NMSU educator makes first bid for office in council District 3

Becki Graham is making her first bid for elective office as she campaigns for the District 3 seat on the Las Cruces City Council.

Graham, 44, is hoping to succeed current Councilor Gabriel Vasquez, who is serving his first term and decided not to seek re-election.

The Nov. 2 local election includes three seats on the Las Cruces City Council as well as other town and city elections in Doña Ana County; Las Cruces Public Schools, Gadsden and Hatch Valley schools elections; and the elections of members of soil and water conservation districts in the county. The winners will be sworn in next January.

Graham came to Las Cruces from her native Pennsylvania in September 2000 to attend graduate school at New Mexico State University “and never left,” she said. She has been a student, staff or faculty member at NMSU ever since, now doing writing and research at NMSU’s Arrowhead Center with a focus on entrepreneurship and infrastructure. She also serves as an occasional adjunct professor in English, teaching composition classes.

Graham has a bachelor’s degree in psychology, a master’s in anthropology and a doctorate in English – the last two from NMSU.

Graham said Covid-19 figured in her decision to run for a city council seat.

The pandemic “made our local community so much more relevant,” she said. “Our neighborhood and our community became the whole world.”

That helped Graham to see the gaps in meeting local needs, she said, and was “a call to serve.”

“Watching decisions made in real time” by city leadership during the pandemic, “pulled back the veil on so many things,” Graham said, and gave her “accessibility to leadership.”

Her husband, Mike Graham, is a firefighter and driver at Las Cruces Fire Station No. 4, Graham said, and that also impacted her decision to run for city council.

“I think I have the capacity to make a much bigger impact,” she said.

Graham said she is “looking forward to knocking on doors” in her district during the campaign. “Nobody has all the answers,” she said. “I’m ready to learn from the people in my district. I look forward to learning what people in my district are needing and wanting.”

In fact, Graham, said, her first priority if elected to the city council will be to “bring to the table what I’ve learned from my constituents.”

She knows already that issues in District 3 will include infrastructure – streets and traffic control – and public safety, Graham said.

And, while the needs of each district are important, “Las Cruces needs to grow together,” she said. Her role if elected to the city council will be to listen and learn how District 3 fits in, its “strengths and challenges” and how to balances those with the needs of the city as a whole, Graham said.

Graham said she thinks Las Cruces is a well-run city.

“Everyone seems to care,” she said.

“There is less division in our community than back East,” she said, and “that makes me optimistic about being in leadership. I see that caring, I see that heart. That speaks to me.”

Graham said she is not affiliated with a political party or group in Las Cruces, but has an account with ActBlue, which is a nonprofit “available to Democratic candidates and committees, progressive organizations, and nonprofits that share our values,” according to the group’s website.

Graham said she has “found a home here” in Las Cruces, met her husband here and brought her parents here to live.

“This is where I want to give back,” she said.

Graham races mountain bikes in her spare time and is an amateur boxer at the Police Athletic League.

“My heart is there, and some of my blood,” she said. “The focus is youth and at-risk youth.”

Graham learned to box at age 32 while a Ph.D. candidate, she said. With one foot in the Ph.D. arena and one in the boxing ring, it’s “where I became part of my community,” she said.

Graham’s campaign manager is Connie Chapman. Her treasurer is Jen Ward.