Rep. Andrea Romero, who represents Santa Fe in the New Mexico House of Representatives, sat down to discuss her approach to legislation, the realities of the lawmaking process and what drives her work at the Capitol. From gun safety measures to community-driven policy, Romero shared her perspective on what it means to be an effective legislator.

How do you decide which bills to sponsor each session and what guides your priorities?

My priorities come from our community. This is where all of my ideas come from. 

I’ve been running on gun safety since my very first election, and we’ve made tons of progress since 2019 in our state, universal background checks, a seven-day waiting period, red flag laws or temporary restraining orders. These are all huge victories in the course of how we’ve been able to make progress, but we can make more until we’re all safe from guns. 

For me, these types of issues and so many others come directly from people in our community, saying, ‘Can you stand up for us in this way?’ And that’s where my legislation comes from. 

Are there any improvements that you would like to see in the legislative process?

Always. We always learn a bit more about how things work and how to make things better. And unfortunately, we are always kind of back to the drawing board, even on issues that we feel like were a victory, including gun safety, right? 

I think for the voters, taking the time to really get to know the candidates, but also to know what they represent. That will all improve the process. 

I love the process; it’s very deliberative. It’s very important that we do read through all of these bills, and we do get challenged on when they’re not exactly how they should be, because we’re just trying to keep working them through to make them the best that they possibly can be. 

When we all come together to deliberate on these issues, it really matters, and we get to the best version of it at the end of the day. 

Sometimes, nobody gets what they want. And sometimes everybody gets a little bit of what they want, but not all of it. And I think those are some of the best policies that we have.

How do you measure success as a legislator?

Well, first, if I’m not the right person for the job, I want the right person to be in this work. So if you have better ideas than me, can do a better job than me, I want you to be in this legislative seat. 

For me, success is being able to even move the needle just a little bit. I know it’s hard because we want so much more. 

Time goes so fast when you’re in this work, because it feels like a glacial pace. But then, when you get to look back, and certainly, the transformation in people’s lives, for me, is what really hits home. 

We really do have an impact. Sometimes you don’t even know you’re having it. And for me, that’s what really makes it feel real, makes it feel like we’re really making a difference. 

So it’s not so much success as it is being able to really understand how our communities have been transformed.