Summary

Ben Ray Lujan was born in 1972 and is currently serving as the junior U.S. Senator from New Mexico in the U.S. Senate since 2021. Senator Lujan’s seat will be up for election in 2026.

Ben Ray Lujan is currently serving as the U.S. Representative for New Mexico’s 3rd congressional district. He has been serving in the Congress since 2009 and is currently the Assistant House Democratic Leader. In 2014, Lujan was selected as the Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Prior to joining Congress, Lujan served in the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission. He was elected in 2004 and served as its Chairman in 2005, 2006 and 2007. In 2008, Lujan ran a successful campaign to succeed then-Rep. Tom Udall, after the latter gave up the seat to make a successful bid for the U.S. Senate. Rep. Lujan was convincingly reelected in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018.

Below is Senator Ben Ray Lujan’s record and public positions on issues important to the Jewish community.

Sen. Ben Ray Lujan supported the Iran nuclear deal. At the time when it was negotiated, Rep. Lujan argued that the agreement represented “the only viable and responsible option to hold Iran accountable and to halt its pursuit of nuclear weapons.” He criticized the decision of the Trump administration to withdraw from it and said that he supports reentering agreement, arguing that it remains “the most responsible option” to halt Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Sen. Lujan supports the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and has called the two-state solution as the “best possible outcome.” He criticized the peace plan of the Trump administration calling it “deeply flawed” since the plan “was not a result of negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians.”

Asked about whether he would support conditioning U.S. security aid to Israel, Rep. Lujan said that Israel is the “most reliable ally in the region.” He said that the U.S. should “continue to provide assistance to Israel” and that he supported the existing Memorandum of Understanding. Congressman Lujan has cosponsored the United States-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act, a legislation that supports full funding of security assistance to Israel as outlined in the 2016 U.S.-Israel Memorandum of Understanding. 

Sen. Lujan cosponsored H. Res. 246 that opposed the delegitimization of Israel and the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement targeting Israel. He voted for the bipartisan House Resolution 11 that objected the UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which claimed that Israel’s settlements have no legal validity.