Education
University of Wisconsin–Madison. Yale University; Southern Methodist University.
politician Member of the Senate of New Mexico
University of Wisconsin–Madison. Yale University; Southern Methodist University.
She was also the Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor as the running mate of John Dendahl in 2006. Beffort has a bachelor"s degree from Southern Methodist University.
Her late husband, Steve Beffort, served as General Services Secretary under Republican Governor Gary Johnson.
Wilson Beffort listed her occupation on the official New Mexico Legislature website as Employment Consultant. She joined the New Mexico State Senate in 1997 representing the 19th district.
The district covered a swath of small communities in Bernalillo, Sandoval, Santa Fe, and Torrance Counties. In 2006, Wilson Beffort was the Republican nominee for Lieutenant
Governor of New Mexico.
She ran as the running mate of John Dendahl after the elected gubernatorial candidate for governor was replaced by the state party. Weh engaged in the effort against Damron because of supposed decreased name recognition. John Dendahl was appointed as Republican candidate for Governor by Weh and the Republican party"s Central Committee.
Dendahl kept Wilson Beffort as his running mate.
In the January 2012 New Mexico Legislative session, Wilson Beffort angered dog lovers as well as the local Animal Humane society by proposing breed specific legislation (Bachelor of Science in Law). She advocated tightening the dangerous dog act by designating all pit bulls as dangerous dogs.
The result of such legislation, if passed, would be that a dog could be killed as a suspect in a dog-attack rather than requiring law enforcement to investigate whether or not the animal committed the attack, as the law currently read. Protests by concerned citizens, and ultimately by the Republican Governor (Susana Martinez) took the proposed legislation out of the realm of consideration.
In response to Wilfort Beffort"s 2012 bill, during the 2013 Legislature, Representative Yvette Herrell, R-Alamogordo proposed House Bill 63 that sought to prohibit municipalities and counties from enacting breed-specific regulations.
The bill passed the state House, but later died in the Senate (where Wilson Beffort was still in office) when the bill ran out of time. In March 2012, the New Mexico Secretary of State Dianna Duran considered cutting Wilson Beffort"s name from the election ballot, because Wilson Beffort"s nominating forms were completed incorrectly. By March 26, 2012, Duran allowed Wilson Beffort to remain on the ballot, along with seven others who had errors on their applications to run for office.
A subsequent lawsuit by Republican
Thomas Garcia (Doctorate-Ocaté) was lost, so Wilson Beffort was allowed to remain on the ballot. She ran unopposed in the June 5, 2012 Republican primary.
Number Democratic candidates filed to run in the general election of November 6, 2012.
On June 17, 2006, Doctor J.R. Damron, who won the primary election to become the Republican nominee for the gubernatorial election, was pressured into resigning as the Republican candidate for Governor of New Mexico by Republican Party chairman Allen Weh and former chairman John Dendahl. (Wilson Beffort had won the Republican primary in June 2006) Dendahl and Wilson Beffort lost the election to Democrats Bill Richardson and Diane Denish.