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Bringing New Mexico Values To Congress

  As I travel across southern New Mexico and talk with folks in every corner of the district, the sentiment is the same everywhere I go: they are fed up with Congress and its dysfunction. The constant bickering and partisanship in Washington is leaving southern New Mexico in its wake.

It’s clear that Congress could use a dose of southern New Mexican values.

I’m a fifth-generation New Mexican. I come from a typical southern New Mexican family.

My dad worked in the oil fields for over 20 years, and my mom spent her entire career working as a meat wrapper in the local supermarket. They worked hard so that my siblings and I could have a future full of opportunity.

The values that my parents instilled in me are the same values that my campaign for Congress is based upon: a belief in faith, family and community.

After attending undergrad at New Mexico State University and law school at Texas Tech University, I came back to my hometown and opened a small business.

I later served as the first Hispanic president of the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce and was elected to the Eddy County Commission.

As the chair of the Eddy County Commission, I worked with Republicans and Democrats to tackle the issues facing our community.

I never walked into a room and identified who were the Democrats and who were the Republicans. The issues facing our community were too important to worry about party affiliation.

That’s the same type of leadership that I will bring to Washington – a willingness to work across party lines to find the solutions that will move southern New Mexico and our country forward.

In order to move our country forward, we need a Congress that shares our values. Public service should be about serving the public, not about politicians taking advantage of their office to benefit themselves.

While middle-class families across New Mexico struggle, members of Congress in Washington are busy taking advantage of congressional perks like taxpayer-funded health care for life, taxpayer-funded vehicles and gas mileage, first-class airfare and pay raises even when they don’t do their job.

That’s not right.

From day one, I will fight to get rid of these congressional perks and focus on the priorities that will invest in southern New Mexico’s future.

For me, these priorities are clear.

In Congress, I will be a constant advocate for southern New Mexico’s middle-class families.

I will fight to protect Medicare and Social Security for current and future generations.

I will fight to close corporate tax loopholes that give tax breaks to companies that ship our jobs overseas, and invest in small businesses right here in southern New Mexico so they can grow and create jobs.

I will cut wasteful government spending so we can reduce our nation’s debt and balance our budget.

And I will support raising the minimum wage so that southern New Mexico’s workers can raise a family and save for retirement.

With every vote I take in Washington, I will think about the roustabout who works 60 hours a week so he can support his family.

I’ll think about the federal employees who worry about the threat of government shutdowns or budget cuts that threaten their jobs. And I’ll think about the single mother who works a full-time job but still lives below the poverty line.

Those are where my priorities are.

During his tenure in Congress, Congressman Steve Pearce has made his priorities clear to southern New Mexico’s voters.

He has spent his career fighting for an out-of-touch agenda that has held our middle-class families back.

He’s repeatedly voted to protect congressional perks for him and his colleagues.

He voted for an extreme budget proposal that would end the Medicare guarantee for our seniors and force them to spend $6,000 more in out-of-pocket expenses – all to pay for more tax breaks for millionaires like himself.

He wrote in his memoir that women must “voluntarily submit” to their husbands, while also voting against equal pay for equal work and to allow insurance companies to charge women more than men.

And he voted for the reckless tea party government shutdown, risking the livelihoods of thousands of New Mexicans.

That is a record of failure of leadership. After more than 10 years in Washington, southern New Mexico is ready for a new direction.

I can’t change Congress by myself, but it’s time southern New Mexico sent a message that we are ready for a representative who will take our values to Washington.

I humbly ask for your vote. It’s time we rolled up our sleeves and got to work.