Michelle Lujan Grisham

Early life and education

Michelle Lujan was born in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and grew up in Santa Fe. Her father, Buddy Lujan, practiced dentistry into his 80s until he died in March 2011. Her mother, Sonja, was a homemaker. Michelle's sister Kimberly was diagnosed with a brain tumor at the age of two and died at 21.

Lujan graduated from St. Michael's High School. She received a B.S. degree from the University of New Mexico (UNM) in 1981, where she was a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority. She earned a law degree from the UNM School of Law in 1987.

Public sector career

Lujan Grisham served as director of New Mexico's Agency on Aging under Governors Bruce King, Gary Johnson, and Bill Richardson, who elevated the position to the state cabinet. In 2004, Richardson named Lujan Grisham as the secretary of the Department of Health.

Lujan Grisham was elected to the Bernalillo County Commission, serving from 2010 through 2012.

Congressional elections

She 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. He won the Democratic primary on June 3, 2008 with 44% of the vote. New Mexico Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron ranked second with 25% and Michelle Lujan-Grisham ranked third with 24% of the vote.

Lujan Grisham sought the Democratic nomination for the House in 2012, with Martin Heinrich leaving to run for the United States Senate. She won the nomination, defeating Marty Chavez and Eric Griego. She faced Janice Arnold-Jones, a former member of the New Mexico House of Representatives, in the November general election. Lujan Grisham defeated Arnold-Jones, 59%–41%.

Lujan Grisham defeated Republican Mike Frese in the 2014 elections, 59%-41%.

In 2016, Lujan Grisham defeated Republican Richard Priem; she received 179,380 votes (65.1%) to Priem's 96,061 (34.9%). In 2016 it was revealed she was one of 9 members of Congress who took a trip secretly funded by the government of Azerbaijan and had to turn over gifts the country gave him to the House Clerk after an ethics investigation.

Tenure

Congresswoman Lujan Grisham was sworn into a two-year term on January 3, 2013.

Committee assignments

Caucuses

2018 gubernatorial campaign

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 is prohibited from running because of term limits.

Abortion

Lujan Grisham is pro-choice and supports access to safe, legal abortions. She successfully voted against an act that would have allowed states to deny Medicaid to any institution that offers abortions, even for non-related healthcare services (spending towards abortion is already prohibited by Medicaid).

Civil rights

Lujan Grisham has pledged to fight discrimination based on race, religion, creed, disability, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity. She was an early supporter of the Hate Crimes Act in 2012. She was one of the main advocates for the recognition that same-sex partners are legally able to make healthcare decisions for each other, and New Mexico became the first state to add that provision in state law.

Lujan Grisham has also been an advocate for elder rights and women's rights. She has been rated at 100% by the Alliance for Retired Americans due to her opposition to the privatization of Medicare or Social Security. She voted for and helped pass the VA Accountability First and Appeals Modernization Act of 2016, which changed employment procedures at the Department of Veterans Affairs. She voted to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act in 2013. She co-sponsored the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would enforce against gender-based wage discrimination.

Corporations

Lujan Grisham believes political spending does not count as free speech and has signed a Constitutional Amendment to overturn Citizens United.

Education

Lujan Grisham co-sponsored the Student Loan Fairness Act, which would forgive college loans after 10 years as long as 120 monthly payments had been made during that time.

Environment

Lujan Grisham supports the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.

Freedom of the press

Lujan Grisham helped pass an amendment that prohibits the federal government from using taxpayer funds to force journalists to disclose their private sources.

Healthcare

Lujan Grisham supports affordable access to healthcare for all people, and opposes the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. She also co-sponsored the HOPE for Alzheimer's Act, which would make it easier for low-income people to get diagnosed for Alzheimer's. She opposes the privatization of Medicare or Social Security.

Infrastructure

Lujan Grisham voted for Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act, which provides for additional infrastructure spending on federal highways. She voted for the Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2015, which extends current levels of Federal-aid highway funding.

LGBT

Lujan Grisham supports same-sex marriage and believes same-sex unions should receive the same legal rights as opposite-sex unions.

Medical marijuana

In 2014, Lujan Grisham helped successfully pass a resolution that prevented federal tax money from being used to interfere with medical marijuana programs that are legal in the state.

Minimum wage

Lujan Grisham supports raising the federal minimum wage. She co-sponsored a bill in 2013 that would have raised the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour and set it to rise based on the consumer index after that. In 2015 she cos-sponsored legislation that would raise the minimum wage to $12/hour.

Poverty

Lujan Grisham co-sponsored a bill that would maintain SNAP, a program that helps very low-income people purchase basic types of food.

Privacy of citizens

Lujan Grisham helped successfully pass the USA Freedom Act in 2014, which amended federal policies with additional layers of protection for consumer privacy when it comes to phone taps, release of business records, and other private correspondence.

Voting rights

Lujan Grisham co-sponsored two bills, H.R.12 & S.1088, which would make it easier for citizens to vote. The bills would require that each state has a free, publicly available website where citizens can register to vote. It would also allow for automated voter registration and same-day voter registration.

Personal life

Lujan Grisham's uncle is Manuel Lujan Jr., who served in the House of Representatives from New Mexico as a Republican, and served as Secretary of the Interior during the presidency of George H. W. Bush, and was the named petitioner in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife. Her grandfather, Eugene Lujan, was Chief Justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court. Her cousin, Ben Ray Luján, represents New Mexico's 3rd congressional district in the House of Representatives, while his father, Ben Luján, was Speaker of the New Mexico House of Representatives.

Lujan Grisham's husband, Gregory, died of a brain aneurysm in 2004. The couple had two daughters. Lujan Grisham filed a wrongful death suit against her husband's physician, which was dismissed.