Submitted by Estela Hernandez, Emerge Graduate and Executive Director, Emerge NM and Reena Szczepanski, Emerge Graduate and former Executive Director, Emerge NM
Women’s leadership is critical to helping communities across New Mexico meet the challenges that we currently face, and the voters of New Mexico vote “yes” for women leaders time and time again across our beautiful state. New Mexico actually ranks in the top five states for women’s elected leadership.
Our communities, large and small, benefit from these leaders who care deeply about all aspects of their constituents’ daily lives. And on the topics that we discuss around our kitchen tables, such as going to a healthcare appointment, making ends meet, finding new job opportunities, or worrying about how our kids are doing in school, women’s voices matter.
For too long, politics has been an insider’s game, and for generations our elected representatives were almost exclusively male. No matter your political party, most of us would agree that helping women leaders seek office and bring women’s representation to our capitol is a good thing. And the research backs that up: women legislators are more responsive to constituents, value cooperation over hierarchical power, and find ways to engineer solutions in situations where others may have trouble finding common ground.
New Mexico’s gains in women’s elected leadership are something that we are proud of and celebrate, and we also know how hard these women and the families that support them have worked for their chance to serve in public office. That’s why we read with some surprise last weekend’s Op-Ed from Rep. Stefani Lord attacking an organization that uplifts women.
Emerge New Mexico is an organization founded nearly 20 years ago by New Mexico women who met at kitchen tables on evenings and weekends to design a program that would help Democratic women and non-binary candidates get the tools and training they need to run for office. They knew that too often women didn’t see themselves running for office – incorrectly assuming they weren’t experienced enough, or that running for office was only for the wealthy and well-connected. Through Emerge, we demystified the process. Today, we are proud to share that 114 Emerge Alumnae serve in elected office in communities around New Mexico, and the network is over 400 alumnae strong, with over 60% women of color.
While it’s easy to look for boogeymen at every turn instead of looking for solutions, Emerge’s process and results speak for themselves. Emerge has no issue-based litmus test for candidates, and does not endorse candidates. The New Mexico Democratic Party is a big tent, and so is Emerge. Emerge New Mexico will always stay focused on its mission: to recruit, train, and inspire Democratic and non-binary leaders to run for office and win.
Democratic women and non-binary leaders understand that candidates must reflect the communities they serve, and voters know who will best represent them on the issues that matter most, like the economy, healthcare, and education. While some may bemoan the results, Emerge’s focus on training women to be strong competitors while building support and encouragement has catapulted New Mexico forward in women’s leadership.
Emerge has opened up the political process to everyday New Mexicans for nearly two decades, and we encourage all women and non-binary leaders who have thought about running for office but don’t know where to start to reach out to Emerge. Applications are open for the Class of 2025.