ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – New Mexico’s upcoming governor’s race, and all the other 2026 campaigns, just got a little more competitive.

The Democratic and Republican primary elections are still well over a year away, but for the first time in state history, all New Mexico voters will have the chance to decide who ends up on the November ballot.

Opening up New Mexico’s primaries is a major political shift. For decades, only registered Democrats and Republicans in New Mexico got to pick which candidates made it past the primaries, largely ignoring all of New Mexico’s Independent or unaffiliated voters.

Voter registration data from the Secretary of State’s Office shows there’s more than 320,000 New Mexico voters who are not registered with either party. That’s roughly 25% of all voters in the state. That’s a huge chunk of voters that could make or break a primary election, and advocates say that’s the point.

They believe opening up New Mexico’s primaries will drive up voter participation, and make sure a more diverse group of New Mexicans decide who leads and represents the Land of Enchantment.

“With more participation, we get better election outcomes, we get elected officials that look like us, feel like us, have the values like us,” said New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver. 

The easiest way to get more New Mexicans to vote is to allow them to vote.

“This is not just about parties. It’s about rights and increasing that voter participation,” said state Rep. Christina Parajón.

According to the Secretary of State’s Office, just about 232,000 New Mexicans voted in 2024’s primary election. That’s only 22% of registered Democrats and Republicans, but only 17% of all New Mexico voters.

324,000 Independent voters, like Mike Michalski, were forced to register with one of the two parties to vote or simply sit out.

“I had to change affiliation to vote. Soon it was over, become Independent again. That’s what everybody did,” said Michalski. 

But in 2026, he’ll get to stay an Independent and simply pick a primary to vote in. He believes that will force candidates on both sides of the aisle to campaign outside of their own parties.

“It might tamper down the verbiage, because this is becoming violent on both sides. We don’t need that,” Michalski said. 

Voter participation data suggests only 71,000 Independent voters would’ve participated in 2024’s primary, but the secretary of state says that’s 71,000 wild cards.

“In one election, data show Independents leaning one way in a general election, and another, it shows them leaning another. So it, you know, that’s why they’re Independent, right? They really just choose by election what they want to do,” said Toulouse Oliver. 

Advocates say more young New Mexicans are sticking with the Independents.

“40% of young voters aged 18 to 24 fell into this category,” said James Hernandez, president of UNM Democrats. 

The secretary of state confirmed registered Independents will have to choose one primary or the other, they can’t vote in both, and she expects that will impact political campaigns.

“My attitude is, well, you know, if you want those votes, you got to raise the money, and you got to go after those votes. And I think it’ll be incredibly important for candidates to do that,” said Toulouse Oliver.