Española City Attorney Angela "Spence" Pacheco was on track to become the first woman ever to head the 1st Judicial District Attorney's Office as of press time Tuesday night.

Pacheco had 10,793 votes from Santa Fe, Rio Arriba and Los Alamos counties, while current Chief Deputy District Attorney A.J. Salazar had 6,696 and Deputy District Attorney Joseph Campbell, 3,179.

With 67 of 86 Santa Fe County precincts reporting — including early voting — Pacheco, 58, was handily in the lead with 8,801 votes to 3,535 for Salazar, 41, and 2,401 for Campbell, 42.

Pacheco also dominated in Los Alamos County, where she had 688 votes to 469 for Salazar and 186 for Campbell, with all 19 precincts reporting. Salazar, who runs the district's Rio Arriba County office, was leading in Rio Arriba County — which reported results from 32 of 44 counties — with 2,975 votes to 1,304 for Pacheco and 309 for Campbell.

Pacheco, however, wasn't ready to claim victory when reached by phone Tuesday night.

"Wow," she said after hearing the results. "I hope it stays. We've been working hard."

Pacheco served as a prosecutor in the 1st Judicial District Attorney's Office from 1989 to 2000, when she challenged current District Attorney Henry Valdez and lost. She said she thought the difference in this year's race was she didn't have to compete against an incumbent.

Valdez has been in office 16 years — eight years longer than anyone who has ever held the job. He began his legal career working as an assistant prosecutor in the office in 1983.

Valdez, who endorsed Salazar last week after remaining neutral for most of the campaign, has said he believes Rio Arriba County was the key to the election because it was a three-person race. "If you get slaughtered up there, it's tough to win," Valdez said earlier in the campaign.

When Pacheco ran against Valdez in 2000, she questioned her boss' ethics and his skills as an administrator, and accused him of playing politics with court cases.

This time around, however, the campaign to replace Valdez was relatively low-key. Campbell has said he decided to run after learning of two previous domestic violence charges that were filed against Salazar — one 15 years ago and one last fall — but otherwise the candidates have mostly stuck to issues and plans for the office if they're elected. Both charges against Salazar were dismissed.

Valdez ran unopposed in 2004.

Salazar has served as a prosecutor in the 1st Judicial District, the 2nd Judicial District, the Attorney General's Office and has done two tours of Iraq with the Army's Judge Advocate General.

In addition to her stint as a prosecutor in the 1st Judicial District, Pacheco has worked as a litigation attorney in the state Risk Management Division and began as Española's city attorney in July 2006. Pacheco, a Santa Fe native, has also been a social worker.

Campbell, who grew up in Las Cruces, began his career as a defense attorney in Pennsylvania before becoming a prosecutor in Santa Fe in June 2001.

The 1st Judicial District encompasses Santa Fe, Rio Arriba and Los Alamos counties. The next person to serve as district attorney will make about $109,000 a year and oversee the office's $5.3 million budget as well as supervise 28 staff attorneys and 45 administrative and support staff members.

Contact Jason Auslander at 986-3076 or :jauslander@sfnewmexican.com.