Republican Gov. Susana Martinez and her allies flexed their muscle in legislative races by reaching across party lines to help moderate Democrats survive challenges from liberals, but the governor's favored GOP candidate lost in a Senate contest in eastern New Mexico.

The first-term governor ended up with a potentially more favorable legislative landscape after Tuesday's primary election despite the loss of the candidate she endorsed in a two-way race to replace state Sen. Clint Harden of Clovis, who is retiring after 10 years.

From the governor's perspective, middle-of-the-road Democrats - even if they don't support all of her policies - are preferable to having more liberals in the Legislature to form a solid wall of opposition in the House and Senate.

"The governor's agenda was a clear winner tonight," said Jay McCleskey, Martinez's top political adviser.

"We are encouraged that New Mexicans stood with Democratic candidates who are willing to work across the aisle," he added.

A political action committee established by the governor's supporters spent $100,000 on mailings and radio ads to influence the outcome in eight House and Senate Democratic primary races and succeeded in seven of those, according to McCleskey.

The PAC favored Democratic Sens. John Arthur Smith of Deming, Phil Griego of San Jose, Pete Campos of Las Vegas and George Munoz of Gallup. Reform New Mexico Now had campaigned against Rep. Eleanor Chavez, a liberal Democrat who lost in a three-way race for an Albuquerque-area Senate seat.

On the House side, the committee favored Rep. Sandra Jeff, a Crownpoint Democrat, in a race in northwestern New Mexico and Carl Trujillo, who defeated Santa Fe mayor David Coss, for a seat being vacated by House Speaker Ben Lujan. Democratic Rep. Eliseo Alcon of Milan won despite the PAC's efforts to dislodge him.

Only Smith and Griego have general election opponents and McCleskey said the two incumbents aren't on the PAC's target list for the fall campaign season.

Smith and Jeff voted for the governor's proposal to stop New Mexico from issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. A teacher's union opposed Smith's re-election because of his support for budget-balancing plans that cut state spending on public schools.

Smith, chairman of a committee that handles budget and tax measures, said Wednesday he didn't solicit the help of the super PAC with ties to Martinez and speculates that he would have won without its mailings and radio ads.

Unions and other liberal-leaning groups made repeated mailings against Smith and he suggested that their negative campaign tactics were at least partly offset by the competing efforts of the conservative PAC.

"With all of the negative mailings against me, I was pleased to have something that was supportive of me," Smith said.

So-called super PACs can make independent expenditures in unlimited amounted in races but can't coordinate their activities with the candidates. A PAC formed by Martinez, called Susana PAC, can directly contribute money to candidates but was limited on how much it can donate and accept from donors.

In the east-side Senate race, Curry County rancher Pat Woods defeated Angie Spears of Clovis, who received personal and financial support from Martinez. The governor made campaign appearances for Spears.

Woods had 52 percent of the vote with complete unofficial results. Woods was backed by the retiring GOP incumbent, Clint Harden of Clovis.

There's no Democrat in the Senate race, which means Woods is expected to fill the seat in the Legislature. However, minor party or independent candidates can get on the general election ballot because their filing deadline is later this month.

State Democratic Party chairman Javier Gonzales portrayed Woods' victory as a political setback for Martinez, saying "her interference backfired in a big way" in the race.

Woods is a conservative and likely will be a solid Martinez supporter in the Legislature despite her stance in the primary.

Two dozen incumbents faced primary challengers, and at least four House and Senate members lost their re-election bids. One other incumbent was trailing.

Two Roswell Republicans were paired in a House race because of redistricting, and Bob Wooley defeated Dennis Kintigh with 55 percent of the vote, according to unofficial results.

Democrat Rep. Richard Vigil of Ribera lost to Tomas Salazar of Las Vegas, who had 55 percent of the vote. Vigil is the brother of former state Treasurer Robert Vigil, who was convicted in a public corruption scandal.

Democratic Sen. David Ulibarri of Grants ran a distant third in a four-way primary in a race in west-central New Mexico. Maxine Velasquez of Laguna held a narrow lead over Clemente Sanchez of Grants, according to complete unofficial results.

Democratic incumbent Lynda Lovejoy of Crownpoint lost to former Indian Affairs Secretary Benny Shendo of Jemez Pueblo in a four-way primary. Shendo had 41 percent of the vote to 37 percent for Lovejoy, a member of the Navajo Nation.

Former Rep. Jeff Steinborn had 51 percent of the vote against Democratic incumbent Antonio Lujan in a race for the party's nomination in a House seat in the Las Cruces area.

Democrats currently enjoy a 28 to 14 advantage over Republicans in the Senate. However, Democrats cling to a narrow 36-33 majority in the House, where there's also one independent.

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