Carmen Menduiña, the first deputy mayor of Lorca, has been selected as the number two candidate for Vox in the Spanish Senate elections.
The local councillor will run on the party slate for the Region of Murcia directly behind regional party leader José Manuel Pancorbo, who heads the ticket for the upper house of parliament.
The selection marks Menduiña's bid to transition from municipal administration to national politics at the upcoming elections on 29 November.
Menduiña has been a leading figure for Vox in Lorca for several years. She previously headed the party ticket as mayoral candidate in both the 2019 and 2023 municipal elections before joining the local government team. She also serves as the official spokesperson for the Vox municipal group in the local council.
Municipal responsibilities in Lorca
Within Lorca City Council, Menduiña holds key executive duties as councillor for territorial structuring and the fight against depopulation, as well as pest control. She recently expanded her local government portfolio by taking on responsibility for municipal mobility.
As first deputy mayor, Menduiña serves as the principal deputy to the mayor of Lorca and participates in the local governing board. Lorca is the second largest municipality by surface area in Spain, covering more than 1,600 square kilometres in the southwest of the Region of Murcia. The local administration manages a large urban core alongside numerous outlying hamlets and rural districts in the Guadalentín valley, where demographic decline, water infrastructure, and pest management represent significant local issues.
Her private sector experience connects closely with the regional economy. The Guadalentín valley is a major agricultural hub in southeastern Spain, known for extensive fruit and vegetable cultivation. Before taking elected office, Menduiña completed studies in geography and history, as well as political communication. She is also certified as a judicial real estate expert and worked professionally in the development and production of organic products for agriculture.
The Spanish Senate system
The Senate functions as the upper house of the Cortes Generales, the bicameral national parliament of Spain based in Madrid. The chamber acts primarily as a house of territorial representation, examining and revising legislation sent from the lower house, the Congress of Deputies, while also holding specific constitutional powers regarding regional autonomy.
In Spanish general elections, voters elect senators using an open list system organized on a provincial basis. The Region of Murcia constitutes a single province under Spanish electoral law and directly returns four senators to the national chamber. Voters can select individual candidates directly from across party slates rather than voting for a closed list.
Because voters cast ballots for individual candidates, placement at the top of a party slate provides significant visibility. Menduiña's position in the second spot behind Pancorbo puts her at the forefront of the party's regional campaign as Vox seeks to maximize its representation in the upper chamber.
Regional politics and the November vote
Vox was founded in late 2013 and has achieved some of its strongest electoral results in the Region of Murcia. In the November 2019 general election, Murcia became the only province in Spain where Vox finished in first place, securing three congressional seats and cementing the area as a core base of support for the party. Vox has also entered governing agreements and coalitions with the centre right People's Party across several municipal councils, including the local administration in Lorca.
With Pancorbo and Menduiña confirmed at the top of the slate, Vox is now preparing its campaign machinery across the Region of Murcia ahead of the vote on 29 November.
