Service starts close to home.
Catherine Cullen has spent years serving the Rio Rancho community, first through our public schools and now as State Representative for House District 57. Her approach to public service comes from the same place it started: listening to neighborhood families, paying close attention to what is happening locally, and focusing on practical solutions.
Public service is never abstract for Catherine. It is rooted in the neighborhoods where she and her family chose to build their lives. Years of School Board meetings, community events, and conversations with local business owners taught her that keeping Rio Rancho a great place to live begins with listening carefully, showing up consistently, and staying focused on what working families actually need.
“For Catherine, public service has always started with the people and places right outside her front door.”
Sandoval County Civic Record
Before serving in the Roundhouse, Catherine’s commitment to public service began in Rio Rancho’s classrooms and boardrooms. Serving as a Member, Vice President, and President of the Rio Rancho School Board, she worked shoulder to shoulder with educators, parents, and community members to balance complex district budgets, strengthen classroom support, and safeguard direct resources for students. That experience taught her how decisions made at the board table directly touch family living rooms, grounding her in practical, collaborative governance.
Elected to represent House District 57, Catherine brought the hands-on accountability of a School Board Member to Santa Fe. In the New Mexico House of Representatives, she turns local priorities into tangible results, delivering practical legislation to support classroom teachers, equip law enforcement and firefighters, and protect our community’s hard-earned resources.
Beyond legislative sessions and committee hearings, Catherine’s life is anchored in Rio Rancho with her family. She and her husband Richard, an Army veteran who served during Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm, have been married for 35 years. As the wife of a disabled veteran, Catherine knows firsthand what military families carry, and it shapes how she thinks about veterans, caregivers, and the families holding things together at home.
She shops at the same stores, drives the same roads, and hears the same concerns as everyone else in District 57. Staying rooted in daily life here is what keeps her perspective steady and focused on what matters.
A responsive representative stays connected to the community. Explore Catherine’s work or join neighbors across House District 57.