Cost of living and the economy: What should Congress do to reduce the cost of living for New Mexicans, particularly the costs of housing, food and energy, and what changes would you support in federal spending, taxes or tariffs to accomplish that?
I ran a small business in New Mexico. I know what it’s like when every bill goes up at once, and families in Las Cruces, Deming and Carlsbad are living it right now.
Start with energy, because it drives the price of everything else. Southern New Mexico sits on the Permian Basin. When we produce more American energy, diesel gets cheaper, electric bills come down, and it costs less to grow food and truck it to the store. Congress should speed up permits and get pipelines and power lines built.
Food is next. Our farmers and ranchers are getting squeezed on diesel, fertilizer and equipment, and families pay for it at the grocery store. On trade, I want deals that open new markets for our chile, pecans and cattle, and I’ll make sure New Mexico producers and the Santa Teresa port aren’t the ones left holding the bill.
On housing, the answer is more homes. Cut the federal red tape and permitting delays that add cost to every house before a shovel hits the ground.
On taxes, keep them low. No tax on tips and no tax on overtime expire after 2028. I’ll vote to make them permanent. Gabe Vasquez voted against the bill that created them.
And Washington has to stop spending money it doesn’t have. Reckless spending helped drive up the cost of everything. Cut the waste and fraud first.
Immigration and the border: New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District includes much of the state’s border with Mexico. What changes would you make to current federal immigration and border policy, including border enforcement, legal immigration, asylum and the treatment of people already living in the United States without legal status?
I spent more than 20 years in law enforcement in southern New Mexico, including undercover detective work. I’ve seen what the cartels do to our communities, from fentanyl on our streets to human trafficking. Border security is public safety.
On enforcement, keep the border secure. That means more agents, technology and barriers where they work, and full funding for the drug task forces that get fentanyl off our streets. It also means fully staffing ports of entry like Santa Teresa and Columbus, so legal trade moves and the drugs get caught.
On legal immigration, our system is too slow and too complicated. I want less backlog and a guest worker program that actually works for the farms and dairies in this district that need labor.
On asylum, it is for people fleeing real persecution. It is not a back door. Claims should be decided in months, not years, with more immigration judges, and people who don’t qualify should go home.
For people here illegally, enforcement starts with the cartels, the smugglers and anyone who has committed a crime. And it should be done by trained professionals, the right way. I wore a badge. I know what good police work looks like. A border that stays secure is what earns the trust to fix the rest of this system.
Health care and federal programs: Medicaid and other federal health programs play a significant role in New Mexico, particularly in rural communities. What changes, if any, would you make to Medicaid, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act, and how would you improve access to health care in rural New Mexico?
Living in rural New Mexico shouldn’t be a death sentence. Access to healthcare for our rural communites is one of my top priorities.
On Medicare, I will not vote to cut it. Our seniors paid into it their whole lives. I’ll lower what they pay for prescriptions by fighting for Most Favored Nation drug pricing and reining in the pharmacy middlemen who drive up costs.
On Medicaid, it keeps rural hospitals open and covers kids, seniors, pregnant moms and people with disabilities. I’ll protect it for them. Able-bodied adults should work, train or volunteer, and we need to root out fraud so the money goes to the people it’s meant for.
On the Affordable Care Act, keep protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Then bring premiums down with more plan choices and real price transparency, so patients know what they’ll pay before they get the bill.
On rural access, New Mexico is getting hundreds of millions through the new Rural Health Transformation Program. I’ll fight to ensure that money reaches clinics and hospitals across the district. I’ll push to make telehealth accessible and help rural hospitals recruit doctors and nurses.
Water, energy and economic development: Southern New Mexico faces limited water supplies while also seeking economic growth from agriculture, energy production and new industries such as data centers. What role should Congress and the federal government play in balancing economic development with water availability, energy needs and protection of public lands and natural resources?
In southern New Mexico, water is everything. My plan comes down to two things: protect it and fix it.
Not one drop of our farm water goes to a data center, and our drinking water comes first. No data center should make New Mexicans pay for it. If Project Jupiter or anyone else wants to build here, they must cover their own power, protect ratepayers, use water that our farms and families cannot use, and sign binding agreements.
Our water systems are falling apart. Truth or Consequences, right next to Elephant Butte, has been losing more than 40 percent of its water through leaking pipes, some of them wooden pipes laid in the 1800s. That’s a glaring infrastructure problem.
In Congress, I’ll fight to bring federal infrastructure dollars home to southern New Mexico: new pipes for our small towns, lined canals for our farmers, and clearing the salt cedar that drinks our river dry. We can’t keep losing water we already have.
The Bulletin asked each Dona Ana County candidate four questions to allow voters to assess where the candidates stands on important issues heading into the election. The questions vary for each office, but are the same for every candidate running for the same office.
