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SANTA FE 鈥� Republicans David Gallegos and Aubrey Blair Dunn are locked in a virtual tie in a three-way GOP primary race for lieutenant governor that features large amounts of undecided voters, a new Journal Poll found.

Both Gallegos, a state senator from Eunice, and Dunn, an sa国际传媒官网网页入口 attorney from a prominent political family, received roughly 20% support from Republican and independent voters surveyed for the poll. 

The third candidate in the race, Manuel (Manny) Lardizabal, an ordained minister from sa国际传媒官网网页入口, got the backing of 4% of voters, while the remaining 56% said they had not yet decided which candidate to vote for in the June 2 primary election.

Brian Sanderoff, the president of sa国际传媒官网网页入口-based Research & Polling Inc., which conducted the poll, said the results show a broad unfamiliarity with the candidates among many GOP voters.

鈥淔rankly, here we have a situation where I think most Republicans don鈥檛 event know who the candidates are,鈥� Sanderoff said.

With all statewide offices up for election in New Mexico this year, lieutenant governor is the only statewide race other than governor to feature a contested GOP primary.

The winner of the primary election will join the victor of the three-way Republican gubernatorial race 鈥� Gregg Hull, Doug Turner and Duke Rodriguez are running in that contest 鈥� on the November general election ballot.

While major party candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run separately in New Mexico鈥檚 primary election, the winners are lumped together as a ticket under state law.

For that reason, lieutenant governor campaigns are historically overshadowed by gubernatorial campaigns, Sanderoff said.

But the GOP lieutenant governor race is shaping up as an intriguing contest, with Gallegos the apparent establishment choice after winning the most support at the Republican pre-primary convention, which was held in Ruidoso in March.

In contrast, Dunn has signed onto a lawsuit filed last week in Otero County that claims several GOP officials violated party rules by picking sides in contested primary races. The lawsuit also seeks the removal of Amy Barela as state Republican Party chairwoman.

Looking at voter differences by age, ethnicity 

While large amounts of voters surveyed were undecided across all demographics, there were significant differences in views based on voters鈥� age and ethnicity.

Gallegos, who has served in the state Senate since 2021 after four terms in the state House, posted a stronger showing among Hispanic voters, while Dunn fared better among Anglo voters.

In addition, Dunn was leading in the race among older voters, with 22% of voters surveyed aged 65 and older saying they planned to vote for Dunn compared to just 14% of such voters who said they planned to back Gallegos.

That trend might be explained in part by Dunn鈥檚 family lineage, Sanderoff said. His father, Aubrey Dunn Jr., is a former state land commissioner who changed his party affiliation to Libertarian before leaving office in 2018, while his grandfather, also named Aubrey Dunn, was an influential state senator.

By region, Dunn had a 5 percentage point lead in the sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Metro area and Gallegos had a 5-point lead in eastern New Mexico. Those gaps may grow in the final month of the campaign as the candidates get better known by the voters in their respective home bases, Sanderoff said.

Meanwhile, this year鈥檚 primary election marks New Mexico鈥檚 first-ever semi-open primary, under a law approved last year that allows independent voters to cast a ballot in either the Democratic or Republican primary without having to change their party affiliation.

The Journal Poll found Gallegos leading among independent voters who said they planned to cast a ballot in the GOP primary.

Methodology

The Journal Poll was conducted from April 24 to May 1. It is based on a statewide random sample of 477 registered Republicans who cast ballots in the 2020, 2022, and/or 2024 Republican primary elections, and a sample of Republicans who registered to vote since January 2025, who said they are very likely to vote in the upcoming election.

The poll also included 51 independent (or unaffiliated) voters with proven voter history, who said they are very likely to vote in the upcoming Republican primary election.

The total sample is 528, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points. The margin of error grows for subsamples.

The sample was stratified by race/ethnicity, county and age, based on traditional voting patterns to ensure a more representative sample.

All interviews were conducted by live, professional interviewers, based in sa国际传媒官网网页入口, with multiple callbacks to those who did not initially answer the phone.

Both cellphone numbers (96%) and landlines (4%) of likely primary election voters were used.

Dan Boyd covers state government and politics for the Journal in Santa Fe. Follow him on Twitter at or reach him via email at dboyd@abqjournal.com.