Georgene Louis

Georgene Louis (Acoma Pueblo) is an attorney and politician, elected as a Democratic member of the New Mexico House of Representatives, representing District 26. Louis was first elected in 2012 and began serving in 2013 as the first Pueblo woman in the legislature.[1] She is the chair of the House State Government, Elections & Indian Affairs Committee and is also a member of the House Judiciary and Rules & Order of Business Committees.[2] She was re-elected to a fourth term in 2014.

Georgene Louis
Member of the New Mexico House of Representatives
from the 26th district
Assumed office
2013
Personal details
Born1978
Acoma Pueblo
Political partyDemocratic
ResidenceAcoma Pueblo, New Mexico
Alma materUniversity of New Mexico
OccupationAttorney

Working in the field of tribal law, Louis is a graduate of Emerge New Mexico, a candidate training program for Democratic Party women.[3]

Biography

Georgene Louis was born and grew up in the Acoma Pueblo. She credits her parents as life mentors, and has said they supported her to finish school after she bore a daughter while in high school. Louis graduated with her class, earned her undergraduate degree from the University of New Mexico in four years, and graduated from its law school.[4] She has said family, friends, teachers, and community leaders all encouraged her to finish high school and continue with higher education.[4]

Louis has worked in the field of tribal law. After joining the Democratic Party (United States) and wanting to run for electoral office, she is among the women who have received candidate training in the seven-month program Emerge New Mexico. It enlists other women in office to teach "new candidates how to run a campaign, from fundraising to public speaking to shaping a platform."[5] Five of its alumni were elected to office in New Mexico in 2012.[5] As of 2015, Louis is one of five Native American legislators in the State House; two serve in the State Senate.[4]

Louis represents District 26, which includes part of West Albuquerque and has a high number of Latino residents. The district has about 30,000 people, of whom 4% are Native American.[4]

Honors
  • Inaugural Achievement Award, Indian Law Section, State Bar of New Mexico, 2013 (cite for this and following entries[6])
  • Emerging Democratic Woman of the Year, Emerge New Mexico, 2013
  • Toll Fellow, Council of State Governments, 2013
  • 40 Under Forty Honoree, Albuquerque Business First, 2013
  • Award Nominee, American Council of Young Political Leaders, 2013

References
  1. "Official Website". Archived from the original on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  2. "Representative Georgene Louis - (D)". New Mexico Legislature. New Mexico Legislature. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  3. Clark, Carol (15 January 2013). "Emerge New Mexico Women Sworn in to State House". Los Alamos Daily Post. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  4. "Georgene Louis, State Representative, House District 26, New Mexico House of Representatives", Meet Native America blog, 21 August 2015, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian; accessed 28 June 2016
  5. Kim Baca, "Native Women Aim to Make Waves in NM Political Arena", Indian Country Today, 21 October 2014; accessed 28 June 2016
  6. Bio: "Georgene Louis", Project Vote Smart, 2016; accessed 28 June 2016
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