Michelle Hernandez is a partner with Modrall Sperling in Albuquerque.  She is a progressive legal scholar and comes highly recommended by a number of Northern New Mexico trial attorneys and several district judges.  She is a strong advocate for victims of domestic violence. She has been actively reaching out to Rio Arriba County (RAC) Democrats over the past several weeks.  She has no experience on the bench.

 

John Kelly:  Kelly is also a partner in Modrall Sperling, is a former U.S. Attorney for New Mexico (serving under Bill Clinton) and an unsuccessful Democratic nominee for Congress (defeated by former Congresswoman Heather Wilson).  He has been rather quiet in regard to reaching out to Democrats/seeking support for his state Supreme Court candidacy.  Perhaps because he is concurrently (but quietly) seeking appointment by President Obama to fill an upcoming vacancy on the federal bench.

 

Judge Barbara Vigil is a long-term First Judicial District Judge (civil docket) and is currently the district's chief judge. Her colleagues on the First District bench selected her to serve a (revolving) term as chief judge last year.  She has been in the news recently regarding issues associated with the RAC Courthouse in T.A., denial of state funding for furniture at the now-empty new Santa Fe County Courthouse and problems regarding the administration of the First District Drug Courts.  Until recently (until Hernandez began actively campaigning a candidate) she has been the most active candidate seeking the Democratic nomination. 

 

Victor Lopez is a state administrative law judge (Workers Compensation)--not an elective position--and was most recently an unsuccessful Democratic Primary candidate for the state Court of Appeals.  He has actively been soliciting support among Dem SCC members statewide for the state Supreme Court nomination ever since the vacancy on that bench came up shortly after the primary.