Lucero elected Española mayor by 15 votes

Unofficial results showed Española City Councilor Alice A. Lucero beat her opponent by 15 votes to become Española's first female mayor on Tuesday.

Lucero, a former city clerk, drew 791 votes to Alfred Herrera's 776, the tallies showed.

Mayor Joseph Maestas did not seek re-election and will continue in the office until Monday, when Lucero is sworn in.

Herrera gave up his District 2 council seat to run for mayor, but because Lucero still has two years on her term, she will get to appoint her successor to the Española City Council.

Four councilors also were elected Tuesday.

In the District 1 council race, former councilor Pedro Valdez beat Danielle Duran by 13 votes — 164 to 151.

In District 2, Greg Ortega easily beat Jason Salazar — 257 to 60.

In District 3, incumbent Cecilia Lujan was re-elected over David Chavez — 267 to 166.

In District 4, former councilor Robert Seeds narrowly won with 194 votes to Corry Lewis' 184 and incumbent Eddie Maestas' 112.

Española voters also defeated a general obligation bond proposal seeking to issue $6.1 million in bonds for a new library. Unofficial tallies had 946 voting "against" and 598 voting "for."

Taos incumbents sweep municipal election

Taos voters returned all incumbents to office in Tuesday's municipal election.

According to unofficial returns, Mayor Darren M. Cordova was re-elected with more than 81 percent of the votes cast — 816 to challenger Jeffery A. Northrup's 191.

Incumbent Councilors Michael A. Silva and Rudy C. Abeyta were also re-elected with 661 and 754 votes, respectively, in a four-way, at-large council race. Eliminated were challengers Erlinda S. Gonzales with 243 votes and Richard Leirer with 214.

Richard G. Chavez was re-elected municipal judge without opposition on the ballot.

Chama voters return incumbents to office

Incumbents were easily re-elected Tuesday in Chama, according to unofficial returns.

Mayor Archie Vigil was returned to office with 214 votes — more than 55 percent of the total. Challengers Ron Russom for 127, John Dennis Wells 29 and James Ulibarri 13.

Councilor Darren DeYapp also was re-elected with 332 votes — more than 74 percent of the vote. Challengers Billy Joe Famora took 90 votes while Jay Wimer got 23.

Municipal Judge Mary Jo Piña also was returned to office with no opposition.

Chama voters also agreed to raise the local gross-receipts tax levy by one-eighth of a percent, approving the levy by a vote of 233 to 126.