Martin Heinrich

Martin Trevor Heinrich ( HYNE-rik; born October 17, 1971) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from New Mexico, a seat he has held since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Heinrich served as the U.S. representative from New Mexico's 1st congressional district from 2009 to 2013. He and fellow senator Ben Ray Luján are the co-deans of New Mexico's congressional delegations.

Born in Fallon, Nevada, Heinrich resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico. From 2004 to 2008, he served on the Albuquerque City Council, representing the 6th district. Heinrich was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008 and reelected in 2010.

In lieu of running for a third term in the House, Heinrich ran for the Senate seat vacated by retiring senator Jeff Bingaman in the 2012 election and defeated Republican Heather Wilson, 51%–45%. He was reelected in 2018 and 2024. During the 118th Congress, Heinrich chaired the Joint Economic Committee, having previously served as vice chair. In January 2021, Heinrich became New Mexico's senior senator when Tom Udall retired from the Senate.

Martin Trevor Heinrich was born in Fallon, near Carson City, Nevada. He is the son of seamstress Shirley A. (née Bybee) and Pete C. Heinrich, a utility company lineman. His father was born in Waldenburg, Germany, as Heinrich Peter Karl Cordes and later took his stepfather Olaf Heinrich's surname. When he was naturalized as an American citizen in 1955, he changed his name again to Pete Carl Heinrich. Raised as a Lutheran, Martin Heinrich grew up in Cole Camp, Missouri. He attended public schools in Cole Camp, then moved to Columbia, Missouri, in 1989 to attend the University of Missouri. He graduated in 1995 with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering. He left Missouri for Albuquerque to take graduate courses at the University of New Mexico.

After a brief stint doing mechanical drawings, Heinrich worked as an AmeriCorps fellow in New Mexico.

From 1996 to 2001 Heinrich served as executive director of the Cottonwood Gulch Foundation, a New Mexico nonprofit organization dedicated to educating young people on natural science and the environment. In 2002 he founded his own public affairs consulting firm.

Heinrich served on the Albuquerque City Council from 2004 to 2008, including one term as city council president in 2006. As a city councilman, he said his goals were to reduce crime, raise the minimum wage and create new jobs. He also advocated the use of wind and solar power.

In February 2006 Governor Bill Richardson appointed Heinrich to be the state's Natural Resources Trustee.

In 2008 Heinrich filed papers to run in New Mexico's 1st congressional district, based in Albuquerque. He originally planned to challenge five-term Republican incumbent Heather Wilson, but Wilson retired to run for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by retiring Republican Pete Domenici. Heinrich won the Democratic primary on June 4, 2008, defeating New Mexico Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron, State Health Secretary Michelle Lujan Grisham, and U.S. Army veteran Robert Pidcock, 44–25–24–8%.

In the general election Heinrich faced Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White, whom Heinrich's campaign focused on linking to President George W. Bush. Heinrich also called for energy independence and an end to the war in Iraq. He defeated White 56–44%, carrying three of the district's five counties: Bernalillo (56%), Sandoval (56%), and Valencia (53%); White won Santa Fe (64%) and Torrance (57%) counties. Heinrich is the first Democrat to represent the district, which had been in Republican hands since New Mexico was split into districts in 1969 but became increasingly friendly to Democrats, having gone Democratic in every presidential election since 1992.

Heinrich was challenged by Republican Jon Barela, who told Politico he did not believe Heinrich reflected the district, saying he was too far left on budget and spending issues. During the 2010 campaign Roll Call reported that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee assigned a lobbyist to aid in the reelection campaigns of possibly vulnerable House members in fundraising, messaging and campaign strategy. Heinrich was elected to a second term, defeating Barela 52–48%, and carrying two of the district's counties: Bernalillo (53%) and Sandoval (51%). Barela won Santa Fe (67%), Torrance (61%), and Valencia (53%) counties.

On January 14, 2009, the House Democratic freshmen elected Heinrich to a six-month term as their class president. He co-sponsored the Stop the Congressional Pay Raise Act, which would cancel an automatic $4,700 salary raise for members of Congress.

On March 21, 2010, Heinrich voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (commonly called Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act). In 2017 he co-sponsored Medicare-For-All.

Heinrich announced that he would leave the House to run for the United States Senate seat held by Jeff Bingaman, who retired at the end of his term. In March, Politico reported that Al Gore had signed a fundraising letter for Heinrich. Heinrich defeated State Auditor Hector Balderas in the Democratic primary. He defeated Republican Heather Wilson, his predecessor in Congress, in the November 6 general election, 51% to 45%.

Heinrich was reelected to a second term in 2018 over Republican Mick Rich and Libertarian Gary Johnson. He gained 54% of the vote to Rich's 30% and Johnson's 15%.

Heinrich was elected to a third Senate term, defeating Republican nominee Nella Domenici with 55% of the vote.

In 2014, Heinrich and Senator Jeff Flake traveled to Eru, a small island in the Marshall Islands. The Discovery Channel sent a film crew to document their trip and planned to air the footage on a show called "Rival Survival". Heinrich and Flake had to survive for six days with few resources, including no natural sources of drinkable water. After the trip, Heinrich told reporters that he and Flake, a Republican, did it to demonstrate that politicians from different parties can work together, in their case to survive.

In March 2019, Heinrich and Rob Portman co-founded the Senate Artificial Intelligence Caucus.

Heinrich lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with his wife, Julie, and their two children. He is Lutheran.