Brian Colón finished first today at the party's preprimary nominating convention. (Photo by Heath Haussamen)

Update, 7:05 p.m.

The party is recounting the numbers in both the lieutenant governor and land commissioner races because so many candidates are close to 20 percent, the party’s spokesman says.

Update, 7 p.m.

Colón has this to say:

“I’m honored by this nomination and humbled that so many Democrats from all corners of New Mexico are supporting our campaign because they share my belief that government should be in the business of helping people. Democratic values are much more than cheap campaign rhetoric. They make a difference in people’s lives. I know, because I’ve lived those values.”

And Diane Denish, the party’s uncontested nominee for governor, said this in a release:

“People ask me why I would want to be governor when times are so tough. I tell them because now is when it matters most. Times are tough, no doubt about it – but New Mexicans are tougher. We can’t rely on Wall Street bailouts. We have to pull together like a family and kick-start the economic recovery ourselves. We must help small businesses expand by cutting red tape and invest in our workforce so that we can compete for the high-wage jobs of the future.”

Original post

In the Democratic lieutenant governor’s race, only Brian Colón and Lawrence Rael qualified today to appear on the ballot, and in the land commissioner race only one candidate – Ray Powell – topped the 20 percent threshold.

Here are the full results:

Lieutenant governor

• Brian Colón: 34.3 percent

• Lawrence Rael: 21.9 percent

• Joe Campos: 19.9 percent

• Jerry Ortiz y Pino: 18.6 percent

• Linda Lopez: 5 percent

Land commissioner

• Ray Powell: 44.4 percent

• Harry Montoya: 19.32 percent

• Sandy Jones: 18.6 percent

• Mike Anaya: 17.6 percent

As is the case with Republicans, Democratic candidates who didn’t get 20 percent and want to stay on the ballot can do so by collecting more signatures – but because there are so many more Democrats than Republicans in the state, it’s a much more difficult task for Democrats.

The number a candidate has to turn in is based on the number of people who voted in their party’s last primary for governor. I don’t have the exact number for Democrats right now, but it’s about 1,200 additional signatures for Republicans.