Candidates seeking political offices were not the only ones to declare their intentions Tuesday.

Numerous judicial and law-enforcement candidates also will be on the June primary ballot. They include Santa Fe County sheriff, four of the eight state district judge positions in Santa Fe and all four Santa Fe County magistrates.

Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano is limited to two terms in office and will be stepping down next year. Four men are seeking to replace him.

Undersheriff Robert Garcia, a patrol sergeant with the Santa Fe Police Department for 23 years before Solano tapped him for the undersheriff job in March 2003, is a candidate to succeed Solano. One of those he will face for the Democratic nomination is Charlie Dalton, who ran against Solano for the Democratic nomination for sheriff in 2002, and also put in more than 20 years with the city police department.

Rex Doerfer, a former captain with the sheriff's office who retired about two years ago, also will vie for the Democratic nomination for sheriff. Former Santa Fe County Sheriff's Deputy Rubel Tafoya, who now works for the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office, rounds out the field for sheriff.

Three of the four judge spots available in the 1st Judicial District — which encompasses Santa Fe, Rio Arriba and Los Alamos counties — feature judges who are were recently appointed to the bench by Gov. Bill Richardson to replace judges who retired or moved to a higher position.

Judge Sarah Singleton, appointed in December to replace Judge Jim Hall, will run in the Democratic primary against Santa Fe lawyer Peter Culbert. Hall retired.

Judge Sheri Raphaelson, who replaced Judge Tim Garcia about a year ago, will run for the Rio Arriba County judgeship against Española lawyer Yvonne Quintana. Garcia moved to the state Court of Appeals.

In the seat vacated by Judge Daniel Sanchez, who retired last month, former deputy attorney general David Thomson will square off against former state District Judge T. Glenn Ellington, who also has served as state Tax and Revenue Department secretary. Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson appointed Ellington, then a Republican, to the same job for which he is now running in 1997, though he lost the seat to Sanchez in 1998. Ellington is now a registered Democrat.

The last seat available at the state court is a judgeship that was created by the state Legislature during the session that recently ended. Richardson will name someone to the position in the coming weeks, though that person will have to run in the primary against competition. Five people applied Tuesday to run for the nomination.

The field includes Santa Fe lawyers Gary Elion, Katherine Basham and Michael Jones. Also in the running for that seat are Mary Marlowe-Sommer, the district's current child-support hearing officer, and Margaret Kegel, who served as domestic relations hearing officer until August, when she was asked to resign.

Basham's husband, Mark Basham, will run unopposed for a second term as probate judge.

All four Santa Fe County magistrates — Judges David Segura, Sandra Miera, Richard "Buzzy" Padilla and George Anaya, Jr. — will run unopposed for their seats.

No Republicans filed for any of the offices in the heavily Democratic Santa Fe area.

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