votes			14,603	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 40

District 40 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dianna Duran (incumbent)	10,661	100.0%
Total votes			10,661	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 41

District 41 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Carroll Leavell	4,399	51.41%
	Democratic	Pat Darcy	4,158	48.59%
Total votes			8,557	100.0%
	Republican gain from Democratic

District 42

District 42 election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Billy McKibben (incumbent)	9,325	100.0%
Total votes			9,325	100.0%
	Republican hold

References

1. "921fd2fa-c28a-495e-b09a-63e93177ef99". amazonaws.com. Retrieved December 15, 2025.
2. "CanvassPrimary1996.pdf" (PDF). amazonaws.com. Retrieved December 15, 2025.