Mary Herrera
Mary Herrera (D) was New Mexico Secretary of State. A native of Albuquerque, she was the second-highest ranking Hispanic elected official in the country, after former Governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson. Herrera was one of only two statewide elected Hispanic women, and was the highest ranking statewide elected Hispanic woman in the United States.
Although she did not face re-election until November 2010, Herrera began collecting campaign contributions as early as July 2009.[1]
Herrera lost to Republican State Senator Dianna Duran in the general election on November 2, 2010 after receiving slightly over 42 percent of the vote.[2]
Education
Career
Below is an abbreviated outline of Herrera's academic, professional, and political career:[3][4][5]
Education
- Graduated from West Mesa High School (1977)
- Bachelor's degree, College of Santa Fe in business administration
- Master's degree, College of Santa Fe in business administration
- Certificate of Program Administration for Senior Executives, Harvard University
- Certificates in Labor, Employment, and Benefits Law, Institute for Applied Management
- Doctorate degree honoris causa, College of Santa Fe (2007) in humane letters
Career
- 1974-1989: Advanced from clerk typist to Assistant Comptroller in Bernalillo County Government
- 1996-2000: Bernalillo County Director of Human Resources
- 2000: Elected Bernalillo County Clerk
- 2004: Re-elected Bernalillo County Clerk
- 2006: Elected New Mexico Elected Secretary of State
- 2009: Elected President of the National Association of Latino elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO)
In her capacity as Secretary of State she served on the Public Employees Retirement Board and State Commission of Public Records.
Awards and Associations
- U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC)
- New Mexico Election Task Force
- Rio Grande Credit Union board of directors member
- Fraternal Order of Police associate member
- Henry Toll Fellowship Program (2007)[6]
Noteworthy events
Misconduct accusations
In March 2010, State Attorney General Gary King launched his investigation into allegations that Herrera solicited "donations from companies that contract with her office and ordered some of her employees to gather signatures on petitions for her re-election campaign."[7] The source of the accusations is a resignation letter written by A. J. Salazar, a former deputy district attorney.[8] [9]
Portions of the letter were first published by The Albuquerque Journal and the full context of it was later released to the public through the Rio Grande Sun. Despite numerous requests from local media outlets for the release of the letter, the Secretary of State's Office refused to do so, claiming that it was a personnel matter and that the email resignation did not qualify under the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act.[10] The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, however, disagreed with this assessment. A little over two weeks after Salazar resigned from office, Herrera's Office released a redacted version of his letter.[11]
According to Salazar's attorney, Salazar requested federal involvement to fully investigate the allegations, including the role of the Attorney General's office, as did Manny Vildasol and James Flores, both of whom worked in the Secretary of State's Office as office manager and public information officer respectively.[12] Salazar's attorney and a spokesperson for King each said the other party was politically motivated. No federal charges were filed against King or Herrera.
In March, 2013, King's office closed the investigation and did not file any charges against Herrera.[13]. The secretary of state's office fired Vildasol and Flores, who filed lawsuits against Herrera. The New Mexico Supreme Court determined that Herrera, who had since left office, could not be individually prosecuted under the Whistleblower Protection Act, as the statute could only be used to bring suit against government agencies and officials serving in their official roles.[14]
Secretary of State Project
- See also: Secretary of State Project
The Center for Public Integrity reported in September 2008 that Mary Herrera received a donation of $50,000, or 10 percent of the campaign budget, from the Secretary of State Project, a 527 political organization whose purpose is to "wrestling control of the country from the Republican Party" through the process of "removing their political operatives from deciding who can vote and whose votes will count," namely the office of Secretary of State in many cases.[15][16]
