Law career After graduating from law school, Sedillo Lopez worked as a law clerk for the
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Prior to entering the legislature, Sedillo Lopez was a law professor at the
University of New Mexico School of Law for 27 years, where she specialized in ethics, civil procedure, and family law. She retired as the associate dean for clinical affairs. She also served as executive director for Albuquerque's Enlace Comunitario, a New Mexico non-profit that helps and represents individuals and their families experiencing domestic violence by working to decrease gender inequity and intimate partner violence in the Latinx immigrant community in Central New Mexico.
2018 U.S. House campaign In
2018, Sedillo Lopez was a candidate for
New Mexico's 1st congressional district. A political
progressive, Sedillo Lopez advocated for a
Medicare for All healthcare system during her campaign. In the Democratic primary, she placed third after
Damon Martinez and eventual winner
Deb Haaland. During her campaign, Sedillo Lopez was endorsed by
Justice Democrats and
The People for Bernie Sanders.
New Mexico Senate In January 2019, Sedillo Lopez was appointed to the
New Mexico Senate by the
Bernalillo County Commission to succeed
Cisco McSorley following his resignation. She is the vice chair of the Senate Conservation Committee and a member of the Senate Public Affairs Committee. As a member of the New Mexico Senate, she sponsored a bill that would have placed a moratorium on
fracking in the state.
2021 U.S. House campaign Following the announcement of Haaland as Joe Biden's nominee for
secretary of the interior, Sedillo Lopez announced her campaign in a
special election for the seat. She placed first with 74 votes in the first round of the Democratic convention to nominate a candidate, and was defeated in the second round by State Representative
Melanie Stansbury. Stansbury received 103 votes and Sedillo Lopez got 97. == Personal life ==