The Ballot Brief
Bernalillo County, New Mexico

Public Education Commission District 3

2 candidates are tracked for Public Education Commission District 3 on the November 3, 2026 ballot: Jacob A. Trujillo and Dennis C. Dinge. Candidate information follows official Bernalillo County election filings; verify with the official election office linked below.

About this race

Appointed incumbent Jacob Trujillo and Forward Party nominee Dennis Dinge are running for the Public Education Commission District 3 seat, per the New Mexico Secretary of State's certified candidate list. This district covers only part of the county; the seat appears only on ballots inside the district.

What this office does

State board of education member. A state board of education sets statewide academic standards, approves graduation requirements and teacher-licensing rules, adopts the state's school accountability system and, in many states, hires the state superintendent. Members represent districts drawn across the state. Local school boards still run the schools day to day. A regional superintendent of schools handles teacher certification, school safety inspections and other state-mandated services for the school districts in a multi-county region.

This race. The sitting officeholder, Jacob A. Trujillo, is on the ballot.

New Mexico › Bernalillo County › Public Education Commission District 3

Jacob A. Trujillo

DemocraticIncumbent

Biography

Jacob Trujillo was appointed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in June 2026 to the Public Education Commission's District 3 seat, becoming, at 26, the youngest person to serve on the commission, per the New Mexico Public Education Department. He is a graduate of the Albuquerque Institute of Math and Science, a New Mexico charter school for grades six through twelve, and works as a field representative for U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, per the Santa Fe New Mexican. No campaign website was found as of September 20, 2026.

Dennis C. Dinge

Forward Party

Top priorities

  • Wants to evaluate new and existing charter schools for whether they meet students' educational needs and to intervene in schools showing inadequate progress
  • Wants to identify high quality, evidence based curricula and improve educator recruitment and retention through compensation and evaluation policy
  • Wants to expand access to early childhood education and have charter schools address the Martinez and Yazzie court ruling on equitable education

Per the campaign site.

Biography

Dennis Dinge is a physicist whose career has spanned industry, national laboratories, and academia, with research experience in supercomputing, astronomy, and computational fluid dynamics, per his campaign site. He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering and an MS in Physics from Clemson University and a PhD in Astrophysics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and serves as Secretary of the New Mexico Forward Party, per the same source.

Campaign site (opens in a new tab)
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Questions about this race

Who is running for Public Education Commission District 3 in 2026?

2 candidates are tracked for Public Education Commission District 3 on the November 3, 2026 ballot: Jacob A. Trujillo and Dennis C. Dinge. Candidate information follows official Bernalillo County election filings; verify with the official election office linked below.

When is the Public Education Commission District 3 election in New Mexico?

Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Registration deadlines, early voting dates and mail ballot rules for New Mexico are on the New Mexico election hub at theballotbrief.com.

How do I see my exact Bernalillo County ballot?

Enter your ZIP code in the lookup at theballotbrief.com for the statewide and congressional races, or a full street address to add the county, city and district contests for that location.

Verify this race

Candidate roster from official Bernalillo County and state election office filings, last verified September 29, 2026. Bios and priorities carry their attribution inline.

Cross-check with the official New Mexico election office, or see the full Bernalillo County sample ballot and your exact ballot by address.

The rest of your Bernalillo County ballot

39 tracked races in Bernalillo County, New Mexico. Landed here from another county's search? Look up your own ballot below.

Also on your ballot
Public Education Commission District 6New Mexico 2nd Judicial District Court, Division IINew Mexico 2nd Judicial District Court, Division XISee all 39 Bernalillo County races
Candidate profiles
Jacob A. Trujillo, full profileDennis C. Dinge, full profileOfficial New Mexico election office