Four New Mexico Democrats are seeking the party’s nomination to represent District 6 in the state House of Representatives, making it the most crowded competition for a seat in the Roundhouse in the June 2 primary election.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham appointed incumbent Rep. Martha Garcia (D-Pine Hill), a former Cibola County commissioner and president at the Ramah Navajo Chapter House, to the seat last year to replace the late Rep. Eliseo Alcon, after he stepped down due to health concerns.
Garcia faces challengers Priscilla Benally, vice president of the Gallup-McKinley County Schools Board of Education; David Alcon, Eliseo’s son, who currently faces criminal stalking accusations in court; and Johnny Valdez, a retired Cibola County magistrate judge and former sheriff.
Whoever wins is set to face Republican Paul Spencer in the Nov. 3 general election.
The sprawling district includes Cibola and McKinley counties in northwest New Mexico and is home to the stunning vistas of El Malpais National Monument near Grants. HD6 also incorporates the Village of Milan, the Pueblo of Zuni and portions of the Navajo Nation.
Source NM posed several questions to all the candidates about the district and their races. Their answers have been edited for clarity and concision.
David Alcon
David Alcon resides in Milan, just outside of Grants. His father, Eliseo, was elected to the HD6 seat in the New Mexico House of Representatives in 2009 before stepping down in 2024 due to his cancer prognosis. Eliseo died in early 2025.
David Alcon, who said he spends most of his time ranching in the area, believes he has the background needed to represent District 6 in the Roundhouse. He currently faces criminal accusations of stalking and has faced those charges twice before — he was convicted once and had the charges dismissed once.
He denied any wrongdoing in an interview with Source NM.
“I haven’t been charged. There’s still a hearing,” he said, adding that he thought the allegations were “political sabotage” from an “international organization that wants to keep me out of District 6 because they want to keep a collection of missing Indigenous women in their portfolio.”
When pressed for details, he said he believed the nation of Iran was involved in the effort.
What is the most important issue facing your district?
Unfortunately, it’s [Jeffrey] Epstein. The Zorro Ranch saga continues throughout Indigenous country with missing Indigenous women. I know they haven’t connected the dots, but they will. The district is 75% Native American, how could it not be the biggest issue?
What is the most important issue facing New Mexico?
CYFD. I think they have a strong leader now. They may want to keep her, but you know what they really need is state police and county sheriffs to do the law enforcement work on their end.
[CYFD workers] don’t train like the police, but they’re asked to do all those jobs.
What’s the first bill you’d introduce in the 2027 legislative session?
My first bill would be to include tribal infrastructure in the equipment repair and replacement and building repair and replacement statutes…so we’re not stuck with just capital outlay money.
What’s your top choice for legislative committee service?
House Taxation and Revenue Committee.
It’s a top-tier committee that’s often overlooked. I think creating a tax code that incentivizes businesses to build a middle class for New Mexicans is a very powerful position and I think I would be able to do a good job.
What’s the strongest skill that makes you the best candidate for this race?
[Alcon cited previous work at the Legislature]. My background. I learned the process so I understand that we work on legislative days and not on calendar days. I think that’s where a lot of people get lost. They don’t have the ability or they’re not literate enough to read basic laws and they’re not able to understand what’s happening or what days or what because they’re legislative days, not calendar days.
So, things like that give me an advantage.
Do you support paying state lawmakers?
I do. My father was a representative and for the work he put in, he got very little out of it.
Priscilla Benally
Priscilla Benally is vice president of the Gallup-McKinley County Schools Board of Education. From her home in rural Thoreau, she’s seen jobs dry up.
She told Source NM she believes she could be a loud voice for rural New Mexico in the Roundhouse.
“We sit in a very diverse area with different cultures. We’re unique in that way,” she said. “In our community, we have the ruralness, we have the tribal communities, Gallup is ‘America’s most patriotic small town.’ Who’s speaking for our veterans?”
What is the most important issue facing your district?
I would say that we’re underrepresented. I think for a long time, a lot of our communities have been overlooked, especially when it comes to resources and infrastructure — even healthcare and education.
Recently, we had the power plant at Prewitt close and then the refinery in Jamestown closed. The economic support is lacking. Who has that voice for District 6 been at the Roundhouse? Who’s fighting for that?
What is the most important issue facing New Mexico?
The thing that scares me the most is what we’ve been hearing from our tribal entities, mainly our Pueblos but the Navajo Nation also took a stand on this — protecting our Native lands and parks.
We do want oil and we do want the minerals, but at what cost? Those are sacred lands to many of our tribal communities and it shouldn’t be disrupted.
Water is something I see that we need to continue to preserve and use wisely.
The Gallup water project…that’s a very important source, but we also need to support it and make sure it’s done correctly. We’ve had so many broken promises in the past and I don’t want it to happen again.
What’s the first bill you’d introduce in the 2027 legislative session?
Being on the school board for over 10 years, I would like to continue to support the initiative of [forming] a state Board of Education. I think that is something that would help a lot of our school boards and we’d try to keep the politics out of it.
Through Gallup-McKinley County Schools, we’ve had to do lawsuits over Yazzie/Martinez and impact aid. Those are monies that come to our children directly, so I’d continue to support those initiatives.
What’s your top choice for legislative committee service?
The House Education Committee; Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee; Rural Development, Land Grants and Cultural Affairs Committee. That would be the top three, but I’m also very interested in learning more about the Agriculture, Acequias and Water Resources Committee.
In Navajo, we say ‘water is life.’
What’s the strongest skill that makes you the best candidate for this race?
Who likes tooting their own horn? I think my greatest strength as a candidate is that I’ve proven my leadership through my community and through the services that I’ve contributed to them.
