New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham speaks on stage during the second day of the Democratic National Convention. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Hide caption
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The NPR Network will be covering the Democratic National Convention live from Chicago throughout the week.
New Mexico's Democratic governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, who served as the state's health secretary before being elected to Congress, spoke about health care issues at the Democratic National Convention tonight.
“This election is about protecting our democracy and ensuring our freedoms, including the right to affordable, quality health care,” she said.
She said health care was a personal issue for her and Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost her mother to colon cancer.
“And for Americans across the country, this is personal because they know what it feels like when a loved one gets sick,” she said.
Read her full statement here:
When Biden was elected in 2020, he considered Lujan Grisham to be secretary of Health and Human Services, but the post is now held by Xavier Becerra.
She touted the decades of her career working to lower prescription drug prices and praised Harris for “getting it done” through her Inflation Control Act.
Lujan Grisham successfully overturned New Mexico's then-dormant anti-abortion law before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. After the ruling, she issued executive orders to protect out-of-state patients and providers from investigation, discipline and extradition, and worked with the Democratic-controlled state Legislature to protect and expand access to reproductive health care.
According to Politico, Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign has vetted Lujan Grisham as a potential running mate. Grisham is also a personal friend of Harris' and officiated at her wedding to her husband, Manny Cordova, at Harris's mansion in 2022.
