Lori Martinez

Provide a short bio of yourself and tell us how you got into public service?

I’ve lived my life in border communities. I grew up in the Farmington area, born to a single mom, and adopted through kinship care from within my family. I come from a big family.

Few in my immediate family had the privilege to go to college. My adoptive father was a Vietnam Veteran with an eighth-grade education who became a mechanic after coming home from the war. My adoptive mom was a nurse before she became a homemaker.

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to go to college, moving to Las Cruces in 1998 to attend NMSU, where I got my bachelors and master’s degrees in social work.

Here in Las Cruces, I found my calling as a social worker and the kind of community that has compelled me to make this place my home. It's been a privilege to serve this community for over 20 years as a social worker, working in early childhood education, mental health, higher education, and nonprofit settings.

I have a teenage daughter and am a single working mom. I am the executive director at Ngage New Mexico, a local nonprofit that focuses on community engagement and education systems change in Dona Ana County so that our education system works more cohesively for all of our kids, across the early childhood to career readiness spectrum.

I’ve spent my career connecting people with the resources they need. I’ve done grassroots policy advocacy and community organizing for statewide initiatives, such as fair wages for early childhood workers and paid family medical leave. I’m a working families Democrat ready to put the progressive values of southern New Mexico into action at the Roundhouse.

I support policies that help all people have a chance to thrive, not just survive. Everyone should have access to affordable housing, health care, educational opportunities, food, meaningful work, and quality of life. I will fight for policies that put working families' needs first.

Residents across Doña Ana County continue to raise concerns about crime and juvenile violence. What specific state-level changes — whether in juvenile justice laws, behavioral health funding, schools or law enforcement support — do you believe are most urgently needed?

When violent crimes are committed, it’s understandable that people want appropriate consequences. We need community safety solutions that keep our neighborhoods safe, while also imposing age-appropriate consequences.

While there are times it may make sense for people to be incarcerated for long periods of time for the sake of public safety, imposing long prison sentences on youth frequently reinforces criminal behavior rather than amending it. Our communities would be better off implementing meaningful rehabilitation interventions, with appropriate accountability as part of the process.

It’s clear there is a youth crisis in our community. Community safety with regard to youth begins with youth having safe places to be and having their needs met. We urgently need more safe spaces, outside of school, home and work, for youth.

I work with young people at Ngage, and what I hear from youth is that there isn’t enough for them to do outside of school, home and work. We need increased investments in youth-centric spaces and youth-led programming to attract youth to healthy and safe activities that support mental health and wellness and a myriad of interests, from the arts and sciences to sports and music.

Youth are also asking for more meaningful learning opportunities, like internships, work-based learning, and mentorship. I believe we must continue to create and maintain these critical support systems for youth and have youth at the table when making decisions about programming for their safety and wellbeing.

Project Jupiter has generated excitement about economic growth but also questions about water use, infrastructure and public transparency. What role should the state legislature play in overseeing or supporting large-scale economic development projects like this?

We need a regulatory environment that is conducive to economic development and opportunities, that has clear and enforceable benefits to our communities and that doesn’t sell out our public health, clean air, and increasingly scarce water supply. Our legislature and local governments should have clear criteria that is applied when considering proposed large economic development projects, including:

1) The projected economic impact & specificity regarding what the numbers are based on. For projected job growth, how many short-term/long-term jobs, and how many jobs will go to New Mexicans?

2) Environmental impact on land, air, water. Project emissions need to be held to the greenhouse gas reduction targets set forth in state law.

3) Community engagement that captures the concerns and desires of the people most affected by the project

4) Meaningful community benefit agreements with specific benchmarks that projects are held to, and enforceable claw back provisions if the project developers don't keep their promises.

Around the country different states and municipalities are starting to put moratoriums in place on AI data centers so that they can implement the appropriate regulations to ensure public safety, community benefits, and be more clear on the economic impact of these data centers on their communities. We need to be sure that these massive AI corporations will protect our workers’ jobs and not simply engage in mass layoffs as they have in other states.

New Mexico continues to rank near the bottom nationally in education outcomes despite increased spending in recent years. What do you believe is missing from the current approach, and what changes would you prioritize if elected?

While in recent years, New Mexico has put significant funding into education, our education system was starved of funding for decades, and still hasn’t caught up. Our education system needs sustained nourishment to thrive, and in addition to funding, we need to make targeted investments into the things that we know are working, such as access to high quality early childhood education, paid high school internship opportunities, and mentorships.

This is part of how we keep education tied to the industry opportunities that are available in our state and ensure NM industries have the workers they need locally.

We also need investments into culturally and linguistically relevant education curriculum. Language access continues to be a huge need in NM, and particularly in Doña Ana County, where almost half of all households speak a language other than English at home.

New Mexico high school graduation rates went up by 2% in the last year, which is the biggest increase we’ve seen in one year in recent history. This is an indicator that our investments are working, and we need to continue making intentional, data-driven, targeted investments into what works.

We need leadership stability in our Public Education Department. With a mindset of investing long term in our public education system, our legislature can truly do right by all students. If elected, I’ll prioritize these responsible and sustained investments into our education system from early childhood to career.

Affordable housing has become a growing issue in Las Cruces and surrounding communities. What can the state realistically do to increase housing availability while also addressing concerns about rising property values and cost of living?

We need to pay attention to what the data is starting to show us about how many out-of-state interests have come into New Mexico and taken over ownership of large portions of our housing market, driving up both home ownership costs and rental costs.

We also need to make sure these outside interests are paying their fair share of taxes back into our communities, like any of us local homeowners are required to. Mayor Mamdani in New York is recovering significant funding for the community by making sure wealthy outsiders aren’t using tax laws to evade paying their fair share of taxes on their properties.

We should be doing the same in NM. Our community’s needs should come first, not those trying to exploit our residents for their own personal gain. Greed has no place here and we need our elected officials to act like it.

We also need to put state resources into various types of affordable housing, especially apartments and starter homes. We need to address rent control laws. We can make investments into eviction prevention & diversion programs statewide. We have options to make life better and more affordable for New Mexicans. We need our elected leaders to have the courage and strength of will to do it.

Many voters feel increasingly divided politically, even within their own communities and parties. How would you describe your governing style, and how would you work with people who strongly disagree with you on major issues?

This social worker is also a huge nerd. I’m good at listening, assessing strengths and challenges, and finding common ground. I’m also a bookworm who likes to read up on policies and get data and research to inform my decision making.  

I’ve spent years working in coalitions of folks with different interests. I know how to build consensus and achieve success with groups working on shared goals. The state legislature is like a statewide coalition in some ways, with representation of different interests across the state. Working with diverse individuals with unique policy agendas is a practice in which I am well versed.