I spent many years standing up for my students, families and the rural communities. There’s a reason why I got involved in the Board of Education — I saw a lack of initiative in the rural areas of our school district.
I oversee a community center here in Thoreau so kids come by and say, ‘How come we can’t have this? How come we can’t do this, but Gallup does?’…At the state level, we see a lot of things that still need to come to the rural levels.
Do you support paying state lawmakers?
Being on the Board of Education, we don’t get paid. I see both sides of that. I think there are long hours that we contribute to our communities and our students. It would be nice to see, because everything’s out of our own pocket.
I think I would support the initiative. I would like to hear more. If it’s a ridiculous amount, then no.
I do have to say, not having pay, you weed out the individuals that are really doing it just for a paycheck.
Martha Garcia
Incumbent Rep. Martha Garcia (D-Pine Hill) has held the seat since early last year when Eliseo Alcon stepped down, due to health concerns.
Garcia is a former Cibola County commissioner and currently serves as president of the Ramah Navajo Chapter House. She also served on the Ramah Navajo School Board and in 2023, testified before Congress to request funding for programs on the Navajo Nation.
She said she thinks education is paramount to her district, particularly because trade and vocational training could open up economic opportunities for the rural area.
“With my background, I feel like I fit right in as the representative for District 6,” she told Source NM. “I don’t take it lightly that we have to put the interests of our constituents first. That’s why you’re there.”
What is the most important issue facing your district?
Education. I have been in the field of education, so I know what that has been like with all the interventions that have happened, whether at the state level or from the federal government. They don’t stay long enough to have an impact.
I would like to see an improvement that would have a real good connection to the families, to the students, to the schools so the continuity of that continues.
The students are our future…we need to make sure we give them a good education not only in the core subjects, but in other subjects, whether it’s a trade or vocational education.
What is the most important issue facing New Mexico?
The same thing: education.
We have always been told that we’re at the bottom of everything in education. We need to change that around and begin to make some improvement. Are we going to pattern ourselves after the national standard, which may not fit our needs out here in New Mexico? We’re very unique and diverse in our state.
What’s the first bill you’d introduce in the 2027 legislative session?
I would like my first bill to focus on education.
I’d like to see us focus on education from the high school level and send our students to take classes at universities, colleges, whatever is available, so that when they leave high school, they’re ready for college or maybe even become a sophomore as they enter college. Even if it’s a trade certification, they’d be ready to do that.
I’d like to focus on a bill that would allow that kind of development.
What’s your top choice for legislative committee service?
I would like to keep what I’m serving on, which is the House Education Committee and the House Rural Development, Land Grants and Cultural Affairs Committee. I fit right into those two areas.
What’s the strongest skill that makes you the best candidate for this race?
I’ve been in public service since the late ’60s. My mentors were my elders in the community and I’ve learned a lot from them about what leadership means and what it is. It’s engrained in me to listen to people and to connect to people — what are their concerns? Not my concerns or what I want.
I can connect with my colleagues, whether it be at the tribal level, the county level or now the state level.
Do you support paying state lawmakers?
I believe it’s a very important issue for the Legislature and the people to consider. New Mexico is the only state that doesn’t pay a salary to its lawmakers.
If legislators are being paid to do the government work, we have to respect where the money is coming from — and that’s from the taxpayers.
It is a difficult situation, unless you’re used to it. For those of us who come from rural and tribal communities, if we were salaried, we’d probably be there 24/7. But, we still do that at times.
The other part is to maintain the public’s trust. Just because we’re getting paid doesn’t mean we just wander off and do our own thing.
We have many good people out there, but they also need to make sure they’re the breadwinner for their families…Those things need to be taken into consideration and the lawmakers also have to make sure that they continue to be accountable and transparent.
Johnny Valdez
Johnny Valdez is a former Cibola County sheriff and recently retired as a Cibola County magistrate judge. He said he decided to run for the state House because he’s watched economic opportunity dry up in his backyard.
He said his time wearing a badge and his time wearing a robe gave him the necessary experience he’ll need to work with a diverse group of lawmakers.
“I wanted to be a voice for the people here in District 6 — a louder voice,” he told Source NM. “I was in law enforcement for many years and I know what the process is in Santa Fe in getting things moving.”
What is the most important issue facing your district?
We’re a poor community, a very rural community, and I would like to see jobs coming into these communities.
What is the most important issue facing New Mexico?
Healthcare.
And we need to focus on our children. As a New Mexican, we have children who go away to college and don’t come back to New Mexico. That’s a huge loss for this state. We just don’t offer enough for them by way of industry. Our medical field is being damaged and we’re losing doctors left and right.
What’s the first bill you’d introduce in the 2027 legislative session?
I have absolutely no idea at this point in time. I want to make sure that I get into that position and I’ll do the research that I need to do and we’ll move forward with something that’s going to benefit not just our community here in District 6, but also the state.
What’s your top choice for legislative committee service?
I come from the judicial side, so maybe the House Judiciary Committee. I’m not sure where I’d be placed, but that would be something I’d be interested in.
What’s the strongest skill that makes you the best candidate for this race?
I can communicate with people and be able to get my thoughts, my concerns heard and genuinely be listened to by others, even if we go across party lines. We need that communication. We can’t just be black-and-white. We need to be able to communicate with others and work through issues and questions or problems, rather than just ignoring it and doing your own thing. We need to work together in order to make this state prosperous.
Do you support paying state lawmakers?
There’s a lot of time that is required of a legislator, I believe. I’m in a position now, being retired, it’s not something that I would say no to. However, that’s not the reason that I’m running. I’m running simply because I want to serve my community and this state.
If it happens that it’s passed in November, I think it’d be a benefit to the state and it’d be a benefit to those that are in the Legislature.
