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Our verdict

LiberalMind endorses Michael Jack Perry

Election Day is November 3. Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard is term-limited, so this seat — which manages millions of acres of state trust land and takes in more than $2 billion a year, largely oil and gas royalties — is open. Juan De Jesus Sanchez III, a Democrat and former Heinrich political director, faces Michael Jack Perry, a Republican Chaves County commissioner who spent more than 20 years in state wildlife law enforcement and served as assistant Land Commissioner from 2016 to 2019. Their money is the closest of the five New Mexico races on the named compilation. LiberalMind endorses Michael Jack Perry. Read the research, and see why.

How New Mexico got here

Incumbent Stephanie Garcia Richard (D), first elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2022, is term-limited and is the Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor on the Haaland ticket (Green Papers). The roster is confirmed by county-proclamation reporting (nm.news) and Source NM (Oct. 6, 2026): Juan De Jesus Sanchez III (D) and Michael Jack Perry (R). Sanchez won a three-candidate Democratic primary over State Rep. Matthew McQueen and former FSA state director Jonas Moya. Perry is a Chaves County Commissioner (Green Papers).

The office manages millions of acres of state trust land; in recent years it has taken in more than $2 billion a year, largely oil and gas royalties (Source NM). The salary is $149,714 for a four-year term (Source NM).

Competitiveness: no public polling or rating for this race was located — we say so plainly. Source NM frames it as a genuine open-seat contest over the revenue-versus-environment balance at a time of record oil and gas prices; that is reporting color, not a rating, and it prints as such.

The money, with compiler and window named: the Duke City Ledger compilation of Secretary of State CFIS filings, period October 2025 – September 7, 2026 — Sanchez raised $342,000; Perry raised $311,500. That is the closest money race of the five New Mexico statewide races in this set.

A method note that governs both candidate sections: both candidates' positions below come from Source NM's Oct. 6, 2026 candidate interviews, in their own words, and print as such. The record items both men react to — blocking a pipeline right-of-way segment, the Chaco-area leasing moratorium, and an October 2026 executive order banning new uranium mines on state lands — are outgoing Commissioner Garcia Richard's record, reported by Source NM. They are never attributed to either nominee in this article.

Juan De Jesus Sanchez III (Democratic) — the natural-resources specialist

Background and service: A 13th-generation New Mexican; former political director for U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich; a natural-resources specialist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; prior work at the New Mexico Acequia Commission (Source NM interview).

Positions, in his own words to Source NM: uphold Garcia Richard's uranium-mining ban posture by focusing on cleanup of legacy uranium mines; defend the 10-mile Chaco Canyon buffer and refuse Land Office cooperation — easements and pipelines — if federal protections are rolled back; implement the proposed oil-and-gas bonding increase, from a $10,000 to a $150,000 minimum; create an office of outdoor recreation and stewardship; and set strict guardrails before any data center is allowed on trust land. He notes oil and gas generate about 97% of Land Office funds and says he wants to bring that share down (Source NM).

The Manchin-test fact, stated plainly: No in-service break by Sanchez with his party on Constitution, free-market or freedom values was located in this research. His stated program continues the outgoing Democratic commissioner's posture on uranium, Chaco and bonding, and adds an explicit goal of reducing the oil-and-gas share of the office's revenue.

Pros: Real natural-resources work — the Army Corps of Engineers and the Acequia Commission — and deep roots he can document to the 13th generation. His positions are stated specifically and in his own words, including the honest admission that oil and gas are 97% of the office's funds. He won a three-candidate primary against a sitting state representative.

Cons: His program, as he states it, is continuity with the outgoing administration of this office — the uranium posture, the Chaco buffer defense, the fifteen-fold bonding increase — plus reducing reliance on the royalty stream that funds New Mexico's schools and institutions, without a sourced replacement for that revenue in this research. His prior service is staff and political work, not management of trust land.

The flaw, plainly: No proven personal-conduct flaw was located. The priced flaw is program and alignment: a party-line Democrat proposing to continue a Democratic commissioner's restrictive posture toward the revenue base of the trust, with no documented in-service break on our values. That is an enabler's program, not an extremist's — and it does not earn the exception.

Michael Jack Perry (Republican) — the assistant commissioner, back

Background and service: More than 20 years with the state Game & Fish / Department of Wildlife, ultimately overseeing law-enforcement operations in southern New Mexico; assistant Land Commissioner 2016–2019 under Commissioner Aubrey Dunn, working watershed, forest and habitat; currently a Chaves County commissioner; bachelor's in wildlife science, New Mexico State University; he claims "33 years of specific experience" (Source NM interview — the 33-years figure is his claim, printed as such).

Positions, in his own words to Source NM: land care first, revenue second; restore habitat, forest and watersheds as the No. 1 initiative; a pragmatic, site-by-site approach to uranium exploration — he would not categorically uphold the ban, which he called a late-term "political move"; he opposes data centers on state land, but argues Garcia Richard breached her fiduciary duty by blocking the 0.6-mile Project Jupiter pipeline right-of-way; and on the bonding increase, it "needs to be increased," but he has "not researched… if the numerics are correct" (Source NM).

The Garcia Richard record items in that paragraph — the blocked pipeline segment, the Chaco moratorium, the uranium order — are the outgoing commissioner's record, as the method note above states. Perry's criticism of the pipeline block is his stated position in his own interview, printed as such.

Pros: The most office-specific experience in the race: he has actually worked inside this Land Office, as its assistant commissioner, on the watershed and habitat portfolio he now proposes to lead with, atop two decades of state field enforcement and a county commission seat. His answers are specific — including the candor of admitting he has not verified the bonding figures, a sentence most candidates would never say on the record.

Cons: His bonding answer, by his own admission, is unresearched on the numbers — an own-program gap, priced as such: the direction (increase) is stated, the math is not yet done, and voters should weigh that honesty and that gap together. "Land care first, revenue second" is a stated priority order for an office whose trust beneficiaries depend on the revenue; he states it openly, and it is the honest tension in his candidacy.

The flaw, plainly: None proven in service on this record. The documented exposure is the unresearched bonding numerics — an own-promise preparation gap, a different and lighter species than personal conduct — stated by the candidate himself. No scandal or verification failure was located for Perry in this research.

The minor candidates, briefly

There are none on the confirmed roster for this office. A standing check found no pedophile-association material meeting the proven standard was located for any candidate in this race — absence noted, nothing implied.

OUR CALL

LiberalMind endorses Michael Jack Perry.

This is the strongest Republican résumé in the New Mexico set: an assistant commissioner of this very office, a county commissioner, and two decades of state land-and-wildlife enforcement, running on site-by-site judgment instead of categorical bans. Sanchez is a serious candidate whose stated program is continuity with the outgoing Democratic commissioner's restrictions — and an explicit aim to shrink the oil-and-gas share that supplies 97% of the trust's funds, with no sourced replacement revenue. Perry's unresearched bonding numbers are printed above at their true weight, in his own admission. On the record in their own words, the man who has done the office's work is the call.

For the complete Election 2026 breakdown — every race, claim by claim — see the full coverage on our website.

Vote early. Research your candidates. Choose the best moderates, whatever their party — no extremism from either side. And encourage your friends and family to do the same.

Sources

Election result — November 4, 2026

Result pending. No verified call (Associated Press or official) as of November 4, 2026. This page will be updated when the race is called or certified. The original article above is unchanged.

AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.

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