NM Senate: Ben Ray Luján (D)
PROFILE
About Luján:
Born and raised on a small family farm in Nambé, N.M., by a union ironworker and a public school employee, Ben Ray Luján learned the values of hard work and community service from a young age.
Luján has dedicated his career to working to improve the lives of those in his community and his state, fighting to create good-paying jobs for hardworking New Mexican women and men, increase access to quality, affordable health care, and protect New Mexico’s natural resources.
In 2018, Luján chaired the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, leading the Democratic effort to take back the majority in the U.S. House while electing the most diverse and youngest Congress in history.
As assistant speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Luján is the highest-ranking Hispanic in Congress and has helped put forward a legislative agenda that addresses disparities to help all Americans achieve equity, whether in access to clean water, criminal justice, lowering prescription drug prices, preventing gun violence, ensuring protections for our immigrant communities, or removing the influence of dark money in our politics.
A supporter of the Equality Act, Luján believes that all individual should be protected from discrimination under the law. Luján has also worked to combat the opioid epidemic in New Mexico by securing millions of dollars in treatment, education, and prevention funds for rural communities plagued by addiction.
An advocate of campaign finance reform, Luján has refused to accept corporate PAC money for his U.S. Senate campaign. He is endorsed by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, End Citizens United, and Giffords: Courage to Fight Gun Violence.
In his downtime, Luján enjoys mountain biking and working on the family farm. He continues to live in Nambé.
