When Soledad Chávez de Chacón became the first woman to govern New Mexico — albeit briefly — in 1924, she was aware of the gravity of the role.

Just a few years after earning the right to vote and the right to hold public office, Chávez de Chacón was serving as secretary of state when chance — and tragedy — thrust her into the state’s top office for a couple of weeks. The lieutenant governor died unexpectedly while the governor was out of state.

“I am fully cognizant that there is a great responsibility attached to the duties of acting governor, and it is a position which requires careful thought and consideration even to the smallest detail,” she remarked at the time, according to research conducted as part of the New Mexico Historic Women Marker Program.

It would take 99 years of stat

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