Brian S. Colón is an American lawyer and politician who served as the

New Mexico state auditor The state auditor of New Mexico is a constitutional officer in the executive branch, executive branch of government of the U.S. state of New Mexico. Twenty-eight individuals have held the office of state auditor since statehood. The incumbent is J ...

from 2019 to 2023. He is the former chairman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico. In 2010, he ran for and lost his bid for Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico. He has chaired Popejoy Hall's board of directors and has served with the board of trustees for the Albuquerque Community Foundation. On November 6, 2018, he defeated Republican Wayne Johnson in the general election for New Mexico state auditor. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Attorney General of New Mexico in the 2022 election.

Early life and education

Colón is of Puerto Rican descent. He was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and moved to

Valencia County, New Mexico Valencia County () is a county in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2020 census, the population was 76,205. The county seat is Los Lunas. Valencia County is included in the Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area. The county was a ...

as a child. Colón was the first in his family to attend college, graduating from

New Mexico State University New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public, land-grant, research university in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1888, it is the state's oldest public institution of higher education, and was the original land-g ...

in 1998 after spending 10 years taking courses and starting a number of small businesses to pay his way through school. He then entered the University of New Mexico School of Law and earned a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

in 2001.

Career

In 2004, Colón was named Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year by the State Bar of New Mexico and one of New Mexico's Forty Under 40 Power Brokers by the New Mexico Business Weekly. Colón has served on the New Mexico Hispanic Bar Association's Board of Directors since 2001 and is a member of the

American Inns of Court American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

. Colón has also served on the State Bar of New Mexico’s Committee on Diversity since 2003, and is a board member for the New Mexico College Success Network. He has been a board member for the

Alumni Association, is active in Aggies for Legislation, and has twice been appointed by Governor

Bill Richardson William Blaine Richardson III (November 15, 1947 – September 1, 2023) was an American politician, author, and diplomat who served as the List of governors of New Mexico, 30th governor of New Mexico from 2003 to 2011. He was U.S. ambassador to ...

as a commissioner for the Judicial Selection Commission. Further, Colón holds the Vice President position for both the National Association of Latino Elected Officials ("NALEO") and the NAACP ABQ. Colón is the Managing Partner of Singleton Schreiber’s New Mexico offices, practicing in the areas of transactional negotiations, personal injury, medical malpractice, inadequate security, products liability, insurance bad faith, and corporate transactions. Colón also has extensive experience in working with local, state and federal elected officials in order to assist individuals and organizations with their various agendas.Robles, Rael & Anaya

Chair of the New Mexico Democratic Party

Prior to his run for lieutenant governor, he served as chairman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico, resigning in October 2009 after serving two and a half years. During his tenure as chairman, Democrats picked up two Congressional seats, a

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

seat, six seats in the New Mexico Legislature, and a majority of the popular vote in the

2008 United States presidential election Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from Delaware, defeated the Republican ticket of John Mc ...

2010 gubernatorial election

Brian Colón was the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor of New Mexico in 2010, running alongside gubernatorial candidate and former Lieutenant Governor Diane Denish. Denish and Colón lost to

Susana Martinez Susana Martinez (born July 14, 1959) is an American politician and attorney who served as List of governors of New Mexico, 31st governor of New Mexico from 2011 to 2019. A Republican Party (United States), Republican, she served as chair of the ...

and John Sanchez, respectively, each by approximately seven percent of the total vote.

2017 Albuquerque mayoral election

On January 25, 2017, Colón announced his campaign for mayor of Albuquerque. He was defeated in the general election on October 3, 2017.

New Mexico state auditor

On November 6, 2018, Colón was elected as the New Mexico state auditor in the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

after advancing from the primary on June 5, 2018.

New Mexico attorney general

On June 7, 2022, Colón lost the Democratic primary for 2022 New Mexico Attorney General election to Raúl Torrez 53.4% to 46.6%, or by about 9,000 votes.

References

External links

Government websiteBrian Colón for Attorney General
campaign website , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Colon, Brian 1970 births American politicians of Puerto Rican descent Living people Hispanic and Latino American people in New Mexico politics New Mexico Democrats People from Valencia County, New Mexico State auditors of New Mexico State political party chairs of New Mexico University of New Mexico School of Law alumni