ALBUQUERQUE — Doña Ana County District Attorney Susana Martinez received strong support among Republican Party activists Saturday in winning the top position on the GOP primary election ballot for governor.

Martinez outdistanced four other candidates for governor by receiving the support of nearly 47 percent of delegates at the GOP preprimary nominating convention.

Martinez said "while there is much work to do in order to win the primary, today my campaign took an important step toward uniting the Republican Party and restoring character, integrity and trust to the highest levels of state government."

Former state party chairman Allen Weh received 26 percent of the delegate votes. Three other candidates — state Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones, businessman Doug Turner and Albuquerque lawyer Pete Domenici Jr. — failed to receive the required 20 percent vote to earn an automatic position on the party's ballot in the June 1 primary election.

However, they can still get on the ballot by submitting more signatures on nominating petitions to the secretary of state. All three indicated they will remain in the race.

The nominating conventions serve as an early litmus test of a candidate's support among party activists and a proving ground for a candidate's campaign organization ahead of the primary election. The conventions also help energize party workers.

However, there's no guarantee that a candidate's showing at the convention will mirror how they perform in the primary election.

In 1994, Republican Gary Johnson barely qualified with 20.9 percent of the delegate votes, but he went on to win the primary and be elected governor by defeating an incumbent Democrat.

Weh, a retired Marine colonel and owner of an Albuquerque aircraft charter company, said convention delegates represent "a small, small percentage" of potential GOP primary voters.

"I didn't really grow up in the party. I am not a party insider," Weh said in an interview.

Weh was elected party chairman in 2004 at a time when two factions of the GOP were feuding. He served through 2008.

Arnold-Jones got 13.6 percent of the vote; Turner received 9 percent; and Domenici got 4.6 percent.

Domenici, the son of former U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, downplayed his last place finish at the convention. He has been in the race just more than six weeks, according to Doug Antoon, his campaign director.

"This election is just beginning," Antoon said.

GOP VOTE TALLY

Results for contested races at the Republican preprimary nominating convention on Saturday. Candidates needed to receive at least 20 percent of delegate votes to automatically earn a place on the June 1 primary election ballot. Those who missed the threshold can still get on the ballot, by submitting additional nominating petition signatures to the secretary of state's office. Percentages may not add up to 100 percent because of rounding.

U.S. Representative-District 2

Steve Pearce, 92 percent

Cliff Pirtle, 8 percent

U.S. Representative-District 3

Tom Mullins, 80.5 percent

Adam Kokesh, 19.5 percent

Governor

Susana Martinez, 46.6 percent

Allen Weh, 26.2 percent

Janice Arnold-Jones, 13.6 percent .

Doug Turner, 9.2 percent

Pete Domenici Jr., 4.6 percent

Lieutenant governor

Brian Moore, 41.2 percent

Kent Cravens, 27.6 percent

John Sanchez, 22.8 percent

J.R. Damron, 8.2 percent

Land commissioner

Matthew Rush, 64.9 percent

James M. Jackson, 18 percent

Spiro Vassilopoulos, 13.3 percent

Bob Cornelius, 3.7 percent

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