Michelle Lujan Grisham

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is the first-ever Democratic Latina governor in United States history.

Gov. Lujan Grisham was born in Los Alamos, N.M., and is a 12th generation New Mexican. She graduated from St. Michael’s High School in Santa Fe and attended the University of New Mexico, where she earned an undergraduate degree and a law degree.

Following law school, Gov. Lujan Grisham fought to improve the lives of New Mexico’s elderly as the director of New Mexico’s Agency on Aging for several Governors. Under her leadership, the agency was elevated to a Cabinet-level position, and she became its first secretary. In 2004, she was appointed New Mexico Secretary of Health. She increased investment in health care infrastructure, expanded access to health care, and improved the quality of care for all New Mexicans.

Fighting for New Mexicans

In 2012, Gov. Lujan Grisham was elected to represent New Mexico’s 1st District in the U.S. House of Representatives. In Congress, Gov. Lujan Grisham championed causes such as equal pay for women, public education, and veterans’ healthcare. After two terms, she was selected to serve as the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. In this capacity, she was a leading voice in the fight against federal anti-immigrant policies. Gov. Lujan Grisham served the people of the 1st District for three terms. In 2018 she was elected governor, earning more votes than any gubernatorial candidate in state history.

Since her inauguration in 2019, Gov. Lujan Grisham has enacted sweeping clean energy legislation, spearheaded the state’s first minimum wage hike in a decade, signed common-sense gun safety legislation, hired the most diverse Cabinet in state government history, created the state’s first Early Childhood Education and Care Cabinet-level agency, authorized the first back-to-back raises for state educators in more than a decade, and more. In 2020 she has led the state’s aggressive public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic, saving thousands of lives and protecting the health and welfare of New Mexico families, workers, and kids.

Gov. Lujan Grisham and her late husband Gregory raised two children in New Mexico. Gov. Lujan Grisham has three grandchildren. She is caretaker for her mother, Sonja.