Planned Parenthood Votes New Mexico Endorsements

Joseph Hernandez is a community organizer and serves as Diné Energy Organizer for NAVA Education Project (NAVAEP) and NM Native Vote, focused on clean energy, solar adoption, and the energy transition act. Previously, he served as field organizer for Anthony Allison’s campaign for the New Mexico House of Representatives, the Committee President of Gadii’ahi-To’koi Chapter Community Land Use Planning Committee, and has also worked in a support staff role for the Navajo Nation Office of Youth Development, Shiprock Agency.

Hernandez’ experience as a community organizer, full-time advocate, and voice for working families at the legislature since 2020 are what motivate him to run for House District 4. His priorities include jobs and economic opportunity tied to solar development, increased access to healthcare including mental health and substance abuse disorder care, and addressing the affordable housing shortage by bringing a modular home manufacturing facility to Shiprock. He also supports paid family medical leave, reproductive rights, and the removal of the state’s rent control ban as well as increased protections via a Renter’s Bill of Rights.

We highly recommend Joseph Hernandez for House District 4 based on his community organizing background, focus on sustainable economic growth, and experience representing the concerns of working families at the state legislature.

Eliseo Lee Alcon is running for re-election to House District 6. He has served in the legislature since 2009, and is currently Chair of the House Labor, Veterans’ and Military Affairs Committee and member of the House Judiciary Committee.

Retired from the US Army as a disabled veteran, Alcon served as a combat medic during the Vietnam War and was awarded the Bronze Star in 2019 alongside his Army Commendation Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with three bronze stars and The Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation with palm.

Alcon is motivated to run for re-election for HD6 because of his passion for reinforcing working families, unions and fair wages, and a sustainable economy. His priorities and legislative record include a focus on education, healthcare, economic development, and advocating for veterans.

Alcon has strong track record of meeting the needs of New Mexicans, including sponsoring legislation during the 2024 session to establish a service members suicide prevention program (HB298) and requiring public colleges and universities to include material on affirmative consent in orientation (HB151), as well as voting for prohibiting firearms at state polling location (SB5), establishing a waiting period for firearm purchases (HB129), and establishing state clean energy standards (HB41). In 2023, he voted to establish state protections for abortion and gender affirming care (SB13), requiring health insurance companies to provide reimbursement for mental health coverage (SB273), the Voting Rights Act and Native American Voting Rights Act (HB4), establishing state protections for gender affirming care (HB7), and establishing negligently leaving a firearm accessible to a minor as a crime (HB9).

We highly recommend Eliseo Lee Alcon for re-election to House District 6 based on his track record of supporting New Mexico’s working families and protecting healthcare rights and access.

Christopher Brian Hudson is running against incumbent Patricia Lundstrom in the Democratic Primary for House District 9.

Hudson works as Coordinator for the McKinley Community Health Alliance, and previously worked in public health and community outreach with Strong Families New Mexico. His volunteer experience includes community organizing for Somos Gallup and We Own It, serving as a board member for NM Alliance of Health Councils, as a lead for the NM Together for Healthcare campaign, and a founding board member of the NW NM Indigenous Women’s Resource Council. Hudson is a UNM graduate, Gates Millennium Scholarship recipient, and was also named 2019 Rural Health Star by the Center for Health Innovation.

Hudson is motivated to run for HD9 because of his passion for community organizing, public health, and serving rural areas of the state. His priorities include increased healthcare and behavioral health access, protections for workers and their families, protections and equitable access for LGBTQ2s+ community members, increased investment in and options for affordable housing, and modernizing the legislature to ensure all New Mexicans are able to serve.

Additionally, Hudson supports active and inclusive consultation with tribal governments and nations, increased investment in renewable energy, protecting clean air and water, and a just transition away from oil and gas industries.

We recommend Christopher Hudson based on his track record of advocating for healthcare access and education, and for his experience in public outreach and community organizing for House District 9.

