Day two of the state legislature’s 2025 session was filled with bill readings, some brief organizational committee meetings, and a lot of deep-in-the-weeds budget talk.
There was one moment, however, that felt more like a continuation of the opening day’s feel-good vibe.
During yesterday’s morning Senate session, senator Antoinette Sedillo Lopez stood at her desk and then asked several of her female colleagues, all of whom, like her, were wearing white, to do the same.
She was marking a moment when the New Mexico state Senate and House of Representatives are at all time highs in female representation.
“It's been 105 years since women got the vote," said Sedillo Lopez."
"And we decided to wear white in honor of the suffragettes that came before us. And it was beautiful, so emotional. when I asked them all to stand up and there were so many of us— there's now 15 members (who are) women in the Senate. When I joined, I was the eighth woman in the Senate.”
Currently in her sixth year, Senator Sedillo Lopez said that her female lawmaking colleagues don’t do their jobs the same way the men do.
“ I think women govern a little bit differently," she said.
"They're more collaborative. You'll see women having a lot of co-sponsored bills and working together on things. And I think that that's a positive approach to governing. It's really consulting people and coming together.”
Sedillo Lopez is working with colleagues or heavily supporting several proposed measures, including:
- one aiming to protect residents’ personal data online;
- another that updates the Family Violence Act;
- and a bill aiming to prevent human trafficking.
A resident of Los Chavez, Sedillo Lopez represents the 16th senatorial district.
In response to a question about why New Mexico is one of the few states in the country with a majority of women in their legislatures, she was quick to explain.
”I think this is a state with a history of strong women, and I think it's because we were a frontier state," said Sedillo Lopez.
"Wyoming was the first state that gave women the right to vote, and it was trying to attract women, but also recognizing how hard it is to be a woman in these states.
"And so I think with this history of strong women, it's only natural that we are here to lead and we are here to lead effectively."
