SNAP Endorses Patricia Madrid for Congress

I'm excited and honored to announce that SNAP will be supporting Patricia Madrid, a sterling progressive and New Mexico's current attorney general, in her fight this year to unseat the ultra-conservative Rep. Heather Wilson in New Mexico's First Congressional District.

Patricia Madrid has been a pioneer for women in both law and politics in New Mexico. Madrid was the first woman elected to serve as a district court judge in New Mexico. In 1998 she became the first woman to be elected Attorney General of New Mexico, and was re-elected overwhelmingly in 2002. She is one of only four female attorneys general in the nation and the first ever Latina to serve in the position of state attorney general.

Madrid has proven herself to be a true progressive leader on issues that matter to women. Her top priority in office has been fighting violent crime, particularly violence against women. She established New Mexico's Violence Against Women division to set standards for law enforcement officers dealing with domestic violence. She also helped procure over $560,000 to provide critical training on domestic violence to first responders. These concrete policy changes especially helped victims of domestic violence in rural areas of New Mexico, whose voices are so often silenced by authorities who do not know how to recognize or deal with domestic violence and sexual abuse. Her office has also taken on what EMILY's List calls "extremely challenging domestic abuse cases that other prosecutors wouldn't touch – securing convictions against serial abusers and murderers in case after case."

Madrid is also decidedly pro-choice, and has effectively used her position to fight legislative attempts to suppress reproductive freedom. Heather Wilson, on the other hand, has repeatedly voted to prevent women's access to abortion and family planning, supporting the ban on so-called "partial-birth abortion" as well as Bush's global gag rule. Time and time again, when called on by the Republican leadership to stand against the rights of women, Wilson has gladly answered their call. Last year, NARAL Pro-Choice America gave Wilson a rating of 0%.

Patricia Madrid also understands the ways in which issues of gender and economic status intersect and impact poor women. She has expressed the desire to reexamine the current welfare framework that was "reformed" under Bill Clinton, and has especially pointed to how the changes have prevented poor women from escaping poverty. "While welfare reform has led to fewer people on welfare, it has also led to fewer women enrolled in secondary education," Madrid told EMILY's List, which is also backing her candidacy. "We need to look beyond the numbers and see if our reforms are actually providing pathways out of poverty or merely off the welfare rolls."

All in all, it's incredibly clear that Madrid is someone whose progressive values line up not only with the values of her district (which, despite having sent a very well-funded-by-Tom-Delay Wilson to Congress since 1998, actually leans to the left) but also with the vision of America that SNAP wishes to make into reality. And unlike many who claim to stand for progressive values without being willing to make progressive policy, Patricia Madrid has shown a fierce commitment to her work so that whatever the issue – be it immigration, health care, access to prescription drugs, reproductive freedom, etc. – she is determined to create progressive change that really matters in the lives of ordinary Americans. That’s why I am so excited that SNAP interns will be working on the ground this summer for Patricia Madrid.