My name is Marsella Duarte. On December 14, 2022 I was selected to replace the Honorable Antonio “Moe” Maestas in the New Mexico House of Representatives. House District 16 (HD 16) represents Albuquerque’s westside along Coors from Central to Montano.
I kindly ask for the opportunity to introduce myself. It is important to me that you know who I am and why I will be your strongest advocate. My parents moved to the westside in 1983 and we never left. It became home to us and continues to be home for my whole family. My mother and two sisters also live in HD 16- we all live five minutes from one another.
I’m a product of APS. I am the Community School Coordinator at Alamosa Elementary School and am a graduate of St. Pius X high school and New Mexico State University.
I was raised with a strong work ethic, a commitment to social justice and service to the community. At a young age, I learned that electing the best candidate was imperative to building a stronger community. My mother, Romaine Serna, treated election day like a national holiday. She took my sisters and I with her to vote. We crowded into the booth with the curtain drawn, my mother read candidate names and explained her vote to us.
Summers and holidays were spent with relatives up north in Española. My beloved grandmother told me many times “your word is all anybody really owns, so keep your word- always”. Today, that means that if I give you my word, you can count on it- always. I will represent you by listening to your needs, concerns, ideas and feelings.
I am qualified to be your State Rep. I have worked campaigns, studied the issues and have the awareness that our community, while strong, is lacking in many areas. As the CSC at a Title One school, I get a first hand view of students’ successes and struggles, poverty at the forefront. I also see their strength of spirit and I encourage them daily to have big dreams and work hard to achieve them.
Thank you for your time and I look forward to working with you and for you. I invite you to visit my website marsellafornm.com and please feel free to contact me at marsellafornm@gmail.com or
(505) 417-5349.