From being the only girl in woodshop in her CA High School to a life of military service in the Marines working in Avionics and Electrical Engineering, Sharonlee Cummins has lived with a life mantra of “Don’t tell me I can’t do it”.

With grit (and there’s no other word to describe her), she persevered through a difficult family life, women’s rights in the military, and generally busting preconceived notions of a woman’s “place” throughout her career.

In an interview with Vets and Families Caucus, she stated: “I am running because I believe in choice. People here have to have a choice of candidate…We need to give our voters a chance to vote for Democratic values in this part of the state.

Sharonlee moved to Otero County in 2018, leaving her CA>MT>OR home (the  woman gets around) for the NM land of beauty and wonderful people and plunged into continuing service by being involved with the Veterans Treatment Court in the 12th Judicial Court and joined DPOC and got her feet wet running for County Commission seat in 2020 because “you must always have a choice”. She lost that race to Vicki Marquardt.  Now, she is running for NM Legislature, District 51; she figures her combination of technical skills, belief in Democrat principles and experience in Republican circles makes her an ideal candidate. She is a life member of the American Legion, has served in emergency preparedness and survival, search and rescue in CA and has served local food bank since moving here.

Recently interviewed by Yucca Action (Youth Committed for Climate Crisis Action), Sharonlee remarked what she would do differently than current leadership: “I will follow the Science.”

(Source – Otero County Democrats Newsletter, Sue Preslar)