Martin Chávez

Early life, education, and early business career

He was born in 1952 in Albuquerque, New Mexico to a family of Hispanic heritage. Chávez attended both parochial (St. Charles Borromeo and Holy Ghost) and public (Van Buren Junior High and Manzano High) schools. After graduating from Manzano High School, Chávez earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Mexico and a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center. He was the founding director of the New Mexico Workers' Compensation Administration in 1986.

New Mexico Senate

From 1987 to 1993 he served in the New Mexico State Senate where he helped pass the New Mexico Workers Compensation Act and to implement the Voter Registration Reform Act, known as motor voter.

1993 election

He pulled a major upset by defeating former Governor David Cargo in the 1993 election for Mayor of Albuquerque 50.4%-49.6%, a difference of just 596 votes.

1998 gubernatorial election

In 1997, Chávez decided not to run for re-election as mayor and instead ran for Governor of New Mexico in 1998. He won the six-candidate Democratic primary with 48% of the vote and won most of the counties in the state. He defeated very experienced candidates like State Representative Gary King, former Governor Jerry Apodaca, and State Auditor Robert Vigil. In the general election he was defeated by incumbent Republican governor Gary Johnson 55%-45%.

2001 election

In 2001, Chávez again ran for Mayor of Albuquerque and finished first in a seven-candidate race.

2005 re-election bid

In 2005, he was the first mayor to be re-elected for two consecutive terms since the creation of the strong mayoral form of government in 1974

Accomplishments

As Mayor, Chávez partnered with the University of New Mexico, Sandia National Laboratories and leading entrepreneurs and educators to establish the Albuquerque Institute of Math and Science (AIMS), a charter high school dedicated to academic excellence. In 2009, the AIMS graduated its first senior class of 26 students. For the first time in New Mexico's history, an entire graduating class had enrolled in college. AIMS is now the #1 public high school in the State of New Mexico for math, science and reading. http://www.aims-unm.org/academics/index.cfm

Recognitions

During his tenure as Mayor, Chávez and the City of Albuquerque received the following recognitions:

2008 U.S. Senate election

On October 8, 2007, Chávez announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat that was being vacated by retiring Republican Senator Pete Domenici. Democratic leaders, including Senator Charles Schumer, Chairman of Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, recruited Tom Udall into the race.

Chávez indicated that he intended to remain in the race, referring to Udall as Washington's "fair-haired boy". However, Chavez withdrew from the race on December 7 saying, "While I deeply appreciate all the support I have received, it has become very clear to me that Democrats should not be divided in the upcoming election. "

2009 re-election bid

In 2009, Chávez succeeded in overturning a two-consecutive mayoral term limit, which he had gotten passed into law, and announced he would seek a third consecutive, and fourth overall, term as mayor. He ran against Republican State Representative Richard J. Berry and Democratic State Senator Richard Romero in a hotly contested race. Romero split the Democratic vote, and Richard J. Berry defeated Chavez 44% to 35% while Romero finished a distant third with 21%.

ICLEI

In March 2010, Chávez, was appointed Executive Director of ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability USA. Chávez had served on ICLEI USA’s Board of Directors and was recognized nationally as a “green mayor” during his tenure in Albuquerque. Chavez leads a staff of 52 ICLEI USA employees, based in six regional offices: Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Oakland, and Seattle. In addition to these responsibilities Chávez also speaks a many conferences including George Mason University's Washington Youth Summit on the Environment in 2011.

Memberships

Chavez serves on the Board of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF). Chávez is a member of the National Building Museum’s Intelligent Cities Advisory Committee and member of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Vibrant Cities and Urban Forests Task Force. In March 2011, Chávez joined polar explorer and environmentalist Robert Swan, on an expedition to explore the effects of climate change in the Antarctica. Chávez visited the remnants of the Larsen Ice Shelf known as “Larsen B"; once an ice shelf larger than the state of Rhode Island, which disintegrated over a three-week period in 2002 as a result of climate change. Chavez serves a Member of the Board of Directors of American Rivers.http://www.americanrivers.org/about/governance/

2012 congressional election

Chávez sought the Democratic nomination to succeed Representative Martin Heinrich, but lost to Bernalillo County Commissioner Michelle Lujan Grisham.

Current Memberships

Martin Chavez was named to a two-year term on the board of directors of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) in May 2013. He also on the board of directors of American Rivers. He is a former senior ddviser to the Hispanic Technology and Telecommunications Partnership (HTTP), He is currently a senior adviser to Smart City Media, an Internet of Things company that merges interactive smart signs with mobile applications to deliver location-based media in real time, and to P3GM, a Smart Cities technology startup focusing on public-private partnerships in the smart cities arena.He is also a member of the board of directors of the Center for National Policy/Truman Security Project.