Here are 3 to watch as session approaches
The state House of Representatives, which numbers 70, will swear in 20 new members next week.
Fifteen newcomers will become part of the 42-member state Senate.
In a few cases, the rookies are veterans.
State Reps. Joseph Cervantes and Bill O'Neill, both Democrats, won seats in the Senate.
Former Reps. Jeff Steinborn and Nate Cote, also Democrats, will return to the House of Representatives. They lost their seats in 2010, but mounted comebacks this year.
Three of the other freshmen have especially interesting stories that make them worth watching:
Sen.-elect Daniel Ivey-Soto, D-Albuquerque, Senate District 15
There might not be a better speaker in the 112-member Legislature than Ivey-Soto.
As executive director of the association representing the state's 33 county clerks, Ivey-Soto frequently testified before legislative committees. In a 60-second speech, he could take control of a room and change minds on contentious issues such as requiring photo identification to vote. Ivey-Soto spoke against it.
A 46-year-old attorney and entrepreneur, he will enter the Capitol at a sprint. He knows how the Legislature works, and he may make a mark faster than any other true freshman.
Sen. Pat Woods, R-Broadview, Senate District 7
Republican Gov. Susana Martinez did not mean to, but she helped make Woods the best-known freshman legislator.
She and her political organizations tried but failed to defeat Woods in the GOP primary last spring.
Martinez favored Angie Spears for the Senate seat in the Clovis area. Those backing Spears ran negative ads pounding away at Woods.
But the ads helped build a backlash against Spears.
Quiet but friendly to all, Woods, 63, turned into the voters' favorite. He defeated Spears and had no opposition in the general election.
Then the sitting senator from Clovis, Republican Clint Harden, resigned. Harden, who did not seek re-election, asked Martinez to appoint Woods to fill the vacancy.
In one of the year's great ironies, Martinez named Woods to fill out the final couple months of Harden's term.
Rep.-elect Emily Kane, D-Albuquerque, House District 15
Kane is a fire captain who had to win a court case to capture a seat in the Legislature.
The city of Albuquerque contested her candidacy, citing its charter and personnel rules that said city employees could not hold state office.
Kane, 56, won in court, and also swept to victory in contested primary and general elections.
Even before her victory, Kane said she already had struck a winning blow for the citizen Legislature of New Mexico.
Teachers, a community college president and a school superintendent all served in the Legislature during the last session. For now, pending an appeal by her employer, firefighters and other public employees can run too.
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