Bernalillo County clerk and treasurer: Kavanaugh, Eichenberg projected to prevail

A Bernalillo County deputy clerk and former county treasurer are projected winners in the clerk and treasurer contests.

According to the New Mexico Secretary of State’s election website, as of 10 p.m. Tuesday, Democrat Michelle Kavanaugh, 44, appeared headed for victory against Republican Clayton Pryor, 65, in the county clerk race.

All results were unofficial.

“I’m very lucky that the voters have placed their confidence in me,” Kavanaugh said.

Elections are critical, she said, and the voters who “placed their trust in me” for the next four years is something “I am grateful for.”

Kavanaugh, who will succeed current Clerk Linda Stover, was brought on as deputy clerk in 2020 after several years working for former Democratic Sen. Tom Udall.

“We worked very hard to get our message — transparency, integrity and accessibility — out to voters,” Kavanaugh said. “I think that voters recognize that I really care about the work being done in the clerk’s office.”

She said “the best way to get voter support was to focus on the qualities I would bring to the office, the experience I would bring to the position and the passion that I have for the work.”

Pryor said he is grateful to those who supported his campaign.

“I went into this knowing the chances were slim for a Republican to win in Bernalillo County, but my strategy was to reach out to Democrats, moderates, and try to get them to look at me and consider voting for me,” he said.

Both Kavanaugh and Pryor said they did not engage in negative campaigning.

“Him and I didn’t have interest in doing that,” she said. “I respect him greatly for doing that.”

In the county treasurer contest, Democrat Tim Eichenberg, 72, appeared to be on the path to a win over Republican business owner Lelan Morrison, 67. Eichenberg is a multi-term former treasurer at the local and state level.

Eichenberg will take over for Nancy Bearce, who is finishing up her second consecutive four-year term.

Eichenberg, who served as Bernalillo County treasurer in the 1970s, said not a lot has changed since then except for technology.

Back then, “it was pen and quill, but now it’s very high-tech, very automated,” he said.