Former New Mexico Rep. Ambrose Castellano, who served from 2021 to 2024, is challenging House District 70 incumbent Rep. Anita Gonzales (D-Las Vegas) in the Democratic primary for his old seat.
But criminal assault charges against Castellano threaten to overshadow the primary, stemming from a fight in September at a Santa Fe golf course. Santa Fe police allege Castellano and his two sons were golfing together when a confrontation erupted with another group of golfers.
At the end of it, George Lane, a man in the group Castellano’s group confronted, was left with a lacerated ear that required 20 stitches, a broken tibia and fibula and other injuries. He accused Castellano’s son of hitting him with a golf club and Castellano of tackling and hitting him, according to police records.
Castellano is facing a charge of felony conspiracy to commit aggravated battery and misdemeanor aggravated battery. He declined to address the allegations in an interview with Source NM on Wednesday, citing his attorney’s advice.
But he did tell Source NM that the charges will not prevent him from being a good lawmaker, if elected.
“It doesn’t stop me from serving the community in office,” he said. “We will continue to work hard for our communities, if elected, and at that point, the courts will decide.”
Gonzales, his opponent, said that while she will defer to the legal process, the charges are “serious and concerning.”
“They should be when somebody’s running for public service and there’s a felony charge that’s involved,” she said.
House District 70 includes Las Vegas, N.M., as well as other parts of San Miguel and Torrance counties. In addition to questions about the allegations against Castellano, Source NM spoke to both candidates about their plans for House District 70 if re-elected. Their answers have been edited for clarity and concision.
Ambrose Castellano
Ambrose Castellano owns a small construction company. He was raised in Bernal after being born in Las Vegas and notes he’s been part of a rural community for more than 50 years.
While a state representative, he introduced multiple pieces of legislation related to rural issues, including land grants and acequias, water projects and healthcare. He said he is running to give rural communities the same resources as urban areas.
“I see other areas in the state where kids can enjoy playgrounds and go out and do fun things, where in our rural district, there’s nothing for our youth,” he said. “I think that’s very important, that we start supporting our youth right now.”
What is the biggest issue facing House District 70?
Youth is one of them. Helping the elderly. Economic development in rural New Mexico: Nothing’s happening. I think we need to see how we can set up small businesses in our rural areas. Healthcare is a big issue right now. A lot of elderly are taking a while to see doctors and physicians, and I think that’s probably one of the major ones. And also crime. I know that we’ve been talking a lot in the Legislature about the juvenile crime code, and I think we need to enforce more on those codes and bring them up to date.
What’s the most important issue facing New Mexico?
Probably healthcare and crime. We see these repeat offenders being let out on the street and committing crimes. With healthcare, they did work on the med-mal bill, but I think there’s still some work that has to be done to that bill in order to get more doctors out to New Mexico.
If you’re elected, what’s the first bill you would introduce?
The first bill would probably be on crime. I don’t have a clue exactly what that would be, but try to enforce stronger penalties for criminals or felons in possession of a handgun. Also, I’ve been approached a lot by a lot of volunteer firefighters right now.
I think we worked on their retirement a few years back, but I think there’s still some more work that needs to be done. They volunteered for ‘X’ amount of years and then they wait for retirement, and sometimes in the process, the years get lost. And I think we need to tighten up on that. These volunteer firefighters protect the community.
I would also work on retiree health care and teacher health care to see if the state could put more money into the fund so it wouldn’t cost these retirees so much for their health care.
Which committee would you like to serve on?
I used to serve on the House Appropriations and land grants. I’d probably like to do commerce. Being a small businessman, commerce is a lot, and you can help out with small businesses in New Mexico.
What’s your strongest skill that makes you the best candidate for the race?
I talk to different people and see what their needs are. I have a lot of good relationships with different people, whether that be in the community or at the Legislature, where hopefully we can build those communications with organizations to get things done for our rural communities.
Do you support paying lawmakers, and would you accept a salary?
Honestly, I’m not for getting paid as legislators. I mean, it’s a commitment that you make to your community. It’s up to the voters to decide if they think we should get paid or not. But I wouldn’t accept it.
Rep. Anita Gonzales (D-Las Vegas)
Incumbent Rep. Anita Gonzales defeated Castellano in the 2024 Democratic primary by 10 percentage points, and said she has much work left to do.
She is the deputy director of New Mexico MESA, a nonprofit that seeks to prepare students statewide for college and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. She said she sees being a lawmaker as an extension of her long public service career as a STEM educator.
“I dedicated my career to supporting people and communities in my home district as well as across the state, whether that be through education, nonprofit, work, public service,” she said.
What is the biggest issue facing House District 70?
If I had to pick one, I would say that water really affects how a community can grow, how that connects to jobs and housing, healthcare, access, economic development. Without reliable infrastructure or those sustainable resources, it’s really hard to build a community. It’s really hard to support families that are currently living there, and it’s hard to really attract investment into our rural communities.
What’s the most important issue facing New Mexico?
I thought we were all great. No, I’m just kidding. I come in [to the Legislature] with a full-time job, as a working, co-parenting single mother. I think the most important issue facing New Mexico is just making sure working families like mine can afford to live and stay in our communities. That includes bringing access to those same things that I mentioned, to housing, to health care, to good-paying jobs. And I think that does tie to long-term challenges, like, how do we set up our infrastructure to make sure that we’re able to support those things in all of our community?
It’s going to be really hard to keep our families in the communities that they want to live in, widening the difference between urban and rural areas.
If you’re elected, what’s the first bill you would introduce?
My first bill will have something to do with rural resilience. Right now, San Miguel County is a community still recovering post-disaster. Torrance County also has a lot of those resilience issues. Insurance and post-fire recovery has been another area of mine, investing in mitigation for our communities. We’ve already seen a good start to the fire season here.
Which committee would you like to serve on?
I currently serve on education, and I think that would be my top choice just because of the background and the work I’ve already done. I’m also very interested in rural development.
With that being said, I’m ready to serve wherever I am placed.
What’s your strongest skill that makes you the best candidate for the race?
I think my strongest skill is really the ability to bring people together to just solve problems. My background is in nonprofit work and service work. I’ve had the ability to build relationships across the state, and I’ve had the ability to work with different stakeholders and perspectives.
I also like to focus on getting to the root of an issue, not just addressing the problem, and I think that also comes with my background in nonprofit service work — that ability to put forward solutions that are practical and those that can really make a difference.
Do you support paying lawmakers, and would you accept a salary?
I absolutely do support the initiative towards a paid Legislature. I think it’s really important to have a legislative body that is representative of the people of the state of New Mexico. And the reality is, most people cannot afford monetarily to do this job, unless they have some support somehow.
