Age in the 2025 New Mexico State Legislature
The State of New Mexico held its elections for a new New Mexico House of Representatives and New Mexico State Senate on November 4th 2024. In January 2025 the currently active 2025 legislative session of the New Mexico State Legislature. Among the members elected 3 were aged 35 or younger on election day in 2024. Below is a map of these representatives within both chambers of the New Mexico State Legislature.
New Mexico Demographic Background in the 2024 Election
Preliminary estimates from CIRCLE at Tufts University indicate that 42% of young people aged 18–29 voted in the 2024 election, with turnout surpassing 50% in key battleground states. Nearly 50 million young citizens were eligible to vote nationwide, including over 8 million who turned 18 since the 2022 midterms.
According to the Pew Research Center, Millennials surpassed Baby Boomers in 2020 to become the largest generation in the U.S., making up 31% of the population, followed closely by Boomers at 30.9%. Generation X accounts for 28%, while the Silent Generation makes up just 9.9%. In New Mexico, young voters played an outsized role in shaping both state and national outcomes.
According to the Youth Electoral Significance Index (YESI), The House race in New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District was also among the top YESI-rated contests, ranking 18th nationwide.
The New Mexico House of Representatives 2025 Legislative Session
Below is information covering age dynamics in the recently elected to the New Mexico House of Representatives
- the average age of New Mexico House of Representatives members is 55.08 years
- the youngest Representative John P. Block was born in 1997
- the oldest Representative Marian Matthews was born in 1945
- 3 Representatives are Young Elected Leaders age 35 or younger as of Election Day 2024
Generational Breakdown
Within the New Mexico House of Representatives, most representatives come from the Millennial, Generation X or The Baby Boomer generation. Importantly, several members of the current New Mexico House of Representatives belong to Generation Z. Scroll below to see the generations in the New Mexico House of Representatives visualized.
Partisanship in the New Mexico House of Representatives
The chart below further breaks down the current partisan makeup of the 2025 New Mexico House of Representatives. Each dot represents a single member, colored by both party affiliation and whether the legislator qualifies as a Young Elected Leader (YEL)—defined as age 35 or younger at the time of the election. This format provides a visual snapshot of generational and partisan distribution within the chamber, highlighting how younger legislators are positioned across party lines.
* 6 members ages are missing, 3 Republicans and 3 Democrats
Partisan differences in the New Mexico House of Representatives extend beyond ideology to include notable generational contrasts. As shown in the visual below, Republican legislators have a slightly higher average age than their Democratic counterparts—55.61 years compared to 54.79 years—a gap of 0.82 years. These disparities may reflect broader patterns in political recruitment, generational turnover, and the types of candidates emerging in recent election cycles.
Young Elected Representatives – New Mexico House of Representatives
Following the 2024 State Legislative Elections in New Mexico, twenty-five members aged 35 or under were elected to the New Mexico House of Representatives. Below are all nine of these members, ordered from youngest to oldest, along with information about their local districts and party affiliation.
Young Elected Representatives — New Mexico House (Age ≤ 35)
| Name | District | Birth year (Age on Election Day) | Year first elected to New Mexico House | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
John Peter Block (R) | District 51 —
Alamogordo, NM |
1997 (Age 27) | 2022 |
 |
Cristina S. Parajon (D) | District 25 —
Albuquerque, NM |
1996 (Age 28) | 2023 |
 |
Marianna A. Anaya (R) | District 18 —
Albuquerque, NM |
1989 (Age 34) | 2024 |
Photos courtesy of the New Mexico House Member Roster.
Gender in the New Mexico House of Representatives
The New Mexico House of Representatives reflects a range of age and gender dynamics that help shape the composition of the state’s legislative body. Unlike most state legislatures in New Mexico women make up a larger share of the chamber then men. Across all members, 64.29% are women, while men make up 35.71%. Women have a higher mean age than men with the current New Mexico House. For female representatives there was an average age of 56.32 at the time of the election, compared to 52.87 for their male colleagues. Of the the 3 Young Elected Leaders, 2 are female and 1 are male.
When examining both gender and party affiliation, additional differences in age emerge within the New Mexico House of Representatives. Democratic women have the highest average age of all four groups at 56.61, while Democratic men have a higher average age of 49.15. For Republicans in the New Mexico House women averaged an age of 55.45 and Republican men featured an identical average age at 55.73. These patterns show that age representation in the New Mexico House of Representatives varies by both gender and partisan alignment, highlighting differing pathways to political office across demographic groups.
