Bernalillo County

Linda M. Lopez is running for re-election for Senate District 11. She has served in the legislature since 1997. Lopez owns a consulting business, Lopez Consulting, and works as a recruiter for Presbyterian Healthcare Services. Her volunteer and leadership experience includes serving as Chair of the Bernalillo County Democratic Party, President and Board Member of La Colmena, Inc., and on the board of directors for First Choice Community Health Foundation, Albuquerque Rape Crisis Center, and the TVI Foundation.

Lopez is motivated to run for re-election to Senate District 11 by her long history of commitment to progressive values, including protecting natural resources, ensuring educational equity, safeguarding healthcare and reproductive rights, and advocating for comprehensive immigration reform. Her priorities include protecting our water/air/land, continuing the work of equity in our public education system, providing health services to persons in our communities with disabilities, protecting reproductive rights for all, ensuring access for all to vote, continuing to work on issues impacting missing and murdered indigenous persons, and continuing to improve/restructure/properly fund CYFD to ensure the safety of New Mexico’s children.

In 2024, Lopez co-sponsored a bill to establish a waiting period for firearm purchases (HB129). In 2023, she sponsored the critical bill establishing protections for abortion and gender affirming care (SB13) and cosponsored that would establish negligently leaving a firearm accessible to a minor as a crime (HB9). In 2022, she sponsored three progressive policy bills, and co-sponsored two, including increasing the state minimum wage to $15 per hour (SB7 and in 2021, Lopez co-sponsored the repeal of an old state abortion ban (SB10).

Lopez has consistently voted for legislation that promotes workers' rights, including Paid Medical Family Leave, and has introduced bills aimed at controlling rent increases to tackle the high cost of living. Furthermore, Lopez has been a steadfast advocate for reproductive health, co-sponsoring significant legislation to ensure access to comprehensive reproductive healthcare services across New Mexico. She has also voted to protect our natural environment, advance public education, support individuals with disabilities, and protect voting rights

We highly recommend Linda M. Lopez for NM State Senator District 11 because of her unwavering dedication to the values of compassion, dignity, equity, justice, and respect across a broad spectrum of critical issues.

Bill O’Neil is running for re-election in Democratic Primary for Senate District 13, and has served in the seat for 11 years. He currently serves as Vice Chair of the Indian, Rural & Cultural Affairs Committee and is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He previously served as the Representative for House District 15 from 2008-2012. O’Neil is currently the Development Director for a Peer Education Project and is a co-founder of Dismas House New Mexico, a residential facility for male and female parolees.

O’Neil is motivated to run for re-election to Senate District 13 by his desire to create a safer, more prosperous community for all New Mexicans and to prioritize fairness and equity in governance. His priorities include an inclusive economy that fully incorporates immigrant community members, protecting worker rights and ensuring fair wages, expanding affordable housing and rental assistance programs, modernizing the legislature by creating paid positions, increasing elections access via open primaries, protecting and ensuring abortion access and basic healthcare for rural New Mexicans, and investing in clean energy.

He has cosponsored legislation His voting record also includes support for the Paid Family Leave Act, Voting Rights Act and Native American Voting Rights Act (HB4, 2023), Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Health Care Act (SB13 and HB7, 2023), and Clean Transportation Fuel Standards (HB 41, 2024). O’Neil also supports legislation that would increase pay for early childhood educators and childcare providers, establish a one-mile setback for new oil and gas development, and increase salaries for educators as well as zero dollar copays for healthcare.

We recommend Bill O’Neill for Senate District 13 based on his track record of support for integration of immigrant families, investing in affordable housing, protecting worker rights and ensuring fair wages, and ensuring and expanding access to basic healthcare.

Heather Berghmans is running against incumbent Daniel Ivey-Soto in the Democratic Primary for Senate District 15. Most recently, Berghmans worked as Finance Director for the New Mexico House Democratic Campaign. Previous roles include Director of Special Projects to Speaker of the House Javier Martinez, Policy Analyst for Speaker of the House Brian Egolf, and Lead Policy/Committee Analyst - New Mexico House of Representatives. She also served on the City of Albuquerque’s 2022 Redistricting Committee. 

