County Commissioner Manuel Sanchez will keep appointed District 5 seat

LAS CRUCES - Voters have spoken and allowed incumbent County Commissioner Manuel Sanchez to keep the District 5 seat on the Doña Ana County Commission.

Sanchez, a Democrat who was appointed to the seat in 2019, was facing Republican Robert Flora for the commission seat. District 5 covers the northwest portion of the county, including the northwest edges of Las Cruces, plus Radium Springs, Rincon and Hatch.

Beginning in 2021, Sanchez will serve a full four-year term on the commission.

"I've tried to work hard over the last, almost two years to really work and get out and represent the people," Sanchez told the Sun-News. "And do what I can to help support if there's ever any concerns … along with trying to work on some other projects."

"Now, being elected to a full term, (it) will really give me the time to be able to work on some of the longer-term projects I want to work on," Sanchez said.

More than 16,100 people voted in the District 5 race. Sanchez captured 55 percent of the vote when unofficial results came in Nov. 4.

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Sanchez ran a platform which included supporting a living wage, improving infrastructure in his district's colonias, retaining people who graduate from New Mexico State University and bringing new businesses from emerging industries into the county.

Flora, a retired former United States Air Force technician, broadcast engineer and Master Trainer, said he wanted to congratulate Sanchez and thanked his own supporters for their efforts.

Flora said it's important that while candidates may disagree, they don't need to be disrespectful.

"I'm not losing sleep over this," Flora said.

Michael McDevitt is a city and county government reporter for the Sun-News. He can be reached at 575-202-3205, mmcdevitt@lcsun-news.com or @MikeMcDTweets on Twitter.