The Republican Party of New Mexico has elected a new chairman.
The party says John Billingsley of Lincoln County was elected during Saturday's central committee meeting in Albuquerque. He will replace Monty Newman, who has served as the party's top leader for the past two years.
An Alto resident, Billingsley was previously the state party's first vice chairman.
Billingsley identifies himself as a longtime conservative and Republican activist.
In a recent editorial, he acknowledged that this past Election Day was tough for Republicans and that the party must return to recruiting candidates and sharing its message first at the grass-roots level.
He wrote that nothing can take the place of direct personal engagement in communities and having frank conservations with people about how to alleviate local, state and national problems.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.