Lori Martinez
for
NM House District 37
Education and youth engagement
Dignified pay for early childhood educators
New Mexico is the first state in the country to make universal child care a reality. To make it last, we have to prioritize wages for child care educators. Their work builds young brains and sets the state for school readiness.
Paid internships and hands on education opportunities for our youth
New Mexico youth are asking for meaningful and relevant educational opportunities. We need to listen to them. New Mexico has a youth disengagement problem: In Doña Ana County alone, 13.4% of youth are not in school and not in the workforce. When provided with internships, work-based learning, and hands on educational opportunities, youth engagement soars.
Youth access to mentorship opportunities
Our youth are asking for mentorships and caring adults in their lives. Quality youth mentoring is connected to positive outcomes in social-emotional development, behavioral and risk-related behaviors, and school performance.
Vocational support: Access to career exploration, affordable higher education, and career pathways
The Borderland has many career opportunities to good paying jobs. We need to ensure our education system ties together existing resources so that there are clear roadmaps to educational and economic success for our families.
Affordability and Quality of life
Access to high quality child care
New Mexico just passed Universal Child Care, the first state in the nation to do so. We can lead the way by ensuring high quality care for children, and dignified wages for child care educators.
Protect public benefits and assistance
Medicaid, SNAP, and other programs that support basic needs are threatened at the federal level. New Mexico has to look at how we can protect access to these critical programs at the state level.
Affordable and fair housing
New Mexico needs sustained investments in fair and affordable housing, and a commitment to fight discriminatory practices.
Health care and insurance coverage
Access to health care continues to be a struggle for New Mexicans. For the first time, New Mexico is in a place where momentum is building to create a Universal Health Care system!
We need stronger investments in Grow Your Own initiatives to create tangible opportunities for youth to explore health care careers and set a path toward entering the health care workforce.
New Mexico made great progress in the 2026 legislative session toward creating interstate compacts for physicians and social workers, that allow these providers to more easily come from other states and practice in New Mexico. We need to finish this important work during the next legislative session.
Protect access to reproductive health services and reproductive rights
Reproductive health care is health care. Every family deserves the right to decide what is best for them, and New Mexico has continued to lead the way by protecting a woman’s right to choose.
Community Safety & human rights
Protecting due process for everyone
Our Constitution guarantees that our government must follow fair procedures and respect fundamental human rights before depriving a person of their freedom, their property, or their life. As a legislator, I will fight to protect those rights at the state level.
A balance of public safety dollars and access to mental health and community intervention programs
Community safety is about more than law enforcement. Traditional approaches to public safety often fail to identify what success would look like and incorporate community buy-in. Many jurisdictions are looking at ways to both increase police accountability and integrate community-based neighborhood safety and violence prevention strategies.
Protect human rights
We must be vigilant in safeguarding hard won rights and protections for our LGBTQ and immigrant neighbors, and others who are unfairly targeted.
The economy
Tax fairness for families and small business
The best of New Mexico’s resources should benefit our people, our lands, and our small business community.
Inadequate child care access
A shortage of infant and toddler providers costs New Mexico over $586 million dollars per year in economic impact. Investments in our child care educators are critical to a robust economy
Protect New Mexico's resources from corporate greed and private equity
Quality of Life
Family friendly policies, such as Paid Family Medical Leave
New Mexico came very close to passing Paid Family Medical Leave two years ago. I’m committed to helping get it across the finish line.
Protecting our public lands and access to outdoor recreation opportunities
Protecting our public lands increases quality of life and serves as an economic driver. Outdoor recreation is a booming industry in New Mexico.
Investments in Third Spaces
Third spaces are community gathering areas that don’t require people to spend money to be there. These spaces create a sense of community and promote public safety. They serve as avenues for community gatherings, resource distribution, mutual aid networks, and event venues.
