Jan. 19—A resident of To’hajiilee, Michelle “Paulene” Abeyta recently hauled 50 gallons of drinking water from Albuquerque to her home in the Navajo community about 30 miles west of the city, which has endured lingering water issues over the years.
She has running water, she said, but the quality is not consistently good.
Elected in November to represent a New Mexico House district with a large Native American population, Abeyta — who is Navajo and a Democrat — will take her oath Tuesday as one of the state’s new lawmakers.
She noted newspaper photographs of orange- and rust-colored water and the struggles of those in her House District 69, which includes multiple Navajo Nation chapters, Laguna and Acoma pueblos and a portion of Isleta Pueblo.
“I understand that struggle,” she said.
At least 28 new lawmakers will be walking the halls of the Roundhouse on Tuesday, when the New Mexico Legislature convenes for its 60-day 2025 session. Indeed, about a quarter of the members will be new to their seats, although that is a somewhat deceptive figure because some are transitioning from the House to the Senate. Abeyta is one of 60 women elected Nov. 5 to seats in the now female-majority Legislature of 112 members.
House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque, noted the loss of institutional knowledge with the high volume of newcomers.
“On the flip side, the opportunity is that you are getting new energy; you’re getting fresh ideas; you’re getting new blood, and I also believe that that’s a tremendous, tremendous asset,” he said.
“Even though these folks coming in are … ‘new,’ if you look at their life history, if you look at their professional experience, if you look at their personal experience — my goodness … we’ve got an incredible, incredible group of legislators coming in, and I’m excited to work with them,” Martínez added.
‘Part of that momentum’
Feeling a sense of beckoning excitement, Abeyta will be joined Tuesday by members of her community during an inauguration that will make her the first Native woman to represent District 69, she said. She sees the need for resources for families, noting she has four children — two of her own and two she is raising through kinship care.
“So many families have been plagued with drug abuse, substance abuse,” Abeyta said. “And when that happens, relatives are tasked with stepping up to care for the children. In my role as legislator, I hope to get more services for substance abuse, behavioral health.”
Abeyta defeated former Rep. Harry Garcia in a June Democratic primary last year despite raising $65,000 to Garcia’s $177,000; she earned about 57% of the vote. She hit the pavement of her rural district hard, she said, covering close to 5,000 miles of territory in 90 days of campaigning ahead of the primary.
“I’m homegrown here, and I think it’s important to have representation from someone in Santa Fe who knows the everyday struggle,” she said.
As someone with deep ties to San Miguel County, Anita Gonzales, another newcomer, hails from the Lopez family of Villanueva, and the Gallegos and Gonzales families of Las Vegas, N.M., her campaign website states.
“I’m very proud to be what I would call pure San Miguel County,” said Gonzales, a Democrat who will begin to represent House District 70 on Tuesday.
Gonzales also prevailed in the June primary against a more conservative male incumbent who had a campaign fundraising advantage: She edged out former Rep. Ambrose Castellano, who raised $219,000 to her $100,000. She campaigned on her connection to the Las Vegas area and her legislative priorities.
Gonzales and Abeyta are among those who helped propel women to the majority in the Legislature for the first time in the state’s history; though, women are still in the minority in the Senate.
“I’m extremely proud to be a part of that momentum swing. I believe I’m the first female representative for my district, and that’s huge, a different look for my community,” Gonzales said.
‘New season of innovation’
Incoming Rep. Elaine Sena Cortez, R-Hobbs, was preparing Friday to pack up and head to Santa Fe. She said the foundation of her political work is “God, family and New Mexicans,” as well as fighting for the conservative values of Lea County.
Sena Cortez expressed excitement about all the new faces this year.
“So there is going to be a learning curve. It’s going to be a big incoming freshman class, the biggest they’ve had in a while,” she said, adding she recently spent some time in the capital city for orientation. “It feels like it is going to be a new season of innovation, and a new perspective, and you have all of these people who are looking at things through different lenses.”
For Sena Cortez, that’s exactly what the state needs. The Republican from Eastern New Mexico has already gained some attention by saying she plans to introduce a bill that would attempt to eliminate the income tax in New Mexico, noting a handful of states like Texas and Alaska don’t tax individual income.
Cindy Nava, 37, a Bernalillo Democrat elected to represent District 9 in the state Senate, formerly served as the senior policy adviser to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. As someone who grew up as an undocumented resident but is now a citizen, she said her election to the seat offers a new brand of representation.
“I’m legitimately the daughter of a construction worker and of a woman who cleans houses for a living. I was not meant to be in the place that I am in now. But I will tell you what I told them when I went to the White House — representation matters,” Nava said.
Some new lawmakers have had specific experiences in their districts that inform their policy priorities. Joseph Hernandez, a Farmington Democrat who has seen the impacts of the oil industry firsthand while growing up in the Shiprock area, said one of his priorities is clean energy initiatives.
“We have a lot of abandoned oil fields in my backyard, and that’s why I’m so passionate about renewable energy and why we need to diversify our economy,” said Hernandez, who is from the Navajo community of To’koi.
Anthony “Ant” Thornton, a Sandia Park Republican who will represent state Senate District 19, is a retired Sandia National Laboratories aerospace engineer who also worked at Lockheed Martin. Once a Democrat, he has worked in recent years to strengthen the Republican Party of Bernalillo County’s strategic planning as the GOP seeks to gain ground in New Mexico.
“I’m coming at this from a totally different perspective than, say, a traditional litigator, politician, lawyer-type person,” said Thornton, who was the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor in 2022. “I come with a technical background.”
Thornton said he has been to Texas border communities like Del Rio and Eagle Pass and is concerned about crime and human trafficking. He wants to work on legislation that would create a “border czar” office, similar to Texas.
“Texas has their own state border czar and we should have a state border czar to help coordinate [with the federal government],” he said.
Staff writer Daniel J. Chacón contributed to this report.
Staff writer Daniel J. Chacón contributed to this report.
