Michelle Lujan Grisham facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Michelle Lujan Grisham
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Lujan Grisham in 2021
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| 32nd Governor of New Mexico | |
| Assumed office January 1, 2019 |
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| Lieutenant | Howie Morales |
| Preceded by | Susana Martinez |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Mexico's 1st district |
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| In office January 3, 2013 – January 1, 2019 |
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| Preceded by | Martin Heinrich |
| Succeeded by | Deb Haaland |
| Secretary of Health of New Mexico | |
| In office August 2004 – June 2007 |
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| Governor | Bill Richardson |
| Preceded by | Patricia Montoya |
| Succeeded by | Alfredo Vigil |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Michelle Lynn Lujan
October 24, 1959 Los Alamos, New Mexico, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouses |
Gregory Grisham
(m. 1982; died 2004)Manuel Cordova
(m. 2022) |
| Children | 2 |
| Residence | Governor's Mansion |
| Education | University of New Mexico (BA, JD) |
Michelle Lujan Grisham (/ˈluːhɑːn ˈɡrɪʃəm/ loo-HAHN-_-GRISH-əm; born October 24, 1959) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 32nd governor of New Mexico since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, Lujan Grisham previously served as the U.S. representative for New Mexico's 1st congressional district from 2013 to 2019.
Lujan Grisham served as the state secretary of health from 2004 to 2007 and as a Bernalillo County commissioner from 2010 to 2012. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012, defeating Janice Arnold-Jones. In 2016, Lujan Grisham was selected as the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. She won the Democratic nomination for governor of New Mexico in 2018 and defeated Republican Steve Pearce on November 6, 2018. She was reelected in 2022.
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Early life and education
Michelle Lujan was born in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and grew up in Santa Fe. Her father, Llewellyn "Buddy" Lujan, practiced dentistry into his eighties until he died in March 2011. Her mother, Sonja, was a homemaker. Her sister Kimberly was diagnosed with a brain tumor at the age of two and died at 21.
Lujan Grisham says that her ancestors have inhabited New Mexico for 12 generations. She is part of the prominent Lujan political family in New Mexico, many of whose members have served in elected and appointed positions in government.
Lujan graduated from St. Michael's High School. She received a Bachelor of Arts in university studies from the University of New Mexico in 1981, where she was a work study student in the engineering department and was a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority. In 1982, she married Gregory Alan Grisham. She also worked as a technical writing intern for the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. In 1987, Lujan Grisham earned a Juris Doctor from the University of New Mexico School of Law.
Early political career
Lujan Grisham served as director of the New Mexico Aging and Long-Term Services Department under Bruce King, Gary Johnson, and Bill Richardson. During Richardson's tenure, the position was elevated to the state cabinet level. In 2004, he named Lujan Grisham as New Mexico Secretary of Health and she served in the position until 2007.
Lujan Grisham was later elected to the Bernalillo County Commission, serving from 2010 to 2012.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
2008
Lujan Grisham resigned as Secretary of Health in order to run for the United States House of Representatives in the 2008 elections, losing in the Democratic primary to Martin Heinrich, who won with 44% of the vote. New Mexico Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron ranked second with 25% and Lujan Grisham ranked third with 24%.
2012
Lujan Grisham sought the Democratic nomination for the House again in 2012 after Heinrich decided to run for the United States Senate. She won the nomination, defeating Marty Chavez and Eric Griego. She defeated Janice Arnold-Jones, a former member of the New Mexico House of Representatives, in the November general election, 59%–41%.
2014
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Lujan Grisham defeated Republican Mike Frese in the 2014 elections, 59% to 41%.
2016
In 2016, Lujan Grisham defeated Republican Richard Priem, receiving 179,380 votes (65.1%) to Priem's 96,061 (34.9%).
Tenure
Lujan Grisham was sworn in as a member of Congress on January 3, 2013. In 2016, she was one of nine members of Congress who took a trip to Baku who were later found to have been secretly funded by the government of Azerbaijan; she had to turn over gifts the country gave her to the House Clerk after an ethics investigation. Both the Office of Congressional Ethics and House Ethics Committee found lawmakers and aides had no way of knowing the trip was being funded improperly.
Also in 2016, Lujan Grisham was selected as the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Lujan Grisham resigned her House seat as of December 31, 2018, to assume the governorship of New Mexico the following day.
