Over 18,000 Sandoval County residents came to vote during Tuesday’s primary election.

According to the New Mexico Secretary of State website, 18,641 votes were cast.

This is about 22.8 percent of the number of registered voters in the county, 81,822.

Many of them came out to pick their preferred candidate in several contested races.

Among those contests was the Republican primary for sheriff where Darrell Elder defeated Pat Mooney, 4,603 votes to 4,182 votes.

Elder will go on to face Sheriff Jesse James Casaus in the Nov. 8 general election.

Casaus, a Democrat, ran unopposed and received 7,509 votes.

Other competitive local races included:

House District 41 (Democrat): Incumbent Susan Herrera narrowly defeated challenger Marlo Martinez, 88-73 votes.

House District 44 (Republican): Incumbent Jane Powdrell-Culbert defeated Frida Susana Vasquez, 1,276 votes to 773 votes.

Magistrate Judge Sandoval Division 2 (Democrat): Sandoval County Commissioner F. Kenneth Eichwald beat Benito Aragon, 4,568 votes to 3,724 votes.

Probate Judge (Democrat): Edward Lovato defeated Charles Aguilar, 4,139 votes to 3,727 votes.

County Assessor (Republican): Lawrence Griego edged Richard Shanks, 4,561 votes to 4,151 votes

Below are other Sandoval County results from Tuesday’s primary:

State Rep. District 23: 

Ramon Montano (D): 1,478 votes

Alan T. Martinez (R): 2,035 votes

District 43:

Christine Chandler (D): 197

District 44:

Kathleen Cates (D): 1,648

Jane Powdrell-Culbert (R): 1,276

Frida Susana Vasquez (R): 773

District 50:

Matthew McQueen (D): 972

District 57: 

Michelle Sandoval (D): 1,030

Jason Harper (R): 1,419

District 60:

Joshua Hernandez (R): 1,387

District 65:

Derrick Lente (D): 1,350

Justice of the Supreme Court:

Julie Vargas (D): 7,590

Thomas Montoya (R): 7,656

Justice of the Supreme Court Position 2:

Briana Zamora (D): 7,573

Kerry Morris (R): 7,652

Judge of the Court of Appeals Position 1:

Gerald Baca (D): 7,557

Barbara Johnson (R): 7,605

Sophie Cooper (Lib.): 0

Judge of the Court of Appeals Position 2:

Katherine Anne Wray (D): 7,462

Gertrude Lee: (R): 7,544

Stephen Curtis: (Libertarian): 90

Public Education Commissioner District 5:

Sharon Clahchischilliage (R): 31

Magistrate Judge: 

Sandoval Division 1: Ann Marie Maxwell-Chavez (D): 7,462

Sandoval Division 3: Delilah Montano-Baca (D): 7,486

Sandoval County Commission: 

District 1: Katherine Bruch (D): 2,747

Jeanette Nowers Clark (R): 1,869

District 3: Gregory Bennett (D): 1,460

Michael Meek (R): 1,940

County Assessor:  

Linda Gallego (D): 7,607

Lawrence Griego (R): 4,561

Richard Shanks (R): 4,151

Former weatherman and Sandoval County treasurer get big wins

In the U.S. House District 1 Republican race, Michelle Garcia Holmes defeated Louie Sanchez, 4,819 votes to 3,635 votes in the county and 25,609 votes to 18,011 votes overall.

Holmes will face Melanie Ann Stansbury, who was unchallenged in the Democrat primary, in November.

At the state level, Mark Ronchetti, a former television meteorologist, defeated a slew of challengers in the Republican gubernatorial primary.

He received 5,704 votes in Sandoval County, which is more than double what the second and third place vote-getters, Greg Zanetti (1,515 votes) and Jay Block (1,476 votes) received respectively.

Across the state, Ronchetti defeated his closest competitor, Rebecca Low by over 50,000 votes, 68,270 to 18,105.

The former weatherman will take on Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in November.

In another statewide race, former Sandoval County Treasurer Laura Montoya beat opponent Heather Benavidez in the Democrat primary for state treasurer, 5,644 votes to 2,702 votes in Sandoval County and 74,931 votes to 52,676 votes across the state.

The winner will take on Republican Harry Montoya who ran unopposed in his race and received 3,426 Sandoval County votes.

All results are unofficial.