Michelle Paulene Abeyta

The New Mexico primary elections are just around the corner on June 2nd. But potential candidates who are running for office had to turn in their nominating petition signatures by March 10th; this is known as “Filing Day.” KUNM spoke with Democratic Representative Michelle Paulene Abeyta who is Diné and also represents District 69 about how this works.

A major political action committee known as Emily’s List, a prominent funder of Democratic women in politics, has announced five nominees for its 2026 Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award, including a New Mexico state representative.

For decades starting in 1907 Indigenous women and women of color across the country, including New Mexico, were forced or coerced into sterilizations without their informed consent. On Thursday, a coalition of Indigenous women’s reproductive rights advocates called on state lawmakers to create a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate the abuses.

The 2025 session of the New Mexico state legislature is nearly over and it was a first for a number of newly elected lawmakers, including Rep. Michelle Pauline Abyeta (D-To'hajiilee) who is Diné. Her large district encompasses six counties west of Albuquerque, from White Rock all the way to Alamo Navajo Reservation. Abeyta told KUNM her priority for this session is to have bills that touch every demographic in her district.

An estimated 40,000 New Mexico children were raised by grandparents or a relative besides their parents in 2024, according to the New Mexico Aging and Long-Term Services Department. A bill in the legislature would create a pilot program to assist these kinship caregivers.