It’s been an up-and-down October for southern New Mexico’s congressional representative.
On the one hand, Democrat Gabe Vasquez has been forced to field questions about his college days, questions about cannabis citations in the 2000s, parking tickets and allegations about statements and behavior during his college years.
“I never expected to be a congressperson,” Vasquez told the Bulletin in an interview this month. “I don't come from a family and politicians. And I don't come from a family of wealth.”
But he’s not letting it bring him down.
“To those negative advertisements and those kinds of things. I say look, my record speaks for itself, both on the city council in Las Cruces and my time serving in Congress as a public servant, and I'm going to continue to be a champion for the people and working for the people,” Vasquez said.
"If Yvette Herrell wants to run on my traffic tickets from 20 years ago, I will continue to run for the people of New Mexico, and the voters will ultimately be the judge of who's looking out for them and who's looking out for the wealthy,” he said.
And so far, the voters – or at least the polls – are proving that Vasquez’s “champion of the people” message is resonating. An Albuquerque Journal/Research & Polling poll released in late October put Vasquez ahead of Herrell, with Vasquez at about 49 percent compared to Herrell at 45 percent.
But now is the home stretch as the race speeds towards the final weeks and days. For Vasquez, it’s not just his job in Congress on the line, it’s the future of New Mexico and the U.S.
In his interview with the Bulletin, Vasquez explained his belief that his opponent would be a harbinger of a more authoritarian America.
“We have free and fair elections in this country. But right now, MAGA Republicans are trying to change the game. They're trying to give authority over elections to non-elected election administrators or state legislators who have nothing to do with certifying a federal presidential election. And that is dangerous,” Vasquez said.
Vasquez said the number one issue on voters' minds is the economy.
“Lower-class and middle-class families right now are having a really tough time making ends meet. And so, I think it's just all about raising wages, providing better jobs, supporting an economy that works for the middle class, and without that, it's difficult to really think about anything else,” Vasquez said.
Crime, reproductive health access, border security and immigration have been prevailing issues in the campaign. On the latter, Vasquez said he had a “positive vision” of a reformed immigration system, and that it starts with farm workers.
“When I go visit farmers in conservative areas like Arrey or Derry, and they're telling me that their onions are rotting out in the field, that they don't have the workforce that they need, we found solutions to that,” Vasquez said, referring to changes in work visas.
Vasquez added that he’d like to see more money funnel to border agencies to prevent or reduce the amount of fentanyl that travels throughout the U.S. border’s ports of entry and has introduced legislation to promote that change.
He also said that he introduced a bill that would have directed money seized from cartels to fund educational programs for youth who live in border communities such as Santa Teresa and Sunland Park.
“We can have better education for young people to not get involved as mules for the drug trade,” Vasquez said. “I've heard directly from police officers in places like Sunland Park and from school administrators that that continues to happen.”
Vasquez’s desired second term depends entirely on voters from a wide swath of New Mexico. Following the 2020 redistricting, voters from Las Cruces, southern Albuquerque and Carlsbad make up this district.
He beat Herrell in 2022 by 1,350 votes in an election that drew nearly 200,000 votes. That same year, groups including the Cook Political Report and Inside Elections declared the district a toss-up, indicating that it was impossible to predict who would win. Now, those same groups declare the race as a likely Democratic victory.
