,
Democratic Sen. Bill O’Neill is facing his first primary opponent after representing Senate District 13 for more than a decade — and it’s someone he’s worked with closely before. His opponent, former Bernalillo County Commissioner Debbie O’Malley, says she decided to go up against O’Neill because he hasn’t done enough for the district.
“I just feel like I want more from my senator,” O’Malley tells The Paper.
With 11 years as a state senator under his belt — and three years as a state representative before that — O’Neill not only has name recognition in his favor, but also years-worth of his voting record at the Roundhouse.
“I think my record speaks for itself,” he says. “I bring a certain talent to the Legislature. I’ve worked across the aisle without sacrificing my progressive values, I get bills upstairs, I get bills passed.”
O’Neill sits on both the Indian, Rural & Cultural Affairs and Senate Judiciary committees and touts the criminal justice reform, economic development and affordable housing legislation he’s cosponsored over the years.
But O’Malley has name recognition in her favor too, thanks to more than a decade as a city councilor and another eight years serving on the Bernalillo County Board of Commissioners. But, she says, her “lived experience” makes her the best candidate to represent a district she says is in bad shape.
“I was raised in a working-class family,” O’Malley says. “My father was a mechanic.”
She says the district’s residents are in dire situations that could get worse if not addressed soon.
“We have more homeless than we ever had, we have more working poor than we’ve ever had. Children arrive at school and they haven’t had a thing to eat,” O’Malley says. “These are very alarming things to me. That means we’ll have generations of children who are at a huge disadvantage. It’s very disturbing, just from a level of the human condition.”
The two candidates are not only familiar with each other, they’ve also worked together on the city’s tiny home project.
“I knew that was her sort of pet project at one point,” O’Neill says. “I was able to allocate $300,000. It was the biggest appropriation that I’ve ever done.”
O’Neill tells The Paper. that he and O’Malley going head to head is just part of the political process, but he still sees himself as the best candidate.
“She feels she can do a better job. This is our system at work,” O’Neill says. “I feel like I’m at the top of my game, so to speak.”
There is no Republican candidate running for the seat in the primary election, so whoever wins the race in June will head to the general election in November unopposed. More information about the candidates can be found on their campaign websites: billoneill4nm.com and debbiefornmsenate.com.
The New Mexico primary election is on June 4.
For more information on early and absentee voting, visit NMVote.org or the Bernalillo County Clerk website.