Yvette Herrell
Born/Date of Birth: March 16, 1964
Place of Birth: Ruidoso, New Mexico, United States
Political party: Republican
Yvette Herrell (born March 16, 1964) is an American politician who was a Republican member of the New Mexico House of Representatives, where she represented District 51 from January 18, 2011 until January 15, 2019. Herrell was the 2018 Republican nominee for the United States House of Representatives in New Mexico's 2nd congressional district. She was defeated by Democrat Xochitl Torres Small.

Elections
In 2010, Herrell challenged incumbent District 51 Republican Representative Gloria Vaughn in the June 1, 2010, Republican primary. Herrell won with 846 votes (54.2%) against Vaughn, and went on to win the November 2, 2010, general election with 3,077 votes (62.9%) against Democratic nominee Susan Medina.

In 2012, Herrell was unopposed in both the June 5, 2012, Republican primary, which she won with 2,128 votes, and the November 6, 2012, general election, which she won with 7,750 votes.

In 2018, Herrell was a candidate for the United States House of Representatives, and was defeated in a close race by political newcomer Democratic attorney Xochitl Torres Small. The results were close on election night, with Herrell in the lead at the end of the night and some New Mexico media organization projected that Herrell would win. The next day, more ballots were counted which narrowed Herrell's lead, and media organizations rescinded their projections. The Associated Press called the election for Torres Small on November 7, 2018. Herrell refused to concede and went on to claim, without evidence, that the ballot counting may not have been conducted lawfully. Herrell claimed on Fox News on November 10, 2018, that New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver had "magically found 4,000 ballots that had not been counted." However, the votes in question were absentee ballots which were tabulated in full view of reporters on November 7, 2018. Herrell claimed in the Fox News interview that there were "over 100 documented complaints about some of the things that happened during this race", but did not elaborate on the complaints or substantiate them with documents.

Financial disclosures
A 2018 Associated Press review of Herrell's campaign finance disclosure records found that Herrell had failed to disclose that her real estate company earned $440,000 in contracts with two state agencies over a five year period. Herrell said that she had submitted all required paperwork and that the allegations against her represented "an attack on my moral character" orchestrated by one of her opponents in the Republican congressional primary.

Personal life
Born in Ruidoso, New Mexico in 1964, Herrell is a member of the Cherokee Nation.