Richard Carrion
From Ballotpedia
This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
Richard Carrion (Democratic Party) ran for election to the New Mexico State Senate to represent District 11. He lost in the Democratic primary on June 4, 2024.
Carrion completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Richard Carrion's career experience includes working in business management. He earned an associate degree from Central New Mexico Community College in 2011.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: New Mexico State Senate elections, 2024
General election
General election for New Mexico State Senate District 11
Incumbent Linda Lopez won election in the general election for New Mexico State Senate District 11 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Linda Lopez (D) | 100.0 | 9,665 |
| Total votes: 9,665 | |||
 = 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 11
Incumbent Linda Lopez defeated Richard Carrion in the Democratic primary for New Mexico State Senate District 11 on June 4, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Linda Lopez | 81.3 | 1,447 |
 | Richard Carrion | 18.7 | 332 | |
| Total votes: 1,779 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Carrion in this election.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Richard Carrion completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Carrion's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
My name is Richard Carrion, and I am a proud native New Mexican from the South Valley who wants to see positive change for the people of New Mexico. I am running for office not seeking power, prestige, name recognition, and certainly not for money. Instead, I see it as an opportunity to serve my community, to be a voice for those who are often overlooked, and to work towards building a better future for generations to come for all New Mexicans. I'm a blue-collar worker, as I started my career with the City of Albuquerque's solid waste department and worked hard to become an Environmental Health Specialist II within the Air Quality monitoring division of Environmental Health Department. After 25 years of dedicated service to my city and my community, I retired and now serve as a Quality Assurance/Quality Control Manager for a contractor providing facilities support. I have been married to my beautiful wife, who is Navajo and part of the salt clan, for 34 wonderful years. Together we have two kids and two amazing grandkids who we dearly love.
- Reduce crime. In order for our community, city and state to move forward the first thing we have to do is to hold the people accountable who break the law. I am pro-law enforcement, and we need to provide our officers the tools, resources and the training they need to effectively perform their duties. We desperately need to pass legislation to make it easier for the DA's office and judges to uphold the laws and close any loopholes in order to hold criminals accountable for their actions.
- Health care. Have you ever tried scheduling an appointment only to find out that the first available appointment is several months later? There's no doubt that New Mexico has a shortage of physicians. In fact, there has been an exodus of these much-needed professionals since HB75 of 2021 was passed, which increased the medical malpractice amounts. Currently there is approximately 700 doctor positions that are vacant in New Mexico, which is too many. We need to pass legislation to provide incentives for physicians, not barriers. There also needs to be a recruitment program in order to attract and retain these much-needed professionals. The more physicians we have in our state translates to better quality of life for all New Mexicans.
- Economic development. Companies, both small and large, will not invest in our communities if we do not have stronger laws against crime. If we can all work together to pass legislation and lower crime, I believe our beloved state would be a prime destination for these companies to invest and build their businesses, thus creating an economic boom for the people of New Mexico. Likewise, our local entrepreneurs who have the desire and will to start their dream business can also survive and thrive. When the community has a sense of safety, people will go out and shop and invest in these businesses, thus it's a win-win for all New Mexicans.
Education. Having an education that is ranked 50th in the Country really is a disservice to our kids. There needs to be accountability when it comes to teaching our kids, the future of New Mexico, the core curriculum for a solid educational foundation. I'm also proponent of school choice, which means that if you want to send your child to a school that you feel provides an education that is best for you & your child, then I feel the money should follow the student. I would also like to see a workforce development program for skilled trades, such as HVAC technicians, electricians & plumbers. These programs can start in high school and lead into vocational schooling with possible local business partnership apprentice programs.
Integrity, I feel is on the top of the list. Integrity basically states being honest and having strong moral principles. Having strong leadership skills is a must. Leadership can encourage many positive things such as, inspiring others, being proactive, collaborating and negotiating ideas, bringing out the best in people and in difficult situations, and the ability to make that tough decision when it affects so many. Accountability I feel is also a very important characteristic. Elected officials are accountable to the people, and when making decisions on legislation, it should be done with the best interest of the people.
I believe elected officials core responsibilities are advocating for the concerns of their constituents, passing legislative laws that benefit the people, upholding our constitutional rights, and creating a well-balanced financial government, with proper spending limits.
My first job was when I was a teenager working for Youth Development Inc. (YDI). Normally, during the summertime I would have been at west side community center (WSCC) involved in all the recreation activities and/or playing basketball. However, this summer the YDI program was looking for volunteers and workers to perform a job for our community. The job involved revamping the Gonzalez medians, which is on Gonzalez Road between Old Coors and Coor Blvd. Being this was my first job, it taught me the life-long skills of hard work and having a sense of pride when a job is completed. It also taught me perseverance, to finish what I started, as this job was in the heat of the summer. I do remember that the people who lived in the area were very appreciative of the work that we all were doing, and to me that made me feel like all the hard work was worth it. Come to think of it now that I’m writing this, I started serving my community back when I was a teenage and now, I am running for office wanting to serve my community again.
The ideal relationship between the governor and state legislature is to have positive and meaningful conversations that promote legislation that does not infringe on our constitutional rights but brings positive and a safer community.
I agree that building relationships with other legislators is important and beneficial regardless of party affiliation. As elected officials they are to serve their constituents regardless of who brings forth legislative bills. If legislative bills benefit the people of New Mexico for any issue, as elected officials they should vote for the people and for the State.
I do believe that legislature should oversee and grant emergency powers. Having one person to hold so much power that affects so many people is not the best policy. Every legislature should talk to their constituents regarding the path for these emergency powers and vote accordingly.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
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.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 5, 2024
Current members of the New Mexico State Senate
Leadership
Majority Leader:Peter Wirth
Minority Leader:William Sharer
Senators
District 1
William Sharer (R)
District 2
Steve Lanier (R)
District 3
Shannon Pinto (D)
District 4
George Munoz (D)
District 5
Leo Jaramillo (D)
District 6
Roberto Gonzales (D)
District 7
Pat Woods (R)
District 8
Pete Campos (D)
District 9
Cindy Nava (D)
District 10
Katy Duhigg (D)
District 11
Linda Lopez (D)
District 12
Jay Block (R)
District 13
Debbie O'Malley (D)
District 14
Michael Padilla (D)
District 15
District 16
Antoinette Lopez (D)
District 17
Mimi Stewart (D)
District 18
Natalie Figueroa (D)
District 19
Anthony Thornton (R)
District 20
Martin Hickey (D)
District 21
Nicole Tobiassen (R)
District 22
Benny Shendo (D)
District 23
Harold Pope (D)
District 24
Linda Trujillo (D)
District 25
Peter Wirth (D)
District 26
Antonio Maestas (D)
District 27
Patrick Boone (R)
District 28
Gabriel Ramos (R)
District 29
Joshua Sanchez (R)
District 30
Angel Charley (D)
District 31
Joseph Cervantes (D)
District 32
Candy Ezzell (R)
District 33
Vacant
District 34
James Townsend (R)
District 35
District 36
Jeff Steinborn (D)
District 37
William Soules (D)
District 38
Carrie Hamblen (D)
District 39
Liz Stefanics (D)
District 40
Craig Brandt (R)
District 41
David Gallegos (R)
District 42
Larry Scott (R)
Democratic Party (26)
Republican Party (15)
Vacancies (1)
