Lawmakers and lowriders: Here’s what the Legislature celebrated today

SANTA FE — Since she was a child, Joan Medina dreamed of owning a lowrider.

She was gifted a 1987 Pontiac Grand Prix two years ago.

“My uncle saved it for me since I was little. I always asked him, ‘Can I have that car? I want that car,’ so I finally got it, and I already had a vision for it,” Medina said. “We’re painters, so my husband and my daughters flanked it out, I picked a fuchsia color, and I was just excited to have it.”

Hers was one of several lowriders parked outside the Roundhouse on Tuesday as lawmakers celebrated Lowrider Day.

On her way into the Capitol, deputy secretary for the New Mexico Higher Education Department, Patricia Trujillo, stopped to marvel at the cars.

“I’m originally from Española … and we always love to bring the two communities together to promote tuition-free college and to also promote the culture of the cars,” Trujillo said.

Having an honorary day isn’t the only appearance lowriders will make on agendas during the 60-day legislative session.

Sen. Leo Jaramillo, D-Española, is sponsoring a bill that would add a custom lowrider license plate to the state’s Motor Vehicle Division selection.

Additionally, on the house floor Tuesday, Rep. Susan Herrera, D-Embudo, said she’s working with Jaramillo on a bill to build a lowrider museum in Española.

But it wasn’t just legislators celebrating lowriders in Santa Fe. The most tenured member of the Albuquerque City Council and vocal advocate for the lowrider community, Klarissa Peña, was also at the Roundhouse.

“Cars have always been an integral part of our history, our culture here in New Mexico,” Peña told the Journal. “There was this just negative perception, and back then we wanted to fight the perception of who people thought we were and who the lowrider community really is.”

In 2017, Albuquerque formed a “Cruising Task Force” and then repealed a local ban on lowrider cruising in 2018, separating it from other cities’ and states’ policies on them.

Peña listed making the lowrider the official state car in her legislative priorities in 2023 and again in 2025. She said she is confident it will pass this session.