The Ballot Brief
New Mexico judges
November 2026

Judges 2026 › New Mexico › Judges on the ballot

Judges on the New Mexico ballot in November 2026

New Mexico voters see 3 retention questions, 1 statewide court race, 67 county-level judicial races in the counties we track on the November 3, 2026 ballot in the races The Ballot Brief tracks. Retention questions are a yes-or-no vote on keeping a sitting judge; elected seats work like any other race.

Judicial retention votes: yes or no on keeping a judge

New Mexico Supreme Court

C. Shannon Bacon

Retention: yes or no

Bacon previously served as a district court judge on the Second Judicial District Court and as its Presiding Civil Judge, and before that was a partner at Sutin, Thayer and Brown, P.A., per the court's official biography. She was appointed to the Supreme Court in January 2019 and took the oath of office on February 4, 2019, and won election to the seat in 2020.

Appointed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (2019) · On the court since 2019

What a yes vote does: keeps the judge for another term; a no vote removes the judge at the end of the term.

Official court biography · Official retention list

David K. Thomson

Retention: yes or no

Thomson earned his law degree from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, clerked for a U.S. District Judge, worked as a litigation attorney and Deputy Attorney General in the New Mexico Attorney General's Office, and served as a state trial judge in the First Judicial District from 2015, per the court's official biography. He took the oath of office as a Supreme Court justice on February 4, 2019, and won election to the seat in 2020.

Appointed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (2019) · On the court since 2019

What a yes vote does: keeps the judge for another term; a no vote removes the judge at the end of the term.

Official court biography · Official retention list

New Mexico Court of Appeals

J. Miles Hanisee

Retention: yes or no

Hanisee earned his law degree from Pepperdine University School of Law, clerked for two Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals judges, and worked as an Assistant United States Attorney from 1996 to 2007 before entering private practice, per the court's official biography. Governor Susana Martinez appointed him to the Court of Appeals in 2011, and voters retained him in 2018.

Appointed by Gov. Susana Martinez (2011) · On the court since 2011

What a yes vote does: keeps the judge for another term; a no vote removes the judge at the end of the term.

Official court biography · Official retention list

How retention votes work

A New Mexico appellate judge is first appointed by the governor from a nominating commission's list and must win a contested partisan election at the next general election with enough time before it; after that initial partisan win, the judge stands periodically in a nonpartisan yes/no retention election requiring 57 percent approval to keep the seat.

Source: nmcourts.gov, as of 2026-09-15.

Statewide court races

These seats are elected by every voter in New Mexico. Open a race for the full page.

Judge Of The Court Of Appeals Position 1

Voted statewide: on every New Mexico ballot. One name on the ballot; unopposed candidates still appear.

  • Kris Houghton (D) Incumbent

    Kristopher Nicolas Houghton was appointed to the New Mexico Court of Appeals in August 2025 by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, per his campaign site. He previously served in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Albuquerque, including as Chief of the Criminal Division, and as a Department of Justice judicial attache in Bogota, Colombia, from 2012 to 2025, and is a graduate of the University of New Mexico School of Law, per his campaign site.

    Campaign site · Full profile

County and trial-court judicial races we track

Trial judges, county courts and other judicial offices from the county pages we have built (18 counties so far). Each link opens that race's page.

Everything else on your New Mexico ballot · Your exact ballot by ZIP code