Teresa Leger Fernández Takes Credit for Downwinder Law She Voted Against

Congresswoman tours district touting “bipartisan” record, but when the vote came, she chose the party line

Albuquerque, NM — Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández is crisscrossing Republican-leaning communities in northern and eastern New Mexico this election season, presenting herself as a “bipartisan” champion for New Mexico’s downwinders. Her record tells a different story.

In July 2025, Congress passed the largest expansion of the Radiation Exposure
Compensation Act in the program’s history. For the first time, New Mexico downwinders became eligible for compensation: $100,000 for families who carried the cost of the Trinity test for 80 years.

The expansion was added by Senate Republicans and passed as part of H.R. 1, the
budget reconciliation bill. On July 3, 2025, the House cast the final vote that sent it
to the President’s desk. Teresa Leger Fernández voted no.

Today her office promotes the program and says she “helped expand RECA.”

Leger Fernández will say she opposed other parts of the bill. That’s exactly the
point. When New Mexico’s downwinders finally had justice within reach, she had
to choose between them and her party’s leadership in Washington. She chose her
party.

It fits her pattern. On the Lugar Center–Georgetown Bipartisan Index, a nonpartisan measure of how often members work across party lines, Leger Fernández
ranked 315th out of 438 House members in 2023, in the bottom third of Congress.
She is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the most left-wing block
in the House.

“New Mexico’s downwinders waited three generations for justice,” said Martin
Zamora, Republican candidate for New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District.
“When it finally came up for a vote, Teresa Leger Fernández voted no. Now it’s
election season, and she’s driving into Republican towns to take credit for it.
Teresa Leger has one of the most partisan records in Congress. How does she vote
when it counts? With the far left of her party, not with the people of this district.”

Zamora has pledged to fight for the downwinders and uranium workers who are
still excluded from RECA, and to vote for New Mexicans first, whatever party
leaders in Washington want.

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