EMILYs List Endorses Teresa Leger Fernandez For Reelection

For Immediate Release
June 22, 2022 

EMILYs List Endorses Teresa Leger Fernandez For Reelection

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, endorsed Teresa Leger Fernandez for reelection to represent New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District. EMILYs List President Laphonza Butler released the following statement:
 
“Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez is a dedicated public servant whose commitment to her constituents shines through in each and every decision that she makes. EMILYs List is thrilled to support Rep. Leger Fernandez as she runs for reelection in a battleground district. While in office, she has prioritized protecting New Mexico’s precious water resources, expanding access to affordable and rural health care, and tirelessly advocating for the resources her district needs to fight the historic wildfires they have faced. We know that her work to improve the lives of New Mexicans will only continue in her next term.”
 
Teresa Leger Fernandez is an experienced and passionate leader who successfully ran for Congress in 2020 to expand opportunity for all New Mexico working families. A graduate of one of the first classes of Head Start in Las Vegas, New Mexico, Leger Fernandez rose all the way to Yale and Stanford Law School. Leger Fernandez has deep roots in rural New Mexico, where her mother was a bilingual education pioneer and her father was a former state senator and educator. Leger Fernandez returned home to serve the communities she loves and founded a social impact law firm. She has represented tribes, minority-owned businesses, and community organizations on issues including civil rights, affordable housing, and community development. Leger Fernandez has served as counsel to several Native American tribes and their business enterprises, promoting economic development as well as defending sovereignty, voting rights, and sacred sites. She has served on the board of a local housing nonprofit for 20 years, helping thousands of families buy an affordable home or improve or solarize their homes. She has also served as vice chair of MALDEF, the nation’s preeminent Latino civil rights legal organization defending voting rights, education, and immigrant rights. Leger Fernandez is a powerful advocate for Latino cultural expression and acted in and served as president of a bilingual theater company. She is the proud mother of three children and enjoys family hikes through New Mexico’s mountains and wilderness.

EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised over $700 million to elect Democratic pro-choice women candidates. With a grassroots community of over five million members, EMILY's List helps Democratic women win competitive campaigns – across the country and up and down the ballot – by recruiting and training candidates, supporting and helping build strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, running nearly $50 million in independent expenditures in the last cycle alone, and turning out women voters and voters of color to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect the country's first woman as vice president, 159 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 16 governors, and more than 1,300 women to state and local office. More than 40% of the candidates EMILYs List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. After the 2016 election, more than 60,000 women reached out to EMILY's List about running for office laying the groundwork for the next decade of candidates for local, state, and national offices. In our effort to elect more women in offices across the country, we have created our Run to Win program, expanded our training program, including a Training Center online, and trained thousands of women.