3rd Congressional District candidates discuss cost of living, wildfire management

Two women are vying to represent northern and eastern New Mexico in Congress: incumbent Democrat Teresa Leger Fernández and Republican challenger Sharon Clahchischilliage.

The 3rd Congressional District encompasses the state’s capital city, Santa Fe, most of northern New Mexico, including Los Alamos, Taos, Gallup and Farmington, and many of the state’s eastern towns like Tucumcari, Clovis and Portales, reaching south to Artesia and Lovington.

A public education commissioner for District 5, Clahchischilliage served in the New Mexico House of Representatives from 2013 to 2018. She has previously run for elected office in races for Navajo Nation president and New Mexico Secretary of State. She has also worked as a consultant for tribal entities and the federal government.

Leger Fernández, 65, is running for a third term in Congress. She previously owned Leger Law & Strategy and worked as an attorney representing community organizations and tribes. She has held government positions at local and national levels, including special assistant to the Housing and Urban Development Secretary and acequia commissioner.

Leger Fernández’s campaign has raised $1.9 million and has $823,513 cash on hand, while Clahchischilliage has raised $76,630 and has $5,248 cash on hand.

Goals in Congress

Leger Fernández, who lives in Santa Fe, believes the biggest issue facing New Mexico is the high cost of living, especially in the realm of housing and health care. She said Congress has started addressing the high cost of living with health insurance subsidies and caps on prescription drug prices.

“I really believe that we need to hold the biggest corporations accountable, so they are not price gouging New Mexicans,” Leger Fernández said. “I’m going to continue to look at, how do we lower health care costs, but also, how do we increase accessibility to health care in our rural areas?”

If reelected, she also wants to focus on housing. A piece of legislation that she sponsored that would help first-time home buyers with down payment costs has been incorporated into presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ economic platform. She’s previously secured funding for housing for health care professionals working in Cuba, New Mexico.

“Everywhere in my district, we have issues around housing. ... I funded a shelter for domestic violence, so women have a place to go and live when they’re fleeing domestic violence in Shiprock,” Leger Fernández said.

Clahchischilliage, a Shiprock resident, believes the biggest issue facing New Mexico is inflation. She said the federal government should prioritize its spending differently by cutting down on the number of “pet projects” that legislators fund. She also wants fewer regulations on businesses, especially the oil and gas industry.

“A lot of people are having to do with less because of overreach regulations, and when people have to do with less, that means they don’t have that much money to spend,” Clahchischilliage said. “What moves the economy? Spending money. So, what happens when people aren’t spending money anymore? Then the demand stands still because there’s no money to buy the products.”

If elected, Clahchischilliage would like to secure more money for roads and other infrastructure in rural parts of New Mexico. She would also like to focus on forest fires, and the decline in dairies in the district.

“We have towns that get flooded out when it rains. We welcome the rain, but then when towns are being flooded out, that doesn’t help,” Clahchischilliage said. “So we need to look at reservoirs for a lot of these little communities who need help in that area.”

Wildfire management and climate change

The 3rd Congressional District includes communities impacted by the 2022 Calf Canyon-Hermits Peak Fire, the largest wildfire in state history, which was caused by prescribed burns set by the Forest Service.

Clahchischilliage said she thinks the federal government should not start fires “if they don’t know what they’re doing,” and if elected, would network with other representatives with similar concerns to try and address wildfire management.

“That was a controlled fire, so to speak, but it went out of control, and look at the damage that it caused. I just look at that, and I’m just appalled. You know, there was a lot of finger pointing,” Clahchischilliage said.

Clahchischilliage said she does not believe that electric vehicles would work well in the rural parts of the congressional district, although she does think the country needs to become more responsible with energy use.

“I don’t believe in climate change the way the federal government, the administration, believes in climate change. I believe the Earth is going through a natural cleansing,” Clahchischilliage said.

Leger Fernández said there are two things the government needs to do to ensure a repeat of the Calf Canyon-Hermits Peak Fire does not happen: responsibly manage the forests and make sure that prescribed burns are done as safely as possible.

“I called for the Forest Service to do an investigation, and the report showed that they made every mistake possible,” Leger Fernández said. “They were not utilizing the same resources that are available to them when they fight fires when they start a fire.”

Leger Fernández said she pushed the Forest Service to commit to using infrared technology and drones to monitor controlled burns and for more dollars for seedlings and research on what kind of trees should be planted. She also helped secure $3.95 billion to compensate people affected by the fire.

Leger Fernández has also worked on legislation to fund cleaning up orphaned oil wells and renewable energy.

Cathy Cook is a news reporter for the Albuquerque Journal. Reach her via email at ccook@abqjournal.com