Rio Rancho's Ramona Goolsby Launches Campaign for New Mexico Secretary of State

Ramona Goolsby, a Rio Rancho resident and newly seated member of the Ciudad Soil and Water Conservation District Board, has entered the race for New Mexico Secretary of State as a Republican, setting her sights on the office that oversees the state's elections, campaign finance reporting, and government transparency functions.

"With my campaign now fully underway and our website live, I am more committed than ever to serving New Mexico as Secretary of State," Goolsby said in a news release. Her campaign website frames the race around three priorities: to "protect election integrity, enforce election finance statutes, and bring real transparency to New Mexico's government."

Her path to the June 2, 2026 Republican primary cleared an early test when she appeared before the GOP Pre-Primary Convention March 6-7 and collected 408 votes as the uncontested candidate. The general election is scheduled for November 3, 2026. Ballotpedia notes there are no incumbents in the Secretary of State race.

Goolsby's candidacy draws on a background that spans healthcare, agriculture, civic advocacy, and local government. She moved to New Mexico from out of state in 2019 and previously worked as a family nurse practitioner. Before that, she spent more than four decades in land management, operating a 380-acre ranch where she applied conservation techniques including terracing, soil testing, and watershed projects. She earned an OSU Master Cattleman designation in 2005.

Her professional resume also includes work as a staff accountant for a CPA firm and as an office manager, credentials she emphasized when she ran for the Ciudad SWCD board last year. She won that seat on November 4, 2025, defeating Charlene Pyskoty and Kaelan Dreyer alongside incumbent James S. Glass. She assumed the landowner Position 3 seat on January 1, 2026, with a term running through December 31, 2029.

On elections specifically, Goolsby's record in Sandoval County is detailed. She has worked as a poll clerk, authored and sponsored multiple referendum petitions, and testified before legislative committees on election transparency. In a public comment submitted to the Sandoval County Board of Canvass regarding the 2023 local election, she pressed commissioners on their obligation to inform constituents about the recheck process available during a canvass. "The problem I have with most of the Sandoval County Commission is they look for ways to avoid acting on constituent's requests instead of finding ways to support constituents with actionable items," she wrote, noting that during the 2022 primary a machine recheck cost just $10 per unit and that commissioners never publicized the option before certification.

Her critique extended to the conduct of commission meetings themselves. "I often tell people going to the county commission meeting is free entertainment," she wrote. "I have had guests tell me the commissioners appear disinterested in the people's opinions and are even rude during public comments because they are playing on their phones."

That track record of engaging election administration at the county level now forms the foundation of a statewide campaign. The Republican primary on June 2, 2026 will be the next formal test of whether that foundation can carry her beyond Sandoval County.