Patricia Roybal Caballero is running for re-election for House District 13, and has served in the seat since 2013. She is currently Vice Chair for the House Labor, Veterans’ and Military Affairs Committee and a member of the House Education Committee.

Roybal Caballero’s professional experience includes 30+ years as a public administrator, community and economic developer, and advocate for low-income communities as well as on economic, political, environmental, and racial justice issues. Her previous experience also includes working as a union organizer and a shop steward. Roybal Caballero also served as the national treasurer and parliamentarian for the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the largest Latino civil rights and advocacy group in the nation.

Her motivation to serve and run for re-election derives from her father, with native cultural lineage of the Piro Manso Tiwa Indian Tribe, Pueblo of San Juan de Guadalupe, and her mother of Spanish and Mexican lineage, who instilled in her the core values of a quality education and service to one’s community.

Roybal Caballero’s policy priorities include addressing climate change by supporting green and renewable energy, tax reform to take the burden off low and middle income families, ensuring access to healthcare by opposing Medicaid cuts, and improving infrastructure developments such as roads and parks in her district.

Her vote record includes sponsoring, co-sponsoring, and supporting progressive policies across areas like fair wages and workplace safety, renewable energy, economic development, access to healthcare, and affordable housing. Among those legislative accomplishments: Geothermal Resources Project Funds (HB91, SB59), Geothermal Electricity Tax Credits (HB92, SB58) Paid Family Medical Leave Act (HB6, SB3), Local Solar Access Fund (HB108), Tribal Education Trust Fund (HB134), and Firearm Sale Waiting Period (HB129).

We highly recommend Patricia Roybal Caballero for House District 13 based on her work to ensure educational and economic opportunities for New Mexicans as well as her continued dedication to a just climate transition.

Yanira Gurrola Valenzuela is running for re-election for House District 16. She has served in the seat since 2023, and is Vice Chair of the House Enrolling and Engrossing Committee and member of the House Education Committee and House Labor, Veterans’ and Military Affairs Committee.

She currently works as a Project Coordinator for Dual Language Education NM, with past experience that includes teaching as a Bilingual Math teacher, Computer and Spanish teacher, and ESL tutor. Volunteer experience includes serving as a Federation Representative for Albuquerque Teachers Federation, ESL tutor for adults and children, and a Youth Minister.

Gurrola Valenzuela’s passion to run derives from her rich and diverse background as an immigrant, educator, woman, and engineer, and her desire to create a foundation of equity, fairness, and sustainability for all New Mexicans. Her priorities include strengthening education by fully funding early childhood, K-12, and extracurricular programs, and ensuring the recruitment and retention of excellent teachers. Gurrola Valenzuela supports public safety measures through equipping law enforcement with essential tools to prevent gun violence and crime. Additionally, she is committed to reducing homelessness through investments in evidence-based mental health and substance abuse programs, and by increasing affordable housing options. She also supports the expansion of New Mexico’s renewable energy, technology, film, and healthcare sectors to create good-paying, lifelong career opportunities.

Gurrola Valenzuela’s voting record in past legislative sessions aligns with a focus on equitable education, fair wages and safe working conditions, clean energy, and social justice, including support for clean energy standards (HB41), protecting abortion and gender affirming healthcare (SB13), and co-sponsoring legislation requiring public colleges and universities to include information on affirmative consent during orientation (HB151) as well as requiring menstrual products in public schools (HB134).

We highly recommend Yanira Gurrola for House District 16 based on her consistent support for education, investing in social services and healthcare access, and focus on reinforcing young people and meaningful economic development.

Angelica Rubio is running for re-election for House District 35. Rubio has served in the seat since 2017. She is currently the Vice Chair of the House Consumer & Public Affairs Committee and a member of the House Energy, Environment & Natural Resources Committee.

Rubio works as State Director for Vote, Run, Lead, a national organization dedicated to helping women for office. Previously, she worked as Executive Director at NM CAFé, Lead Organizer for NM CAFé, and as a consultant for local nonprofits. Her volunteer experience includes serving on the boards of Mountain View Market Co-op, Downtown Las Cruces Partnership, and City of Las Cruces Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. Rubio is a graduate of New Mexico State University and received her Master’s at California State University, Los Angeles.

