How Project Jupiter is shaping Doña Ana County elections

LAS CRUCES — Project Jupiter, the hyperscale artificial intelligence data center complex under construction in Santa Teresa for tenants Oracle and OpenAI, has roused community opposition, sparked lawsuits and now is shaping elections for two seats on the Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners.

The makeup of the commission will determine how the body approaches oversight and communications with the public about its historic investment in the project, as well as any future votes affecting it.

On March 10, five candidates filed to run in June primary elections for the county board, while District 3 commissioner Susie Kimble, a former Republican who is now an independent, told the Journal she plans to run in the November general election.

Kimble was appointed in February to succeed former Commissioner Shannon Reynolds, a vocal advocate for Project Jupiter. Reynolds resigned near the end of 2025 to run for county assessor.

The candidates include one of Project Jupiter’s prominent opponents as well a leading advocate; a former state legislator; an attorney specializing in water resources and agriculture law; and an early childhood education advocate making her first run for office.

‘County residents deserve better’

As county chairman last year, Christopher Schaljo-Hernandez, a Democrat, took much of the heat in public and private for supporting Project Jupiter. Rather than seek a second four-year term, he told the Journal he will take a break from politics.

He said he felt the commission had been effective in improving quality of life for residents, selecting a new county manager in 2024 and moving the ball forward on capital projects. Yet he said criticism of the data center had gone beyond arguments into harassment and threats, directed not only at him but family members.

“Electeds, especially local electeds, are getting attacked right and left lately,” Schaljo-Hernandez told the Journal. “It weighs on you.”

Daisy Maldonado, former director of the Empowerment Congress of Doña Ana County, was a leading voice at town halls and commission meetings against public incentives for Project Jupiter. She filed to run as a Democrat for the open District 1 seat.

Maldonado said in an interview that the commissioners’ Sept. 19 vote for a record $165 billion industrial revenue bond and other assistance for Project Jupiter was pivotal in inspiring her to run. She said county leaders were not centering community members in their decisions about major development projects.

“I don’t think people’s health should be sacrificed so the county can make money,” Maldonado said. “These billion-dollar companies are set to make billions on the backs of county residents. … County residents deserve better than that.”

Maldonado parted ways with the Empowerment Congress and its corporate parent, Community Action Agency of Southern New Mexico, last fall. Since then, she has worked as a legislative aide and has been a long-running host on Las Cruces community radio station KTAL. Now that she is a candidate for office, she has stepped away from the station.

Her Democratic primary rival is Angela Garcia, CEO of Toy Box Early Learning and Child Care Center, which maintains two locations in Las Cruces. She called herself “the kid lady” in an interview, setting child development and health as her major cause. She said she wants to work with the city of Las Cruces on addressing juvenile crime and helping the county build capacity for New Mexico’s newly enacted universal child care program.

Of Project Jupiter, Garcia said, “Now that it’s in my community, how are we ensuring accountability, how are we ensuring that we're securing a lot of those jobs for our local people, how do we ensure now that they are impacting our community in the most positive ways?"

Samantha Barncastle Salopek, the only Republican seeking the seat, is a water and natural resources attorney and executive director of the nonprofit Family Farm Alliance. In 2024, she challenged state Sen. Carrie Hamblen, a Las Cruces Democrat, and lost by a small margin. She said her performance in that election and her expertise in resource planning and land use made her a good fit for the county board.

She criticized a “lack of public engagement on Project Jupiter” before the approval of incentives. “I am for ensuring that the public has the information they need to understand projects like this, and not feel they have to follow up with litigation,” she said.

Additionally, Barncastle — inspired by her daughter with cerebral palsy — said she wants to work on expanding health care services and access for families across the community.

‘We’re invested now’

Spared a primary election, Independent Kimble said she would file later to run for a full term as District 3 commissioner. During her first month on the dais, when Project Jupiter has come up in discussion, Kimble has raised questions about the process and whether there had been meaningful public input. 

Jose Ibarra of Chaparral, a consultant for Project Jupiter builder BorderPlex Digital Assets, is seeking the Democratic nod for the District 3 seat.

In an email to the Journal, Ibarra said he hoped to increase jobs, help younger workers remain in their home communities and bring in investments that could fund infrastructure improvements to the border region.

Ibarra described himself as a single father of two who was raised in Sunland Park and Chaparral — “two of the most neglected and underrepresented areas of the State and County.” He added, “Growing up in such a county and communities encouraged me every day a little bit more to take the decision to run for office.”

Willie Madrid, also a Chaparral Democrat, served three terms in the state House before losing a primary in 2024. “I’ve already established relationships in Santa Fe, through all the agencies and departments. I can get things done,” he told the Journal. “If you don’t have good contacts and good relationships, things can bog down.”

He said the decision enabling Project Jupiter had already been made but the county needed to “make it work.” He said that despite “a lot of questions that I’ve had from the outside … we’re invested now.”

The primary candidates will appear on the ballot provided their filing documents are declared to be in order by the proper filing officer. The primary elections are on June 2, with early voting opening on May 5.

Algernon D’Ammassa is the Journal’s southern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at adammassa@abqjournal.com.