Representative Christine Chandler

New Mexico House of Representative

District 43 (Los Alamos, Sandoval, Santa Fe Counties)

Christine Chandler serves as State Representative for New Mexico House District 43, which encompasses Los Alamos, Sandoval, and Santa Fe Counties. She was first elected to the NM House of Representatives in 2018 and was re-elected in 2020. Chris serves as Chair of the influential House Judiciary Committee and as a member of the House Taxation & Revenue Committee.  During the interim (June - December)  Chris chairs Courts, Corrections & Justice and is a member of the Revenue Stabilization & Tax Policy Committee.

Since being elected Chris has focused on the state's employment laws with the aim of leveling the playing field between the employer and employee.  She was the lead co-sponsor on the Healthy Workplaces Act that successfully passed in 2020.  This transformative piece of legislation ensures that every worker in the state receives paid sick leave. Chris has been a long-standing champion for paid family and medical leave and is committed to seeing its successful passage by the legislature.

In the 2021 legislative session, Chris co-sponsored HB11 which provides $200 million in direct financial support to small and mid-sized New Mexico businesses affected by the COVID pandemic. Chris led economic development efforts to create a funding mechanism for the Local Economic Development Act (LEDA) for larger construction projects.

Chris co-sponsored HB291 to expand tax credits and rebates to provide more support for low-income families and was the lead sponsor of the Healthy Workplaces Act to guarantee workers the right to earn sick leave. 

Chris has also worked extensively on the Connect NM Act to expand broadband access to New Mexicans and ensure there is a cohesive program to expand the access across the state. $100 million was allocated for the program.

In her first session, Chris advocated for reform of the tax code by eliminating tax loopholes as well as tax credits and deductions that provide no public benefit. The efforts lowered the tax burden on 70% of working New Mexico families to promote a tax code that is more fair and equitable. She has led efforts to protect workers from wage theft, ensure due process in the leasing of water rights, provide consumer protections for private post-secondary students, and offer retirement security for private sector workers. And, Chris worked with her colleagues to pass Roxy’s Law to prohibit trapping on public lands.

Chris has lived in New Mexico for over three decades. Her grandparents were immigrants to this country, and while neither of her parents graduated from college, they encouraged Chris and her brothers to pursue higher education. She was fortunate to have had wonderful teacher-mentors who opened the world up to her. She believes that education is the foundation of economic success and of a vibrant democracy, so she wants to see New Mexico’s education system provide the same opportunities that she had to our children. 

Chris lives in Los Alamos and has a long history of dedication to public service. She served as Probate Judge for Los Alamos County and for two terms on the Los Alamos County Council, including as its Chair and Vice Chair. She is an attorney, retired from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Office of General Counsel. She is married to George Chandler, who is also an attorney and retired physicist from Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Chris graduated from Smith College with a degree in economics and earned law degrees from Boston College and Georgetown University. She retired from her career as an attorney and manager at Los Alamos National Laboratory and has continued to devote herself to improving the communities she lives in. Chris and her husband have three children and six grandchildren who live in Los Alamos, Carlsbad, and Oregon.

Earlier Civic Work 

Los Alamos County Councilor & Chair

Los Alamos League of Women Voters President

Los Alamos Public Schools Foundation Board Member

Leadership Los Alamos Board Member

Los Alamos Charter Review Committee Member

Los Alamos Probate Judge

Los Alamos Planning & Zoning Commission Member

Los Alamos 60th Anniversary Committee Co-Chair

New Mexico Commission on Access to Justice Commissioner

Memberships

Los Alamos League of Women Voters

Los Alamos Sportsmen's Club

Pajarito Environmental Education Center

The Sierra Club

Los Alamos COOP Market

Education

Georgetown University Law Center, L.L.M. International & Comparative Law, with distinction

Boston College Law School, J.D. cum laude

Smith College, A.B. Economics