Dede Feldman
Eric Griego is the one Democrat in the 1st Congressional District race with a long, consistent record of taking on the status quo and powerful interests to fight for our core Democratic values.
We have three experienced and accomplished Democrats running in New Mexico’s Democratic-leaning 1st Congressional District. However, if the person you wish to support for Congress is a proven progressive reformer who has a long, consistent record of fighting for women’s rights, we believe Eric Griego deserves your strongest consideration.
Eric Griego is a lifelong advocate for women. Eric grew up watching his single mother who worked two minimum-wage jobs struggle to balance work and family. He believes that women and men should not have to choose between their jobs and their families in time of need.
That is why he led efforts as a state and city legislator and as the executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children to fight for increased funding for early childhood, working families’ tax credit, higher minimum wage, and to protect Medicaid for working families.
Mimi Stewart
As the state Legislature’s respective committee chairwomen overseeing legislation affecting women, we have seen how hard Eric works to support women’s health and defend reproductive rights. He joined us time and time again to stand up to conservative anti-women forces and opposed legislation designed to erode family planning rights. He has also opposed efforts to criminalize reproductive choice and force minor victims of even incest or rape to obtain parental permission before receiving care.
We can count on him to be an unwavering advocate for women’s rights in Congress.
Eric Griego is a lifelong reformer who has spent his entire public career working for government transparency, higher ethical standards and to get corporate money out of politics. On the Albuquerque City Council, he led the passage of public financing of city elections to get big money out of local elections and supported cracking down on fraud and abuse in City Hall.
In the State Senate, Eric led efforts to increase accountability, such as requiring state contractors to disclose campaign contributions before bidding for projects and pushing for an independent ethics commission. He has made it a key priority in Congress to work to prevent corporations from spending unlimited amounts in political campaigns.
The difference between Griego and Grisham
Some say women should automatically support Bernalillo County Commissioner Michelle Lujan Grisham because she is a woman. As women who have spent our careers leading the fight in New Mexico’s Legislature to promote a woman’s right to make her own health-care decisions and for pay equity and paid family leave, we respectfully disagree.
The Republicans are waging war on women – and we believe that both Eric and Commissioner Lujan Grisham will be outspoken champions for women in Congress. But the Republicans are waging war against not just women; they are also waging war against teachers and other public employees, against Social Security and Medicare, against clean energy in favor of Big Oil, against middle class taxpayers in favor of millionaires, and against ordinary voters who want to have a voice in our democracy in favor of billionaires and big corporations that can spend unlimited money to influence our elections.
To take on these fights, we need someone like Eric, who is the one Democrat in this race with a long, consistent record of taking on the status quo and powerful interests to fight for our core Democratic values.
That is why we enthusiastically endorse Eric Griego, and encourage everyone – men and women – to support him for Congress.
State Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, chairs the Senate Public Affairs Committee and the Interim Health and Human Services Committee. Rep. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, chairs the House Health and Government Affairs Committee.