He began his political career elected as a councilman to the Albuquerque City Council, serving 1999 to 2004.

Griego sought the Democratic nomination in the 2012 Congressional election,[2] losing to future Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham in the three-candidate primary.

After attending local schools, Griego completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Government at New Mexico State University in 1989 and a Master of Public Administration in Public Management at the University of Maryland in 1991.

In 2012 Griego ran in the Democratic primary for the nomination to the US House of Representatives seat from New Mexico's 1st congressional district.

On January 20, 2013, his brother Greg, sister-in-law Sarah, and three of their ten children were found shot to death in their home in the south valley of Albuquerque, New Mexico.