Race and Ethnicity in the New Mexico House of Representatives
The racial and ethnic composition of the New Mexico House varies across generations. In 2024, younger cohorts show more diversity, though the chamber overall remains majority White. The table below shows each generation’s distribution.
Race and Ethnicity in the New Mexico House of Representatives
Generations by Race/Ethnicity in the New Mexico House
| Ethnicity | Generation Z | Millennial Generation 1981–1996 |
Generation X 1965–1980 |
Boomer Generation 1946–1964 |
Silent Generation 1928–1945 |
Full Chamber |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White/Caucasian | 1 (100%) | 5 (35.71%) | 9 (37.5%) | 14 (58.33%) | 1 (100%) | 30 (46.88%) |
| Hispanic/Latino | 0 (0%) | 6 (42.86%) | 13 (54.17%) | 7 (29.17%) | 0 (0%) | 26 (40.62%) |
| Indian/Native American | 0 (0%) | 1 (7.14%) | 1 (4.17%) | 2 (8.33%) | 0 (0%) | 4 (6.25%) |
| Black/African American | 0 (0%) | 1 (7.14%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (4.17%) | 0 (0%) | 2 (3.12%) |
| Asian/Pacific American | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (4.17%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (1.56%) |
| American Indian/Native American | 0 (0%) | 1 (7.14%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (1.56%) |
| Total | 1 (1.56%) | 14 (21.88%) | 24 (37.5%) | 24 (37.5%) | 1 (1.56%) | *64 (100%) |
The full New Mexico House of Representatives is comprised of 70 seats. *Ages are missing for 6 members.
The New Mexico Senate
Below is information covering age dynamics in the recently elected New Mexico State Senate.
- the average age of New Mexico State Senate members is 60.16 years
- the youngest Senator is Heather Berghmans born in 1988
- the oldest Senator is Mimi Stewart born in 1947
- 0 members of the New Mexico State Senate are Young Elected Leaders, aged 35 or younger as of Election Day 2024
Young Elected Senators in the New Mexico State Senate
Following the 2024 State Legislative Elections in New Mexico, no members aged 35 or under were elected to (and currently serve in) the New Mexico State Senate.
Partisanship in the New Mexico State Senate
In the New Mexico State Senate, 26 senators belong to the Democratic Party, 16 senators are Democrats. The mean age of Democratic state senators after the 2024 election was 60.04, while the mean age of Republican state senators was 60.35. Each generation had a different partisan makeup. Below is the breakdown of party composition for each generation within the New Mexico State Senate.
Gender in the New Mexico Senate
The generational makeup of the New Mexico Senate reveals notable gender dynamics. Overall, women outnumber men, within among Millennial senators, and men have a larger presence in older generations. These patterns indicate that gender representation varies across generations, with women being represented in every generational cohort.
Race and Ethnicity in the New Mexico Senate
The racial and ethnic composition of the New Mexico Senate shows generational variation. The table below presents the distribution by generation.
Generations by Race/Ethnicity in the New Mexico Senate
| Ethnicity | Millennial Generation 1981–1996 |
Generation X 1965–1980 |
Boomer Generation 1946–1964 |
Full Chamber |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White/Caucasian | 2 (40%) | 9 (60%) | 12 (54.55%) | 23 (54.76%) |
| Hispanic/Latino | 2 (40%) | 5 (33.33%) | 7 (31.82%) | 14 (33.33%) |
| Black/African American | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 2 (9.09%) | 2 (4.76%) |
| Indian/Native American | 0 (0%) | 1 (6.67%) | 1 (4.55%) | 2 (4.76%) |
| American Indian/Native American | 1 (20%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (2.38%) |
| Total | 5 (11.9%) | 15 (35.71%) | 22 (52.38%) | 42 (100%) |
The full New Mexico State Senate is comprised of 42 seats.
Notes
The Young Elected Leaders Project applies the generational categorization of the Pew Research Center:
- Silent Generation: 1928 – 1945
- Baby Boomer Generation: 1946 – 1964
- Generation X: 1965 – 1980
- Millennial Generation: 1981 – 1996
- Generation Z: 1997 – 2012
This analysis is based on data from the most recent state legislative election in New Mexico which took place on November 5th 2024.
Citation Guideline
In referencing the Young Elected Leaders Project in publication please use the following language: “The Young Elected Leaders Project is housed at the Center for Youth Political Participation at The Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University – New Brunswick.”
Bibliographic Citation For this document
Author: Young Elected Leaders Project
Corresponding Authors: George D. Quinn
Year: 2024
Title: Age in the 2025 New Mexico State Legislature