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Liz Stefanics

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Liz Stefanics
Image of Liz Stefanics

Democratic Party

New Mexico State Senate District 39
Tenure

2017 - Present

Term ends

2028

Years in position

8

Prior offices
New Mexico State Senate
Santa Fe County Commissioner

Compensation

Base salary

$0/year

Per diem

$191/day

Elections and appointments
Last elected

November 5, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

Eastern Kentucky University

Graduate

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Ph.D

University of Minnesota

Personal
Profession
Consultant
Contact

Official website

Campaign website

Personal LinkedIn

Liz Stefanics (Democratic Party) is a member of the New Mexico State Senate, representing District 39. She assumed office in 2017. Her current term ends on December 31, 2028.

Stefanics (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the New Mexico State Senate to represent District 39. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Biography

Stefanics earned her B.S. from Eastern Kentucky University, her M.S. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. Her professional experience includes working as a professional mediator for the Mediation Academy International, as an assistant professor at UNM and Ohio State University from 1976 to 1985, as an executive director at NM AIDS Services from 1987 to 1989, as an executive director at Open Hands from 1989 to 1993 and again from 1994 to 2001, and as a Robert Wood Johnson Fellow for the Center for Health Policy UNM. She also worked for the American Cancer Society from 2001 to 2003, for the NM Human Services Department from 2003 to 2005, for the State of NM Risk Management from 2006 to 2007, and for the NM Health Policy Commission from 2007 to 2009. She also served as Santa Fe County Commissioner from 2009 to 2016.[1]

Committee assignments

Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.

2023-2024

Stefanics was assigned to the following committees:

2021-2022

Stefanics was assigned to the following committees:

2019-2020

Stefanics was assigned to the following committees:

2017 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:

New Mexico committee assignments, 2017
• Conservation, Vice chair
• Public Affairs

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

Elections

2024

See also: New Mexico State Senate elections, 2024

General election

General election for New Mexico State Senate District 39

Incumbent Liz Stefanics won election in the general election for New Mexico State Senate District 39 on November 5, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Liz Stefanics
Liz Stefanics (D)
 
100.0
 
16,371

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 16,371
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for New Mexico State Senate District 39

Incumbent Liz Stefanics advanced from the Democratic primary for New Mexico State Senate District 39 on June 4, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Liz Stefanics
Liz Stefanics
 
100.0
 
4,260

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 4,260
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Endorsements

Stefanics received the following endorsements.

2020

See also: New Mexico State Senate elections, 2020

General election

General election for New Mexico State Senate District 39

Incumbent Liz Stefanics defeated Joseph Tiano in the general election for New Mexico State Senate District 39 on November 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Liz Stefanics
Liz Stefanics (D)
 
55.6
 
12,287
Image of Joseph Tiano
Joseph Tiano (R) Candidate Connection
 
44.4
 
9,831

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 22,118
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for New Mexico State Senate District 39

Incumbent Liz Stefanics advanced from the Democratic primary for New Mexico State Senate District 39 on June 2, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Liz Stefanics
Liz Stefanics
 
100.0
 
6,423

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 6,423
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for New Mexico State Senate District 39

Joseph Tiano defeated Susan Vescovo in the Republican primary for New Mexico State Senate District 39 on June 2, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Joseph Tiano
Joseph Tiano Candidate Connection
 
51.2
 
2,122
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Susan Vescovo
 
48.8
 
2,021

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 4,143
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2016

See also: New Mexico State Senate elections, 2016

Elections for the New Mexico State Senate took place in 2016. The primary election took place on June 7, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was March 8, 2016.

Liz Stefanics defeated incumbent Ted Barela in the New Mexico State Senate District 39 general election.[2][3]

New Mexico State Senate District 39, General Election, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.png Liz Stefanics 50.99% 9,622
     Republican Ted Barela Incumbent 49.01% 9,250
Total Votes 18,872
Source: New Mexico Secretary of State


Liz Stefanics defeated Mike D. Anaya, Ambrose M. Castellano and Hugh H. Ley in the New Mexico State Senate District 39 Democratic primary.[4]

New Mexico State Senate District 39, Democratic Primary, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.png Liz Stefanics 38.38% 2,377
     Democratic Mike D. Anaya 22.57% 1,398
     Democratic Ambrose M. Castellano 20.96% 1,298
     Democratic Hugh H. Ley 18.08% 1,120
Total Votes 6,193


Incumbent Ted Barela ran unopposed in the New Mexico State Senate District 39 Republican primary.[5]

New Mexico State Senate District 39, Republican Primary, 2016
Party Candidate
    Republican Green check mark transparent.png Ted Barela Incumbent (unopposed)


Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Liz Stefanics did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Liz Stefanics did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

2016

Stefanics' campaign website highlighted the following issues:

“

Jobs and Rural Economic Development:

  • Invest in local economic development by supporting local businesses and providing rural infrastructure tax credits;
  • Expand broadband access to rural communities;
  • Support family operated farms and ranches that are crucial to the state’s agricultural sector and to New Mexico’s economy as a whole;
  • Stop tax giveaways to large out of state corporations that don’t result in promised jobs. These tax favors reduce state resources that could be invested in education and training programs, homegrown business and rural economic development strategies;
  • Require more transparency and accountability by supporting a tax expenditure budget that would provide policymakers and the public with a full accounting of how state resources are being used and whether performance requirements are being met.

