Stella Yvette Herrell
( ; born March 16, 1964) is an American politician and realtor serving as the
U.S. representative
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...
for
New Mexico's 2nd congressional district
New Mexico's 2nd congressional district serves the southern half of New Mexico, including Las Cruces, Roswell, and the southern fourth of Albuquerque. Geographically, it is the fifth-largest district in the nation and the largest to not co ...
. A member of the
Republican Party, she served four terms as a member of the
New Mexico House of Representatives
) is the lower house of the New Mexico State Legislature.
There are 70 members of the House. Each member represents roughly 25,980 residents of New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, ...
for the 51st district from 2011 to 2019.
Herrell was the Republican nominee for New Mexico's 2nd congressional district in
2018, narrowly losing to
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
Xochitl Torres Small
Xochitl Liana Torres Small (first name pronounced ; born November 15, 1984) is an American attorney and Democratic politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2019 to 2021. Since 2021, she has served as Under Secretary of Agric ...
. She was the Republican nominee for the 2nd district again in
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...
, and defeated Torres Small in a rematch. She lost her bid for reelection in
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...
to Democratic nominee
Gabe Vasquez
Gabriel Vasquez (born August 3, 1984) is an American politician who is the U.S. representative for New Mexico's 2nd congressional district. He previously served as a member of the Las Cruces City Council. Vasquez is a member of the Democratic ...
.
Herrell has marked many firsts: she is the first Republican Native woman elected to Congress, the first
Cherokee
The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...
woman, the third Native American woman, and the second Native woman from New Mexico elected to the House. She was the only Republican member of New Mexico's congressional delegation during the
117th Congress.
Early life and education
Herrell was born in
Ruidoso, New Mexico
Ruidoso is a village in Lincoln County, New Mexico, United States, adjacent to the Lincoln National Forest. The population was 8,029 at the 2010 census. The city of Ruidoso Downs and the unincorporated area of Alto are suburbs of Ruidoso, and ...
, and is a citizen of the
Cherokee Nation.
After attending Cloudcroft High School, she earned a legal secretary diploma from the
ITT Technical Institute
ITT Technical Institute (ITT Tech) was a private for-profit technical institute with its headquarters in Carmel, Indiana and many campuses throughout the United States. Founded in 1969 and growing to 130 campuses in 38 states of the United Stat ...
School of Business in
Boise, Idaho
Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown are ...
.
After graduating from ITT, Herrell returned to New Mexico, where she worked as a realtor in
Alamogordo
Alamogordo () is the seat of Otero County, New Mexico, United States. A city in the Tularosa Basin of the Chihuahuan Desert, it is bordered on the east by the Sacramento Mountains and to the west by Holloman Air Force Base. The population was ...
. She later worked as a real estate broker for Future Real Estate in Alamogordo.
New Mexico House of Representatives
In 2010, Herrell challenged incumbent District 51 Republican state Representative
Gloria Vaughn in the June 1 Republican primary. Herrell won with 846 votes (54.2%), and went on to win the November 2 general election with 3,077 votes (62.9%) against
Democratic nominee Susan Medina.
In 2012, Herrell was unopposed in both the June 5 Republican primary, which she won with 2,128 votes, and the November 6 general election, which she won with 7,750 votes.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
2018
In 2018, Herrell was a candidate for the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
, and was defeated in a close race by political newcomer and Democratic attorney
Xochitl Torres Small
Xochitl Liana Torres Small (first name pronounced ; born November 15, 1984) is an American attorney and Democratic politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2019 to 2021. Since 2021, she has served as Under Secretary of Agric ...
. The results were close on election night, with Herrell in the lead at the end of the night and some New Mexico media organizations projecting that she would win.
The next day, more ballots were counted, narrowing Herrell's lead, and media organizations rescinded their initial projections.
Absentee ballots made Torres Small the winner. Without offering evidence, Herrell alleged possible election fraud before conceding the race.
A 2018
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
review of Herrell's campaign finance disclosure records found that she had failed to disclose that her real estate company earned $440,000 in contracts with two state agencies over five years. Herrell said she had submitted all required paperwork and that the allegations against her represented "an attack on my moral character" orchestrated by one of her opponents in the Republican congressional primary.
2020
Herrell was a candidate for the
2nd congressional district in the
2020 elections. In the Republican primary, she faced businesswoman Claire Chase and businessman Chris Mathys. Herrell won the primary with 45.6% of the vote and faced
Torres Small in the November general election.
Herrell won the November general election and took office on January 3, 2021. She campaigned on a stronger southern U.S. border, supporting small businesses, and fighting overly tight government regulation.
2022
Herrell was a candidate for the
2nd congressional district in the
2022 elections. She ran unopposed in the Republican primary and faced Democratic nominee
Gabe Vasquez
Gabriel Vasquez (born August 3, 1984) is an American politician who is the U.S. representative for New Mexico's 2nd congressional district. He previously served as a member of the Las Cruces City Council. Vasquez is a member of the Democratic ...
in the general election.
Vasquez won the November general election in a tight race.
Tenure
Iraq
In June 2021, Herrell was one of 49 House Republicans to vote to repeal the
AUMF against Iraq.