Elections
2010
- 2010 Race for Secretary of State - Democratic Primary[17][18]
- Mary Herrera ran unopposed in this contest
| 2010 Race for Secretary of State - General Election[19] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote Percentage | |
| Republican Party |  Dianna Duran
|
57.5% | |
| Democratic Party | Mary Herrera | 42.5% | |
| Total Votes | 594,170 | ||
2006
| 2006 Race for Secretary of State - Democratic Primary[20] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote Percentage | |
| Democratic Party | Mary Herrera
|
39.6% | |
| Democratic Party | Stephanie V. Gonzales | 28.9% | |
| Democratic Party | Shirley Hooper | 19.4% | |
| Democratic Party | Letitia Montoya | 12.1% | |
| Total Votes | 119,843 | ||
| 2006 Race for Secretary of State - General Election[21] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote Percentage | |
| Democratic Party | Mary Herrera
|
54.2% | |
| Republican Party | Vickie S. Pera | 45.8% | |
| Total Votes | 556,610 | ||
Campaign contributions
| 2006 Race for Secretary of State - Campaign Contributions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Raised | $380,198 | |||
| Total Raised by Primary Opponent | $109,226 | |||
| Total Raised by Gen. Election Opponent | $549,348 | |||
| Top 5 Contributors | Bill Richardson for Governor $61,098 (16.07% of Total) | |||
| Committee to Elect Mary Herrera County Clerk $24,512 (6.45%) | ||||
| ActBlue $24,164 (6.36%) | ||||
| EMILY's List $20,000 (5.26%) | ||||
| Bill Richardson for Governor $14,098 (3.71%) | ||||
| Individuals v. Institutions | $103,920 (27.3%) | |||
| $160,605 (42.2%) | ||||
| In v. Outside State | $309,554 (81.4%) | |||
| $70,544 (18.6%) | ||||
Personal
Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Mary Herrera currently resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico with her two children, Nathan and Monique.
See also
External links
- Official New Mexico Secretary of State website
- Mary Herrera's Twitter account
- Project Vote Smart - Mary Herrera biography
- Maryherreraagain.com 2010 Campaign website
The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine was used to recall this version of the website from October 18, 2010.
Footnotes
- ↑ Green Chile Chatter, "Mary Herrera raising money to run again for SOS" 28 July, 2009
- ↑ New Mexico Watchdog, "GOP wins NM Secretary of State race for the first time in 80 years" 3 Nov. 2010
- ↑ NALEO News, "New Mexico Secretary of State Mary Herrera Elected NALEO President," accessed November 24, 2015
- ↑ Facebook, "Mary Herrera," accessed November 24, 2015
- ↑ National Hispana Leadership Institute, "Mary Herrera, New Mexico Secretary of State," accessed November 24, 2015
- ↑ The Council of State Governments, "Boot Camp for Leaders," accessed November 24, 2015
- ↑ The Santa Fe New Mexican, "Resignation letter rips Secretary of State Mary Herrera" 4 March, 2010
- ↑ New Mexico Independent, "Herrera runs ‘a crooked organization,’ former elections head claims" 4 March, 2010
- ↑ New Mexico Independent, "Herrera says Salazar resigned because she denied leave request" 11 March, 2010
- ↑ New Mexico Independent, "SOS refuses to release Salazar’s resignation letter" 4 March, 2010
- ↑ New Mexico Independent, "SOS releases redacted version of Salazar’s resignation letter" 19 March, 2010
- ↑ New Mexico Independent, "King attempted cover up of allegations against Herrera, attorney says" 27 Aug. 2010
- ↑ Silver City Daily Press, "AG drops investigation," accessed January 6, 2026
- ↑ Associated Press, "State high court limits scope of whistleblower law," accessed January 6, 2026
- ↑ Center for Public Integrity: Paper Trial Blog, "Election '08: Scoring Secretary of State Seats for Dems" 8 Sept. 2008
- ↑ American Spectator, "SOS in Minnesota" 7 Nov. 2008
- ↑ New Mexico Secretary of State, "2010 Primary Election Results," accessed December 18, 2014
- ↑ New Mexico Secretary of State, "2010 General Election Results," accessed December 18, 2014
- ↑ New Mexico Secretary of State - 2010 General Election Results
- ↑ Secretary of State - Official 2006 Primary Election Results
- ↑ Secretary of State - Official 2006 General Election Results
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Rebecca Vigil-Giron |
New Mexico Secretary of State 2006–2010 |
Succeeded by Dianna Duran |