Prior to her policy and legislative work, Berghmans worked as an operations director for high growth e-commerce companies and on the administrative/operations team at New Mexico Kids Network. She received her undergraduate degree at UNM, and earned a Master’s in Public Administration from the UNM School of Public Administration. 

Berghmans’s motivation to run for Senate District 15 comes from her passion for public service as a way of improving the lives of children, women, and families, and her experience with passing important policies in the legislature. 

Over the last few years, she has played a critical role in the passage of policies related to protections for abortion access, gun violence prevention, access to education, working families rights, voting protections, and more. Her priorities include addressing housing and homelessness through an increase in affordable housing and rent control, public safety through improved gun control regulations, and healthcare equality through policies such as access to full spectrum healthcare and innovative initiatives to support our doctors, along with strategic expansion of telehealth and mobile health clinics. 

Additionally, Berghmans supports expanding early childhood education and increasing educators' pay as well as zero dollar copays for healthcare, improving our economy by supporting both emerging industry and small businesses, and protecting our environment through a just transition to adopting renewable energy. 

We highly recommend Heather Berghmans for Senate District 15 based on her experience with policies in the state Legislature and her demonstrated commitment to New Mexicans.

Athena Christodoulou is running in the Democratic Primary for Senate District 21. Christodoulou is a retired Navy engineer veteran, and has also worked as a technology entrepreneur and consultant. She also served as the committee analyst for the NM House Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources committee during the 2023 legislative session, where she analyzed 40 different bills,

Her leadership and volunteer experience includes advocating for solar energy in all NM communities for years (she lives fossil fuel free herself, as a private citizen), and has also served as the political director for Adelante Progressive Caucus, including organizing members to make public comments in support of the Civil Rights Act, Paid Sick Leave Act, and salary increases for teachers. She has also served as secretary and board member of the New Mexico Solar Energy Association, as a community solar coach for the Department of Energy, and is currently the Vice Chair for the Environmental Justice caucus of the Democratic Party of New Mexico.

Christodoulou is motivated to run for Senate District 21 by her passion for climate issues and experience in the energy sector, including amplifying legislation for clean energy. Her priorities include environmental protections through continued support for the 2019 Energy Transition Act, and accountability in climate for clean air, water, and land. She also supports revisiting the Community Solar Act, forcing the closure of low producing wells, and expanding oil and gas reform.

Additionally, Christodoulou has previous experience as an educator, and supports strengthening public education in New Mexico through policies such as zero copays for educator health insurance plus increased pay for early childhood educators and childcare providers.

We highly recommended Athena Christodoulou for Senate District 21 based on her extensive experience in climate issues, energy advocacy, as well as her background in community organizing and entrepreneurship.

Angel Charley is running in the Democratic Primary for Senate District 30, which is currently an open seat. 

Charley is currently the Executive Director of IllumiNative, and previously worked as Executive Director for Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women. Her volunteer experience includes serving on the boards of the Laguna Federation of Democratic Women, Alliance of Tribal Coalitions to End Violence, Albuquerque Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE) Collaborative, City of Albuquerque’s Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Commission, and as Board Chair for Native American Professional Parent Resources, Inc. She is also a graduate of Laguna High School and the University of Hawaii. 

Charley’s track record in improving the lives of rural and Native/Indigenous New Mexicans is well known, including working to pass the Indian Families Protection Act in 2022, supporting COVID-19 pandemic response measures for tribal communities, and her efforts on New Mexico’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives Task Force. She has also testified in front of Congress as an expert on MMIW and is a member of the White House Trilateral Working Group. 

Her priorities include expanding access to community health centers, updating the Renewable Portfolio Standards to include New Mexico’s Tribal communities, increasing infrastructure investment in rural and tribal communities, and direct assistance to help those facing housing crises through measures like rent control or down payment assistance for homebuyers. She also supports the modernization efforts around reforming New Mexico’s legislature so that working people and full-time parents can not only run for office but also interact with lawmakers more effectively. 

We highly recommend Angel Charley for Senate District 30 based on her experience in community organizing, nonprofit management, public health and healthcare access, and advocating for Indigenous New Mexicans.