Defense
In September 2021, Herrell was among 75 House Republicans to vote against the National Defense Authorization Act of 2022, which contains a provision that would require women to be drafted.
Immigration
In 2021, Herrell called for the
National Guard
National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards.
Nat ...
to be deployed at the United States-Mexico border.
In 2022, Herrell was the main sponsor of a bill to give
Canadian truckers protesting vaccine mandates temporary political asylum.
Committee assignments
*
Committee on Natural Resources
**
Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources
**
Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands
*
Committee on Oversight and Reform
The Committee on Oversight and Reform is the main investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives.
The committee's broad jurisdiction and legislative authority make it one of the most influential and powerful panels in the ...
**
Subcommittee on Environment
**
Subcommittee on Government Operations
Source
Caucus memberships
*
Freedom Caucus
The Freedom Caucus, also known as the House Freedom Caucus, is a congressional caucus consisting of conservative Republican members of the United States House of Representatives. It is generally considered to be the most conservative and farth ...
*
Republican Study Committee
The Republican Study Committee (RSC) is a study group of conservative members of the Republican Party in the United States House of Representatives. As of 2021, the Chairman of the RSC is Representative Jim Banks of Indiana.
Although the prim ...
Electoral history
2018
2020
2022
Political positions
During her campaign for the
2nd district in 2020, Herrell positioned herself as an ally of President
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
. After
Joe Biden won the
2020 presidential election
This national electoral calendar for 2020 lists the national/federal elections held in 2020 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.
January
*5 January:
**C ...
and Trump refused to concede while making
baseless claims of fraud, Herrell
objected to the certification of Arizona's and Pennsylvania's electoral votes in Congress.
Herrell supports repealing the
Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...
. She has argued that health insurance should be left to "free markets".
In an interview with the ''
Albuquerque Journal'', she said, "
DACA
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, colloquially referred to as DACA, is a United States immigration policy that allows some individuals with unlawful presence in the United States after being brought to the country as children to receive a ...
needs to be reformed." She also said she "will not support any legislation that will impede on our Second Amendment" and supports allowing
concealed carry
Concealed carry, or carrying a concealed weapon (CCW), is the practice of carrying a weapon (usually a sidearm such as a handgun), either in proximity to or on one's person or in public places in a manner that hides or conceals the weapon's pr ...
on school property.
Herrell opposes abortion.
While a member of the
New Mexico House of Representatives
) is the lower house of the New Mexico State Legislature.
There are 70 members of the House. Each member represents roughly 25,980 residents of New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, ...
in 2015, Herrell sponsored a bill that banned late-term abortion with exceptions for instances of sexual abuse, rape, or incest.
She has said that the federal government's role in public education should be limited.
Herrell has said that she supports legislation that improves water rights, private property rights, and the management of public lands.
After Trump supporters
stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, Herrell voted not to
impeach Trump.
In 2021, Herrell voted against the
American Rescue Plan
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, also called the COVID-19 Stimulus Package or American Rescue Plan, is a economic stimulus bill passed by the 117th United States Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 11, 2021, to s ...
that was passed by Congress and signed into law by Biden.
On February 25, 2021, Herrell voted against the
Equality Act, a bill that would prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation by amending the
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...
and the
Fair Housing Act to include new protections.
During the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, Herrell attended events that did not comply with public health measures to hinder the spread of the virus, such as social distancing and face masks.
Explaining why she did not wear a face mask while in a public gathering, Herrell said, "I was at an event, yes; no one in the audience was wearing a mask, so I didn't feel as though I needed to wear one in that particular setting."
She criticized the virus mitigation strategies implemented by Democrats in New Mexico.
Personal life
Herrell is a Protestant Christian.
See also
*
List of Native Americans in the United States Congress
*
Women in conservatism in the United States
Women in conservatism in the United States have advocated for social, political, economic, and cultural conservative policies since anti-suffragism. Leading conservative women such as Phyllis Schlafly have expressed that women should embrace th ...
*
Women in the United States House of Representatives
Women have served in the United States House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber, since the 1916 election of Republican Jeannette Rankin from Montana, the first woman in Con ...
References
External links
Representative Yvette Herrellofficial U.S. House website
Yvette Herrell for CongressOfficial pageat the
New Mexico Legislature
The New Mexico Legislature ( es, Legislatura de Nuevo México) is the legislative branch of the state government of New Mexico. It is a bicameral body made up of the New Mexico House of Representatives and the New Mexico Senate.
History
The N ...
*
Yvette Herrellat
Ballotpedia
Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...
Yvette Herrellat the National Institute on Money in State Politics
*
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herrell, Yvette
1964 births
20th-century American businesswomen
20th-century American businesspeople
21st-century American women politicians
21st-century American politicians
20th-century Native American women
20th-century Native Americans
21st-century Native American women
21st-century Native Americans
American Protestants
American real estate brokers
Businesspeople from New Mexico
Candidates in the 2018 United States elections
Candidates in the 2020 United States elections
Cherokee Nation members of the United States House of Representatives
Christians from New Mexico
Female members of the United States House of Representatives
Living people
Republican Party members of the New Mexico House of Representatives
Native American women in politics
Native American Christians
People from Ruidoso, New Mexico
Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New Mexico
Women state legislators in New Mexico