She is motivated to run for re-election to House District 35 by her passion for championing working class families, immigrants, equitable access to New Mexico’s landscapes and outdoor recreation, and her lived experience as the daughter of immigrants who built a life in rural New Mexico. Rubio is also known as an avid cyclist and outspoken advocate for transportation justice.

Rubio’s priorities include climate justice centered on Black, Indigenous, and Communities of Color, transitioning away from oil and gas by centering frontline communities and communities of color, affordable housing and addressing the needs of tenants, modernizing the legislature by paying legislative salaries and making it more equitable and diverse, elevating mobility justice issues, and building an equitable outdoor recreation industry.

Rubio has sponsored bills to ensure bicyclist safety, creating a system to get resources to victims of human trafficking, recognizing Hispanic New Mexicans role in conservation in the state, and creating a multicultural education taskforce. Additionally, she’s been a cosponsor of several important bills including instituting broadband infrastructure statewide and the permanent fund for New Mexico’s schoolchildren.

We highly recommend Angelica Rubio for re-election to House District 35 based on her voting record and focus on championing policies that improve the lives of working families and a diverse range of New Mexicans.

Gabby Begay is running against Gilbert Guadiana in the Democratic Primary for House District 39, which is currently held by Republican incumbent ​​Luis Terrazas. Begay is an experienced public school teacher who is passionate about improving the state’s educational system. She is an Emerge graduate and currently serves on the NM Commission on the Status of Women as well as serving as President of the Cobre Consolidated School District Board of Education. Begay was chosen by her cohort peers as the 2024 NM Teach Plus Fellow of the Year, and is a past member of the union AFSCME and current member of the National Education Association.

Begay’s motivation to run for House District 39 comes from her experience as an educator and her desire to ​​empower, inspire, and educate the future generations. Her top priorities include advocating for better resources, modernizing classrooms, and supporting both students and teachers. Other focus areas include improving access to healthcare in rural NM by supporting the 20/80 contribution formula and incentivizing health practitioners located in underserved areas. She also cares deeply about working to create a criminal justice system that is rehabilitative, addressing climate change by supporting a one mile setback for new development of oil, and fighting to protect access to abortion.

We highly recommend Gabby Begay for House District 39 based on her work and volunteer experience with education and access to healthcare.

Susan Herrera is running for re-election in the Democratic Primary for House District 41. Herrera has served in the seat since 2019. She is currently the Chair of the Rural Development, Land Grants and Cultural Affairs Committee (previously serving as Vice Chair), and before that was Vice Chair of the Agriculture & Water Resources Committee as well as a commitment member of the Taxation & Revenue and Appropriations and Finance Committees.

Herrera was the founding executive director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation (LANLF) and led the organization for seventeen years. Prior to that, she also worked as director of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, as a legislative staffer in Washington D.C. and in roles at the University of New Mexico and non-profit organizations like Siete del Norte and Child-Rite. She also founded the Northern New Mexico Community College Foundation and served as President of the New Mexico Association of Grantmakers.

Herrera is passionate about the topics of land and water use, rural economic development, and education, and her experience leading Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation and Northern New Mexico Community College Foundation, in particular, are a key driver for her in serving House District 41. As a legislator, Herrera’s key priority areas include clean energy, healthcare, and education. In the last two legislative sessions, she voted for investments in early childhood programs, increased teacher pay, and funding technical and trade school programs in Northern New Mexico. Herrera also advanced legislation to protect financially vulnerable people from predatory lending, sponsoring HB128 which was signed into law this year and caps the annual percentage rate (APR) for loans under $10,000 at 36% (previously it was up to 175%).

Her voting record also includes support for the Paid Family Leave Act, Voting Rights Act and Native American Voting Rights Act (HB4, 2023), and Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Health Care Act (SB13 and HB7, 2023). She supports legislation that would protect workers rights, abolish rent control and expand investments in affordable housing, and increase reproductive health services in rural communities, along with expanded voting rights and access.

