Leo V. Jaramillo is an American politician serving as a member of the

New Mexico Senate The New Mexico Senate ( es, Senado de Nuevo México) is the upper house of the New Mexico State Legislature. The Senate consists of 42 members, with each senator representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts across the stat ...

from the 5th district. Elected in 2020, he assumed office on January 19, 2021.

Early life and education

Raised in

Española, New Mexico Española is a city primarily in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States. A portion of the central and eastern section of the city is in Santa Fe County. Founded as a railroad village some distance from the old Indian town of San Juan de lo ...

, Jaramillo graduated from

Española Valley High School Española Valley High School (EVHS) is a Title-1 public senior high school of the Española Public Schools District, located in Española, New Mexico. Nearly 3/4 of the student body is made up of Hispanic students. The school is located within th ...

. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in mass communication and journalism from the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

, followed by a Master of Arts in education and curriculum design from the

College of Santa Fe Santa Fe University of Art and Design (SFUAD) was a private, for-profit art school in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The university was built from the non-profit College of Santa Fe (CSF), a Catholic facility founded as St. Michael's College in 1859, an ...

Career

After earning his bachelor's degree, Jaramillo worked as a writer and producer for

KRQE KRQE (channel 13) is a television station in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States, affiliated with CBS and Fox. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister to Santa Fe–licensed ''de facto'' CW owned-and-operated station KWBQ (channel 19) an ...

. After earning his master's degree, he worked as a middle school teacher in Belen, New Mexico. Since 2003, Jaramillo has worked as a communications specialist, staff assistant, training specialist, recruiter, financial analyst, and chief of staff at the

Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, ...

. Jaramillo was elected to the

Rio Arriba County Rio Arriba County is a county in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 40,246. Its county seat is Tierra Amarilla. Its northern border is the Colorado state line. Rio Arriba County comprises the Española, N ...

Commission in 2018. He was selected to serve as chair of the commission on January 28, 2020. In June 2020, Jaramillo defeated incumbent Democrat Richard Martinez for district five in the

. A political progressive, Jaramillo criticized Martinez for his moderate voting record during the primary campaign. Jaramillo has advocated for the legalization of recreational marijuana in New Mexico. In the November general election, Jaramillo defeated Republican nominee Diamantina Storment. He assumed office on January 19, 2021.

Personal life

Jaramillo is

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

. He lives in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaramillo, Leo Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in New Mexico Living people New Mexico Democrats People from Española, New Mexico People from Rio Arriba County, New Mexico University of New Mexico alumni Santa Fe University of Art and Design alumni LGBT state legislators in New Mexico Year of birth missing (living people)