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 Agriculture for Rural Development at the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

Early life and education

Xochitl Liana Torres was born on November 15, 1984, in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

, to Marcos and Cynthia "Cynta" Torres. Her parents were educators. Torres Small was raised in

Las Cruces, New Mexico Las Cruces (; "the crosses") is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New Mexico and the seat of Doña Ana County. As of the 2020 census the population was 111,385. Las Cruces is the largest city in both Doña Ana County and southern Ne ...

. Torres graduated from Mayfield High School in absentia while she earned her International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma from Waterford Kamhlaba United World College in Mbabane, Swaziland. She earned a

Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS) is the school of international relations at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. It is considered to be one of the world's leading international affairs schools, granting degrees at bot ...

degree from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

and her Juris Doctor degree from the University of New Mexico School of Law.

Early career

Torres Small worked as a field representative for U.S. Senator

Tom Udall Thomas Stewart Udall ( ; born May 18, 1948) is an American diplomat, lawyer and politician serving as the United States Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States senator from ...

from 2009 to 2012. She served as a federal law clerk in the New Mexico District from 2015 to 2016. She worked as a water attorney with the Kemp Smith law firm.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

;2018 In the 2018 elections, Torres Small ran as a Democrat for the open

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 chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

seat in . The Republican

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seeking re-ele ...

, Steve Pearce, declined to run for reelection in order to run for governor of New Mexico. Torres Small defeated Madeline Hildebrandt in the Democratic Party primary election and Republican state Representative

Yvette Herrell Stella Yvette Herrell ( ; born March 16, 1964) is an American politician and realtor serving as the U.S. representative for New Mexico's 2nd congressional district. A member of the Republican Party, she served four terms as a member of the New M ...

in the general election. She ran as a moderate Democrat. The results were close on election night, with Herrell in the lead at the end of the night; some New Mexico media organizations projected that she would win. The next day, more ballots were counted, narrowing Herrell's lead, and media organizations rescinded their projections. On November 7, after all absentee ballots were counted, the New Mexico Secretary of State declared Torres Small the winner. ;2020 Herrell ran again in 2020. During a debate in the campaign, she claimed to be "unashamedly pro-God, pro-life, pro-gun, pro-business and pro-family", while Torres Small touted her votes on oil and gas that bucked the Democratic Party's positions.

OpenSecrets OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. It was created from a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP) ...

reports that Torres Small outspent Herrell by over $5 million. Republicans targeted the seat as a pickup opportunity. Despite polling showing a dead heat, Herrell won by over 7%.

Tenure

In her first week in office, Torres Small and other members of the

Congressional Hispanic Caucus The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) is an organization of 38 Democratic members of the United States Congress of Hispanic and Latino descent. The Caucus focuses on issues affecting Hispanics and Latinos in the United States. The CHC was fou ...

(CHC) traveled to the United States Border Patrol station at Alamogordo, New Mexico, where Felipe Gómez Alonzo, an eight-year-old Guatemalan immigrant, died in custody. In the 2020 presidential election, Torres Small said she would vote for Joe Biden despite disagreeing with some of his energy policy stances. GovTrack reports that during her two years in Congress, Torres Small was the primary sponsor of three bills that became law, got her bills out of committee the tenth-most often of House freshmen and missed approximately 0.4% of House votes.

Committee assignments

* Committee on Armed Services ** Subcommittee on Readiness ** Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces * Committee on Homeland Security ** Subcommittee on Border Security, Facilitation and Operations ** Subcommittee on Oversight, Management and Accountability (Chair) * Committee on Agriculture **Subcommittee on Biotechnology, Horticulture, and Research **Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management

Caucus memberships

Blue Dog Coalition The Blue Dog Coalition (commonly known as the Blue Dogs or Blue Dog Democrats) is a caucus in the United States House of Representatives comprising centrist members from the Democratic Party. The caucus was founded as a group of conservative De ...

Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues The Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues is a bipartisan membership organization within the House of Representatives committed to advancing women's interests in Congress. It was founded by fifteen Congresswomen on April 19, 1977, and was origin ...

New Democrat Coalition The New Democrat Coalition is a caucus in the House of Representatives of the United States Congress made up of Democrats, primarily centrists, who take a pro-business stance and a moderate-to-conservative approach to fiscal matters. As of ...

U.S. Department of Agriculture

On June 18, 2021, it was announced that President Joe Biden would nominate Torres Small as Under Secretary for Rural Development at the

. She was confirmed by voice vote on October 7, 2021.

Electoral history

Personal life

In 2016, Torres Small's husband, Nathan Small, was elected to 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) , ...

, representing the 36th district. He ran for reelection in 2018, winning with 59.9% of the vote. She is a

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

References

External links

* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Torres Small, Xochitl 1984 births 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians American Lutherans Biden administration personnel Christians from New Mexico Christians from Oregon Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New Mexico Female members of the United States House of Representatives Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni Hispanic and Latino American members of the United States Congress Living people New Mexico lawyers Politicians from Las Cruces, New Mexico Politicians from Portland, Oregon United States Under Secretaries of Agriculture People educated at a United World College University of New Mexico School of Law alumni Waterford Kamhlaba alumni Women in New Mexico politics