Committee assignments
- Committee on Agriculture
- United States House Agriculture Subcommittee on Nutrition
- United States House Agriculture Subcommittee on Biotechnology, Horticulture, and Research (Ranking Member)
- Committee on the Budget
Caucuses
- Congressional Hispanic Caucus (Chair)
- Congressional Native American Caucus
- Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues
Governor of New Mexico
Elections
2018
On December 13, 2016, one week after Tom Udall announced he would not run for governor of New Mexico, Lujan Grisham became the first person to announce her candidacy to succeed Susana Martinez, who was prohibited from running because of term limits. On June 5, 2018, she won the Democratic primary to become the party's nominee. On November 6, she was elected governor, defeating the Republican nominee, U.S. Representative Steve Pearce, with 56.9% of the vote.
2022
Lujan Grisham is running for reelection in 2022.
Tenure
Lujan Grisham was sworn in on January 1, 2019. In September 2019, she announced a plan to make public universities in New Mexico tuition-free to state residents.
On January 29, 2019, Lujan Grisham signed an executive order calling for New Mexico to join the United States Climate Alliance and to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 45% below 2005 levels by 2030. This executive order also called for the state to develop comprehensive regulations to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, and for state agencies to work with the legislature to increase the state's renewable portfolio standard.
In March 2019, Lujan Grisham signed New Mexico's Energy Transition Act. The legislation transitions the state's electricity sector away from coal and natural gas and toward a renewable economy, requiring New Mexico's electricity to be 50% renewable by 2030 and 100% from zero-carbon sources by 2045. She called the legislation "a promise to future generations of New Mexicans."
On September 5, 2020, Lujan Grisham was named a co-chair of the Biden-Harris Transition Team, which was planning Joe Biden's presidential transition. In November, Lujan Grisham was named a candidate for United States Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Biden administration. On December 3, 2020, she was elected chair of the Democratic Governors Association for 2021, having served as vice chair in 2020.
In May 2021, Lujan Grisham and 12 others were named as defendants in a lawsuit filed on behalf of the former executive director of the New Mexico Educational Retirement Board, alleging that she was not compensated at the same rate as her male counterparts. In August 2021, Lujan Grisham signed an executive order joining Biden's "30x30" land goal.
On September 8, 2023, Lujan Grisham issued an emergency order restricting carrying firearms in Albuquerque for 30 days. The order has been criticized by Republicans, civil rights advocates, some Democrats, and gun safety advocates as unconstitutional. On September 13, Judge David H. Urias issued a temporary restraining order blocking her order until October 3, when a hearing was held. On October 3, Urias extended the preliminary hold while he considers blocking the restrictions indefinitely.
Political positions
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Environment
On January 29, 2019, Lujan Grisham signed an executive order calling for New Mexico to join the United States Climate Alliance and to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 45% below 2005 levels by 2030. This executive order also called for the state to develop comprehensive regulations to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, and for state agencies to work with the legislature to increase the state's renewable portfolio standard.
In March 2019, Lujan Grisham signed New Mexico's Energy Transition Act. The legislation transitions the state's electricity sector away from coal and natural gas and toward a renewable economy, requiring New Mexico's electricity to be 50% renewable by 2030 and 100% from zero-carbon sources by 2045. She called the legislation "a promise to future generations of New Mexicans."
Guns
Lujan Grisham was a co-sponsor of the 2015 Assault Weapon Ban H. R. 4269 Bill that was introduced on December 12, 2015.
Israel
Lujan Grisham is a strong supporter of Israel. She condemned the United Nations Security Council's criticism of Israel's settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Minimum wage
In 2015, Lujan Grisham co-sponsored legislation that would raise the federal minimum wage to $12/hour.
Personal life
Lujan Grisham married Gregory Grisham in 1982. They were married until his death from a brain aneurysm in 2004. The couple had two daughters. Lujan Grisham filed a wrongful death suit against her husband's physician, but the lawsuit was dropped.
Lujan Grisham married Manuel Cordova, a small business owner from Albuquerque, on May 21, 2022, with Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris officiating the wedding. The wedding was postponed due to COVID-19 restrictions. The couple had been together since 2012.
See also
In Spanish: Michelle Lujan Grisham para niños
- List of female governors in the United States
- List of Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States Congress
- List of minority governors and lieutenant governors in the United States
- Women in the United States House of Representatives
