Democratic U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez retained her seat in Congress in the Nov. 3 Midterm Election.
Leger Fernandez, 67, had earned 141,081 votes or 62% when the race was called, according to unofficial results from the New Mexico Secretary of State.
GOP nominee New Mexico Rep. Martin Zamora, 63, had 87,867 votes or 38% of the electorate, the Secretary of State reported.
“I am grateful tonight for your trust, your love, and your votes that are sending me back to Congress,” Leger Fernandez said in a statement released on election night. “Tonight (Tuesday), from the mountains of the north to the plains of the east, from Santa Fe to small villages, New Mexicans are sending a message: We believe in the promise of our Constitution: We, the People, have the power! The people have spoken… Trump said Americans should vote for Republicans as if he’s on the ballot. By God we did.”
Democratic Party of New Mexico spokesperson Daniel Garcia said voters in the 3rd District showed their trust in Leger Fernandez by reelecting her to another term.
“Which why she won by the biggest margin since her first election. New Mexicans understood that there was one fighter who would lower costs, address corruption and protect what we love, — that is Teresa Leger Fernandez,” he said in a written statement.
Leger Fernandez was first elected to Congress in 2020, replacing Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) when he was elected to the U.S. Senate. She was reelected in 2022 and again in 2024.
Among key issues Leger Fernandez addressed during her tenure in office and on the campaign trail was expanding the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, or RECA, to include New Mexico’s “downwinder” communities that dwell within range of radiation released by the 1945 Trinity Test at White Sands Missile Range near Socorro.
She worked to advance the expansion of RECA reparations to New Mexicans in multiple failed bills in Congress before it was added to President Donald Trump’s signature tax bill known by supporters as “the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act,” which was signed into law by the President on July 4, 2025, and included several other provisions such as cuts to Medicaid and added work requirements for food assistance.
Leger Fernandez voted against Trump’s bill.
Zamora began his tenure in the New Mexico Legislature in 2019, representing the state’s 63rd house district, which includes portions of Curry, De Baca, Guadalupe, Roosevelt and San Miguel counties.
In a text message received Nov. 4, Zamora said he called Leger Fernandez after the race was called and congratulated her on the victory.
“I want thank every volunteer, supporter and voter who believed in this campaign. You gave your time, your resources, and your hearts in this effort, and that has meant the world to me,” he wrote.
During his campaign for Congress, Zamora, a Clovis rancher, said he would defend private property rights and oppose “burdensome” federal land use regulation.
He was also supportive of increased security at the U.S.-Mexico border, completing a wall at the border as proposed by Trump and opposed so-called “sanctuary cities,” where municipal leaders decline to support federal immigration laws, and similar policies Zamora said “protect criminal aliens.”
Zamora did not disclose his future in politics. His seat in the New Mexico House for District 63 was up for election this year.
Clovis farmer and Republican Seth Martin was the unofficial winner of the race, according to the New Mexico Secretary of State’s office.
Martin did not have an opponent in the June 2 Republican primary and no Democratic opposition in the general election.
