City of Sandia Pueblo

Cindy Nava is running in the Democratic Primary for Senate District 9. This is an open seat that will be vacated by incumbent Brenda McKenna at the end of this year. Nava recently left her appointment by the White House as Senior Policy Advisor to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in order to run for this seat. Prior to that Nava was Executive Director of Transform Education NM, managed/owned her own consulting firm, NAVA Strategies, and was the Political Director for Ben Ray Lujan’s U.S. Senate Campaign. Her volunteer and leadership experience includes serving on the board for Youth Development Inc. (YID), and she is also a founding Board Member of the American Mexican Association (AMA-USA).

Nava’s personal experience of being undocumented, becoming a Dreamer (DACA recipient), and receiving her U.S. citizenship drives her passion to run for Senate District 9. Her priorities include improving education from early childhood through secondary education by increasing pay for educators and creating facilities that support learning, increasing investments in affordable housing and first-time home buyer programs as well as low interest loans, and making healthcare more affordable by reducing premium rates through New Mexico’s health exchange as well as focusing on recruitment and retention of high quality health care providers to New Mexico.

We recommend Cindy Nava for Senate District 9 based on her policy work, lived experience, and priority areas.

Heather Balas is running against Cindy Nava in the Democratic Primary for Senate District 9. Balas is currently Vice President of Programs for Elections Reformers Network, a research group that works on bipartisan policy to ensure the institutions running elections are not partisan. Previously, she worked as a Senior Consultant for Issue One, a Policy Officer for Thornburg Foundation, and was President and Executive Director of New Mexico First. Balas’ leadership and volunteer experience includes serving on the Corrales Planning & Zoning Commission, New Mexico First board of directors, Santa Fe Data Platform advisory board, and the Albuquerque Civic Chorus board of directors.

Balas’ experience growing up working on her parents peanut farm in Portales and her bipartisan policy work for the past 30 years drives her interest in running for Senate District 9. She has worked on policy in New Mexico for two decades with a focus on bipartisan policy. Her stated priority areas are environmental protections through diversification that includes small businesses and larger economic base industries including renewables and protections for our democracy by increasing polling locations on Tribal Lands and increasing poll observation efforts. Additionally she states education, better jobs and pay, and access to comprehensive healthcare, though policies specific to these areas could not be found.

While we recommend Cindy Nava for Senate District 9, Heather Balas is also a viable candidate based on her strong policy work and focus on sustainable economic development, renewable energy, and the environment.