We highly recommend Susan Herrera for House District 41 based on her voting record, values, and support for working and middle class New Mexicans.

Michelle “Paulene” Abeyta is running against incumbent Harry Garcia in the Democratic Primary for House District 69. 

Abeyta is an attorney and member of the Navajo Nation from To’hajiilee, New Mexico. She holds a Juris Doctor degree with a certificate in Indigenous Peoples Law & Policy from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, and is also a graduate of the University of New Mexico and Central New Mexico Community College. She serves on the To’hajiilee Community School Board of Education and the National Native American Bar Association Board. She previously served on the Woman, Infants & Children (WIC) Board for the Acoma-Canoncito-Laguna Service Unit, the Canoncito Band of Navajos Health Center, Inc. Board, and the National Native American Law Students Association. 

Abeyta’s desire to be a voice for the people, lived experience organizing for workers rights, and frustration with current representation are what motivate her to run for House District 69. Her priorities are education, healthcare, and economic opportunity, including access to reproductive health in rural areas via school based health centers and school nurses, increased investment in child care providers and early childhood educators, and shifting to jobs in clean and renewable energy through workforce development and training. She supports modernizing the state legislature so there is more fair compensation and staffing for legislators in order for a range of people to be able to participate. 

Abeyta also supports Paid Family Medical Leave legislation, increasing the state’s minimum wage to ensure a living wage, and more investment in funding for mental health and substance use disorder healthcare programs. With respect to affordable housing, Abeyta is in support of more affordable housing options including micro-housing communities in areas with minimal or no infrastructure. She also supports abolishing the rent control ban and increased protections for renters. Additionally, Abeyta is in support of LGBTQ+ rights and supports environmental protections, including reducing the state’s dependence on oil and gas, and closely consulting with tribal governments to ensure that natural resources and lands are respected and valued. 

We highly recommend Michelle ‘Paulene’ Abeyta based on her focus on education, policy/good governance, and healthcare, as well as support for LGBTQ+ rights and protections.

Anita Gonzales is running against incumbent Ambrose Castellano in the Democratic Primary for House District 70. 

Gonzales currently works as Deputy Director for New Mexico Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (NM MESA). Previously, she worked for NM Mesa as a Program Coordinator as well as the City of Las Vegas. Her volunteer experience includes serving as President for the San Miguel County Federation of Democratic Women, Vice Chair of the Sierra Club’s Rio Grande Chapter Executive Committee, President of Acequia de los Madres Vigiles, President of the Las Vegas Rotary Club, and on the boards of the NM Acequia Association and San Miguel County Family & Community Health Council. Gonzales was named a public Service Honoree by the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce and received the National Leadership in Expanding Diversity in Technology Award from the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE). 

Gonzales is motivated to run for House District 70 because of her experience advocating for women and children, her passion for water and the role of acequias in Northern NM, and her desire to increase representation in science, tech, engineering and math fields. 

Her priorities include education, access to healthcare, investing in rural and small town infrastructure, and protecting public lands and natural resources. Among the specific initiatives she is proposing are increasing teacher salaries, adding STEM curriculum and pathways, investing in early childhood programs, expanding funding for healthcare and social services including mental health and addiction treatment programs as well as increased telehealth options, expanding the state’s rural healthcare tax credit, affordable housing through rental assistance vouchers and tax credits, promoting local agriculture and food production, restoring land and forests and ensuring traditional and agricultural uses of water, and establishing and funding a grant program to expand rural broadband. 

Additionally, Gonzales supports fair wages and safe working conditions, each person’s right to full control over their own reproductive healthcare decisions, full rights and protections for LGBTQ+ community members, and a just and humane immigration policy centered on community support, asylum processing, and humanitarian needs.

We highly recommend Anita Gonzales for House District 70 based on her track record across education, conservation, and the environment, along with her experience in community outreach and engagement.