Cindy Nava sported a hot pink blazer with jeans as she spoke to a group of refugees and immigrants recently at Albuquerque High School.
“I came to this country when I was seven years old” said Nava.
She told the middle schoolers and high schoolers what it was like to grow up without a Social Security number, and come to a new place while being doubted because of her background.
“People told me that I wasn’t going to do anything in life and now I’m running for New Mexico State Senate, but what this means more than anything is that the voices of immigrants will be at the table,” Nava said.
The Democrat running for State Senate District 9 is a former DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipient and could be one of the first people elected to public office who benefited from the program that gives federal protection for children who were brought to the country illegally.
Nava’s family came to the U.S. when she was seven. She said her parents had limited opportunities here and cleaned houses to make ends meet.
But by age 16, she was at the New Mexico Legislature, commonly called The Roundhouse, advocating for undocumented students to receive state-funded college scholarships.
In 2012, she said the DACA program changed her life. It put her on a path to help people struggling through the immigration system, like her parents.
“I don’t come from a family with those policy chops,” she said. e”Everything I know I have learned from experience and from on the ground and being affected as an undocumented student, not having access to any resources.”.
Nava worked in the Biden Administration’s for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, becoming the first former DACA recipient to receive a White House political appointment.
But she said it was always her plan to come back home to run for office. As one of the 600,000 DACA recipients in the country and a Latina, she said she wants to be a voice for those who are often underrepresented in politics.
“For me this is not about running to represent people, this is about running to bring people to the table” said Nava.
Immigration ranks as a top issue for voters across the country this year. According to a recent Gallup poll, 42% describe the situation at the southern border as a “crisis.”
New Mexico is the only state that’s majority Hispanic. The state’s diverse population and familiarity with the border gives Nava a springboard to talk about immigration, said Gabe Sanchez, a political science professor at University of New Mexico.
“If she can message on that well and connect her personal lived experience with her policy platform, I think that will play very well in terms of the Democratic Party's opportunity to reach out to the younger demographic” Sanchez said.
Audrey Trujillo is the Republican candidate in the race. She ran for Secretary of State in 2020 and said she wants to strengthen the electoral system, improve public safety and make government more transparent.
She said she supports immigrants, but is not in favor of those who come to the U.S. illegally.
“It’s just not fair, they can be taken advantage of,” Trujillo said. “And then there’s a lot of issues behind crime as well, we don’t know who’s coming across.”
Trujillo said Nava’s story promotes illegal immigration, and claims immigrants like her receive unfair advantages.
“You look at some of the things she’s accomplished, they gave her opportunities that even some of us who were born and raised here didn’t get,” Trujillo said.
The winner of the election will join a statehouse that is currently made up of 44% women – one of the largest margins in the country.
Makeup of the Roundhouse could be majority women depending on the outcome of this year’s elections.
This coverage is made possible by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners.
