By Mary Alice Murphy

On Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, at the Grant County Clerk's Office, candidates for various municipal, school board and water board positions filed to be on the ballot on Nov. 7, 2023.

Two candidates will vie to serve as mayor of Bayard. They are John L. Ojinaga and José L. Diaz. They will replace the current mayor Chon Fierro.

The village of Santa Clara also has two candidates to replace current Mayor Richard Bauch. Arnold H. Lopez and Alonso J. Romo will face off in the election.

Silver City will vote for councilor in Districts 1 and 3. Each will have an incumbent vying to stay in the position. District 1 has incumbent appointed Rudy R. Bencomo facing off against Hilary Kari Treadway.
District 3 will see incumbent José A. Ray, Jr. campaigning against two competitors, Wendy R. Phillips and Stan A. Snider.

Bayard has two open councilor-at-large seats and two incumbent candidates to fill those seats, incumbent Eloy Medina and Eloy Gonzales, who was appointed to fill a vacancy.

Santa Clara also has two councilor-at-large openings, with three candidates vying for the positions. They are Ralph E. Trujillo, incumbent Olga J. Amador, and Thomas M. Caddel.

Hurley has two councilor-at-large openings, with two incumbent candidates, Keana R. Huerta and Richard R. Maynes.

Each Mining District municipality has the Municipal Judge position open, with one candidate for each position. The candidate for Bayard municipal judge is Charles L. Kelly; for Santa Clara, David L. Grijalva is running; and in Hurley, Mateo V. Madrid is the candidate.

Silver Consolidated School Board District 3 has two candidates, incumbent Eddie M. Flores and Kimberly Klement, and District 5 has a single candidate incumbent Michael McMillan.

Cobre Consolidated School has three openings and three candidates for board-member-at-large, incumbent David R. Terrazas, incumbent Gabrielle S. Begay and Randy J. Dominguez.

Grant Soil and Water Conservation Board has three candidates for supervisor positions, one for general supervisor and two for landowner supervisor. Duston L. Hunt, Jr. is running for general supervisor,  and  John L. Merino and Tyson R. Bays for landowner supervisor.

The Upper Gila Valley Watershed Board also has three openings and three candidates for supervisor-at-large positions: Garret A. Allsup, Neil Michael Kaspar and Destre D. Shelley.

Candidates have until Tuesday, Sept. 5 to withdraw their candidacy. Sept. 5 is also the day to file as a write-in candidate.