Candidata Republicana

Abstract

In New Mexico, the general election of 1922 was the first in which women could run for offices other than superintendent of schools, and they did so with gusto. Both parties nominated two women, two of whom were Hispanic. These were some of the first women to run for office after the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, and certainly among the first women of color in the nation to do so. The Republicans turned to Nina Otero-Warren, who was already a political powerhouse. Nationally, Otero-Warren was one of three women (and the only Hispana) nominated by the Republican Party to run for Congress in 1922. Otero-Warren campaigned hard using the skills she had honed working for suffrage. Despite her efforts, she lost the election. Otero-Warren was not the only suffragist in New Mexico to run for office. The connections between New Mexico Hispano politicos and the suffragist fight remind us of the important role of political networks and take us back to Washington during the final years of the ratification struggle.