D.C.'S Last Deal Maker

AT A TIME WHEN WASHINGTON POLITICS ARE MORE POISONOUS AND PARTISAN THAN EVER, MARTIN HEINRICH, NEW MEXICO’S JUNIOR SENATOR, MANAGED TO PASS THE LARGEST PUBLIC LANDS BILL IN DECADES. AND HE’S ONLY JUST BEGUN.

- Kyle Dickman

IN THE LIFE of a politician, few things are more humbling than defending yourself to a roomful of upset constituents. This is especially true when those peeved citizens are precocious 12-year-olds. That was the scenario Martin Heinrich, New Mexico’s junior senator, faced this past April while speaking to a group of 30 sixth- to eighth-grade students at Santa Fe’s School for Arts and Sciences. While evoking the importance of addressing climate change, Heinrich, who is often talked about in conservation circles as the second coming of Teddy Roosevelt, had bragged to the class that he’d recently helped secure a pledge from New Mexico’s utility companies that they be fully renewable by 2050, making his state a national leader in curbing greenhouse gas emissions. The kids were having none of it.

“The United Nations says that we have 11 years left to limit carbon emissions and prevent irreversible damage from climate change,” one boy responded. “How will zero emissions by 2050 help us?”

The senator, wearing jeans, cowboy boots, and a suit jacket, sat rigid on a stool. Behind him was a pie chart of emission percentages—transportation, buildings, energy—that he’d drawn in an attempt to explain an earlier point. He hesitated slightly, then realized it was time to go off-script. “Well, a lot of bad things are going to happen no matter what we do,” Heinrich said frankly. “But we still need to stay focused on the long-term decarbonization of our economy.”

“What is causing the immigration crisis?” a fifth-grade girl asked.