Former New Mexico Rep. Eliseo Lee Alcon, a prominent Democrat from Milan who received a Bronze Star for his service as a combat medic in the Army during the Vietnam War, died Monday after battling liver cancer. He was 74.
Alcon’s death stirred tributes from members of the state Legislature, who remembered the longtime lawmaker as a continual champion of his Western New Mexico community. Alcon, a member of the Legislature for 16 years, passed away surrounded by his family, according to a news release from New Mexico House Democrats.
“We are tremendously saddened by the loss of our esteemed colleague and dear friend Eliseo. During his 16 years in the House, Rep. Alcon was a tireless champion for his western New Mexico community and our service men and women,” the news release stated.
Alcon was first elected to his House District 6 seat in 2009. Reelected in November, Alcon announced his immediate retirement from the House of Representatives in December, citing a need to focus on his health.
“RIP Chairman Lee Alcon. His legacy is secure: as a devoted family man, a Veteran, and a great legislator. We were freshmen together in the House, and he served as one of my best Chairs. A terrible loss for New Mexico. I’m praying for his family,” Former House Speaker Brian Egolf said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
County commissioners in Cibola and McKinley counties will nominate someone to fill the seat vacated by Alcon. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham will then appoint one of those people to carry out the remainder of Alcon’s two-year term.
Well-liked by his colleagues, Alcon served as chair of the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee and the House Labor, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee.
Alcon said in an interview in December that he’d been battling liver cancer for a while and that his condition had become “just too debilitating.”He added he had recently been placed in hospice care.
“We fought it as long as we could, so we will just go with it and see what happens,” he said in the interview.
