SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Jerry Gonzales finally got a high school diploma this year, and now he’s running to be a magistrate judge for Santa Fe County.
The Albuquerque Journal reports that the 44-year-old Gonzales dropped out of high school in 1991 midway through his senior year and took online classes to get his diploma in February.
Santa Fe County is among the New Mexico counties that require magistrate judges have a high school diploma or an equivalent, but Gonzales says he began taking classes last year to get a diploma because it was a missing part of his life.
Gonzales says he didn’t have his priorities straight when he dropped out of high school before becoming a licensed bondsman at age 18.
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Gonzales will face incumbent David Segura in the June 5 Democratic primary.