This November, New Mexicans will vote on one of that state’s most important financial roles, the State Auditor, and the candidates couldn’t be any more different.
The position is among one of the most important as the state’s independent financial watchdog. Whoever is elected will oversee the financial compliance of over 1000 state and local-level government entities and be tasked with eliminating fraudulent, wasteful, and abusive spending.
Incumbent Democratic State Auditor Joseph Maestas is seeking a second term and says he hopes to continue his work and bring new improvements to the office. He is challenged by Republican Joshua James Lawrence of Tucumcari, who has branded himself as a political outsider who says he hopes to use the office as a tool to improve the state.
KUNM spoke with both candidates to get a better idea of the choice voters have during the Midterms.
*These conversations have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Joshua James Lawrence
KUNM: You're not a stranger to the campaign trail. Back in 2022, you ran for Bernalillo County Sheriff, and now you're running for auditor. What made you decide to run?
LAWRENCE: I’ve actually worked on political campaigns throughout my adulthood since my early 20s on both sides of the aisle. I ran for Bernalillo County Sheriff in ‘22, and then in January of ‘23, I announced that I was running for governor. And then when I saw that we had empty seats, I decided to switch it up to state auditor to fill that seat. It's definitely a position that I know that we can bring some transparency to this office and to this administration, and that we can definitely help end fraud, waste, and abuse.
KUNM: The state auditor is a very financially focused role, but it also has abilities to hold different levels of the government accountable. What kind of background in finance and other areas makes you qualify to run for state auditor?
LAWRENCE: Well, I don't really have a background in any kind of finance. I've never been an auditor or CPA. Just like any position, it's who's willing to serve the people of New Mexico and who's willing to get the job done. As state auditor, I can bring all the proper qualifications and the people to the office, end all the bad practices that have put New Mexico in last place and everything good in first place and everything bad.
KUNM: Are there any entities that you would say have the furthest to go in terms of reducing their waste, fraud, and abuse?
LAWRENCE: We have dying rural communities across the state. I live in Tucumcari, New Mexico, and Tucumcari is so backdated. I think back to 2022 on their audits. They're on a spending freeze right now, and there are other counties and municipalities around the state that are having the exact same issues. So we'd like to not see these rural communities dying anymore and bring them back to life.
KUNM: Are there any changes or improvements that you would make to the office and how it would fulfill its duties?
LAWRENCE: Number one, we're going to have to get into the office and see what's been going on, how things are currently working, and just every position and everything having to do with this office, but most definitely we want to vet everybody that's there, and we want to ensure that that we bring that transparency that might not exist now. We have a lot of money that's coming into the state, both from [the federal government] and that's being allocated and appropriated throughout the state. That we want to ensure that everything is being utilized properly and prospering the people of this state.
KUNM: I'm curious about some of the specifics of that because I know the state auditor it's technically accessible to the public and there are files. How would you go further from what we already have right now on the state auditor website?
LAWRENCE: I'd like to be able to put everything that we're doing, make everything public on the website. I'd also like to see a lot of live streaming and updates from the auditor's office to the people of the state. Utilizing social media so that everybody can see what work is currently being done, what still needs to be done, and what kind of solutions that we're bringing to the table, and how we are prospering in that effort. I want to bring a DOGE [Department of Government Efficiency]-type office. Unfortunately or fortunately, AI/SI is going to be a part of our life. So I'd like to utilize that to be able to minimize any of the problems that are causing the issues that we all have, and just ensure that the people can see those things and, like I said, be a part of the process. That's the whole point of our government, of our founding documents, of our constitutional republic is that the people are the government.
KUNM: Why do you think New Mexico voters should vote for you? What do you think appeals most to them with you?
LAWRENCE: Well, number one, I'm not a politician. I'm really just a ticked-off American that's tired of seeing this fraud, waste, and abuse. Like I said, I've been involved in politics and on many different levels. I want to see the state fulfill its full potential for the people of this state. I'm not going to just be sitting in an office or hiding away. I want to be active in every community across this state, and I think that everybody in this state is tired of being in the positions that we're in. We've got one of the smallest populations across this country, and I think if there's any state that we can fix and make as close to perfect as possible, I believe New Mexico is that, and I believe the people here are ready for it.
Joseph Maestas
KUNM: Why are you running for re-election for the office of state auditor, and what qualifications do you have for the role?
MAESTAS: I'm running because I want to continue representing the state of New Mexico as our state's financial watchdog to safeguard taxpayer money against fraud, waste, and abuse, and continue fulfilling the constitutional mandate of this office. I've served for the last four years as New Mexico State Auditor. So I bring a lot of problem solving and executive experience, and also the scrutiny that I think financial information deserves, and that's why I pursued my certification as a fraud examiner. So I bring the whole package, I believe, to the table.
KUNM: Why do you think the people of New Mexico should reelect you?
MAESTAS: Since day one, I have proceeded to make appropriate changes to stabilize the office, professionalize the office. We have launched programs that have helped, especially small local public bodies, become compliant. We have launched major investigations that have led to leadership changes and public policy changes. We have protected vulnerable persons that rely on conservators to manage their financial assets. So we've accomplished a great deal, and there's more that we'd like to do in the next four years if the voters keep me as their state auditor.
KUNM: From the smallest entities to the largest entities, are there any areas where you say that they have the longest to go in terms of reducing fraud, waste, and abuse?
MAESTAS: We're working on a methodology. It's a risk methodology to identify local governments that represent a high financial risk. They're not in violation of any laws or any rules, but based on the information that we have, they are headed for rough waters. And we think tools like this high-risk designation and methodology can help us prevent the situation in these troubled local governments from getting worse.
KUNM: The state auditor has a lot of other tools like the fraud hotline, but some have said that the public awareness for some of these tools just isn’t there. Are there any improvements, if any, for how you or your office could communicate the state auditor's available tools and your work to the public?
MAESTAS: I disagree. If you go to the Office of the State Auditor's main website, the landing page, you can initiate a fraud complaint from that homepage. We have seen in this last fiscal year, fiscal year 2026 that ended on July 1 of this year, we saw an 80% increase in fraud, waste, and abuse complaints. So that tells me that the public's even more aware of what my office does.
We're out on the road quite a bit. We regularly present to school boards, business officials, to municipalities, to counties. We use all social media platforms. We frequently issue public service announcements on reporting fraud, waste, and abuse, so we are very engaged.
KUNM: If you're elected for the next four years, are there any changes or improvements that you would like to make to the office in terms of your workflow and technology, or any other sort of aspects of your office?
MAESTAS: [For] fiscal year 2028, we're about to present our budget, and I have a very aggressive request. We're asking to fill nine existing vacancies. We can't fill them for budgetary reasons, and we're asking for additional staff members for a financial audit division, for a special investigations division, and our conservatorships division.
We're also embarking on a major AI software program that will significantly optimize our audit report review process, which is very repetitive and time-consuming. And this has the potential to free up additional staff time to actually do audits. And let me caution my statement about AI-- it's just a tool. It's not going to replace auditor judgment. AI is not going to conclude or make any judgments on an audit. That's why I'm hoping that the voters of New Mexico will recognize what we've done over the last four years, and appreciate my vision for the next four years.
