In a sign of her rising stature within the Republican Party, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez took center stage Wednesday night at the Republican Convention in Tampa – speaking right before vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
In her speech, an emotional Martinez attacked President Barack Obama for the U.S.’s growing national debt while calling for bi-partisan politics to solve America’s problems. Martinez, like her fellow Latino politicians Ted Cruz of Texas and Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, began her convention speech by recalling her family’s blue-collar past.
“We grew up on the border and truly lived paycheck to paycheck. My dad was a golden gloves boxer in the Marine Corps, then a deputy sheriff. My mom worked as an office assistant,” Martinez said, adding that her family opened up a security business that had her guarding a church parking lot with a Smith and Wesson .357 Magnum. “And sure, there was help along the way. But my parents took the risk. They stood up. And you better believe that they built it.'
Like her Nevada counterpart Sandoval, Martinez earned a law degree and eventually was elected District Attorney of the 3rd Judicial District of New Mexico in 1996. She was elected governor of New Mexico in 2010, becoming the first Latina to hold a governorship in the U.S. and recent polls show that her approval rating in the border state is above 50 percent.
Unlike Nevada however, which suffers from the nation’s highest une.