By Frost McGahey

According to the Silver City Daily Press, "The general election was noteworthy for several reasons – record-breaking early voting turnout, high voter turnout in general, and a banner night for Republicans in a historically Democratic county, sweeping contested races."

Eddie Flores kept Billy Billings seat Republican, Tom Shelley flipped Harry Browne's from Progressive to Republican, and Norm Wheeler soundly beat Democrat Michael Renteria. Luis Terrazas won his race, and Gabe Ramos flipped Siah Hemphill's seat back to Republican.

What happened in local races make the Trump results curious.

2024 Increase over 2020

Trump 6,580 +27 Trump 6,553

Harris 7,301 -289 Biden 7,590

Others* 343  +51 Others 292

When various people were told that Trump gained 27 votes this year over the 2020 results , here were some of the responses:

One woman at Dollar Tree said, "No way. I know lots more people voted for him."

Another woman who had been a poll worker at Bayard said, "I saw people registering the same day, and I could tell they were voting for Trump."

"Grant County Rogue Voices were doing Trump car parades," a Hispanic man said. "And a lot of Hispanics were in those cars."

At Tractor Supply, a man said, "I live up north of town on the side of a hill where I can see the parking lot lights at the County Administrative Building. During Early Voting, I noticed that the lights would come on at dusk and stay on for hours. This happened four or five times. My wife asked about it, and she was told the timers were off."

*RFK, Jr. had 140 votes.