Ben Ray Luján is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from New Mexico since 2021. He served as the U.S. representative for New Mexico's 3rd congressional district from 2009 to 2021 and the assistant House Democratic leader (known as the "Assistant Speaker") from 2019 to 2021. He served as a member of the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission from 2005 to 2008, where he also served as chairman.
Luján was selected as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) in 2014 and led the Democrats to win a House majority in the 2018 elections. He was the first Hispanic to serve in this role. In his role as assistant House Democratic leader, Luján was the highest-ranking Latino in Congress.
On April 1, 2019, Luján announced his intention to seek the United States Senate seat being vacated by two-term Democratic incumbent Tom Udall in the 2020 election. He defeated Republican Mark Ronchetti in the general election on November 3, 2020 and took office on January 3, 2021.
