9 things about Patricia Madrid
1. She was born on September 1946.
2. She received her bachelor's and law degrees from the University of New Mexico.
3. At law school, she met her husband, who was a professor.
4. They married in 1975 and have a son, Giancarlo, who also attended UNM and now works in Washington, D.C.
5. In 1978, when she was 31, Madrid became the first woman in New Mexico to be elected as a district court judge.
6. She ran, and lost, for the U.S. Congress in 1988, state attorney general in 1990, and lieutenant governor in 1994.
7. She has said, "You learn from your failures. A lot of people admire me for getting up after that 1994 race. It was a devastating loss. A lot of people have the luxury of failing privately, but when you're in politics, you do it publicly, and it hurts."[1]
8. In 1998, she became the first woman elected attorney general of New Mexico; she was re-elected in 2002.
9. Madrid speaks about being a woman in politics: "You have to be very strong. Women, especially Latinas, are very concerned about people liking them, and what you look like, and that you're popular and you please people. Well, in politics you just have to learn to be a lot tougher than that. I learned that early on. I was on the debate team in high school and then I went to law school. It wasn't about being liked, it was about winning, about arguing my case, about being an advocate."[2]
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