Education:

  • Help our kids get a head start by investing in Early Childhood Education. I support using a small portion of the state’s Land Grant Permanent Fund to establish a sustainable funding source for early childhood programs.
  • Improve educational outcomes for our children by adequately investing in our schools and supporting our teachers. We need to ensure that teachers have adequate tools to improve student proficiency in reading and math.
  • Create more wrap-around “community schools” in the district
  • Increase local decision-making power so that we can focus less on testing and more on the needs of each student.

Environment and Natural Resources:

  • Protect our precious water and natural resources by implementing water management strategies that include regional plans and input from local community members;
  • Protect traditional and cultural heritage, support land grants as a political subdivision, and recognize the indigenous residents of our state;
  • Ensure that everyone has access to clean and safe drinking water.

Health Care and Anti-Poverty Programs:

  • Maintain and expand health care and social services for all New Mexicans;
  • Improve rural access to health care services. I support dental therapy programs that provide affordable routine dental care to kids and families in remote parts of the state. I also support investments that incentivize doctors and other professionals to practice in rural areas;
  • Ensure that our elderly family, friends and neighbors and veterans have access to the medical support they need;
  • Set up and reestablish strong behavioral health services around the district;
  • Address mental health and addiction concerns in our communities by adequately funding treatment programs;
  • Increase the working families tax credit for low income New Mexicans;
  • Support strategies to maximize enrollment in federally funded health and nutrition programs.

Ethics Reform:

  • Establish an Independent Ethics Commission that hears complaints related to corruption, mismanagement of state funds, and potential ethics violations. This body should have the ability to engage in effective oversight and hold elected official accountable for violating the public trust;
  • Revoke the pensions and health care benefits for public officials convicted of corruption and establish mandatory prison time;
  • Improve transparency in elections and regulate money in politics. We must fix New Mexico’s Campaign Reporting Act to ensure that the public knows exactly who is spending to influence elections and to ensure that citizen voices are heard.[6]
 ”
—Liz Stefanics, [7]

Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

Liz Stefanics campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2024* New Mexico State Senate District 39Won general$124,070 $39,360
2020New Mexico State Senate District 39Won general$232,916 N/A**
2016New Mexico State Senate, District 39Won $234,778 N/A**
Grand total$591,764 $39,360
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

Endorsements

2016

In 2016, Stefanics' endorsements included the following:[8]

  • Animal Protection New Mexico* (Co-endorsement)
  • Conservation Voters New Mexico
  • Planned Parenthood Votes-New Mexico
  • Northern New Mexico Central Labor Council* (Co-endorsement)
  • Victory Fund
  • Jean Coulton, Capitan, Trustee
  • Dennis Dunnum, Carrizozo, former Councilor
  • Doris Cherry. Capitan , former DPLC Chair
  • Dick Mastin, Alto, former DPLC Chair
  • John Farah, former DPLC Treasurer

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in New Mexico

A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states.  To contribute to the list of New Mexico scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.


2024


2023


2022


2021


2020


2019


2018


2017





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External links

Candidate

New Mexico State Senate District 39
  • Website
    		•

    Officeholder

    New Mexico State Senate District 39
  • Website
    		•

    Personal

  • LinkedIn
    		•

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ Liz Stefanics for New Mexico Senate, " About Liz," accessed June 28, 2017
    2. ↑ New Mexico Secretary of State, "2016 general election contest/candidate list," accessed August 18, 2016
    3. ↑ New Mexico Secretary of State, "Official Results General Election - November 8, 2016," accessed November 29, 2016
    4. ↑ New Mexico Secretary of State, "2016 Primary Election Contest/Candidate List," accessed March 10, 2016
    5. ↑ New Mexico Secretary of State, "2016 Primary Election Contest/Candidate List," accessed March 10, 2016
    6. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
    7. ↑ Liz Stefanics for New Mexico Senate 39, "Issues," accessed May 13, 2016
    8. ↑ Liz Stefanics for New Mexico Senate 39, "Endorsers," accessed May 13, 2016

    Political offices
    Preceded by
    -     		New Mexico State Senate District 39
    2017-Present    		 Succeeded by
    -
    Preceded by
    -     		Santa Fe County Commissioner
    2009-2016    		 Succeeded by
    -
    Preceded by
    -     		New Mexico State Senate
    1993-1996    		 Succeeded by
    -


    Current members of the New Mexico State Senate
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