Gabe Vasquez is focused on abortion, the border and bipartisanship

Editor’s note: As part of its coverage of the 2024 political campaign, the Albuquerque Journal will profile candidates running in some of New Mexico’s more hotly contested races in November’s general election. We continue today with a profile of Rep. Gabe Vasquez, the Democrat running for reelection in congressional District 2. Look to next Sunday’s Journal for our story on Republican Yvette Herrell.

In the late June heat, Gabe Vasquez started his speech at an abortion rights rally in Albuquerque’s Old Town in Spanish, then switched to English — something the young Democratic congressman does at most appearances.

The rally on June 24 commemorated the day two years prior that Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court, allowing states to largely set their own abortion laws.

The 39-year-old first-term congressman is running for reelection in the most competitive congressional race in the state. A rematch looms with former House representative, Republican Yvette Herrell, and Vasquez has made abortion access and criticisms of Herrell central to his reelection campaign.

“To put it bluntly, I felt that when I first ran, Yvette Harrell never showed up for me as one of her constituents. ... Now that I have an opportunity to serve in Congress, I feel that priority to show up, to listen and to represent my constituents in Congress,” Vasquez said.

Vasquez was a Las Cruces city councilor before he defeated Herrell for the 2nd Congressional District seat in 2022. Vasquez took 50.32% of the vote to Herrell’s 49.68%.

The congressional district’s boundary lines were altered in a once-per-decade redistricting prior to the election, bringing parts of Albuquerque into the district and moving Roswell and part of Hobbs into other districts.

New Mexico Republicans challenged the redistricting, arguing that it undermined Republican voting strength, but in 2023 a district judge denied that challenge, finding that the vote dilution was not “egregious” gerrymandering. The decision was upheld by the New Mexico Supreme Court.

Vasquez’s first campaign advertisement of 2024 focuses directly on Herrell, playing video of her saying she wishes “we could have gotten rid of all abortion,” and promising that he will keep abortion accessible.

“If Republicans have the House majority, they have the Senate majority, and if we have a Republican president, we can expect more laws that will restrict, if not completely eliminate, a woman’s ability to choose,” Vasquez said.

Vasquez is Catholic, and his parents did not share a unified perspective on abortion, so Vasquez said he was taught that people need the ability to make personal decisions on the topic.

Vasquez said that his faith has also played a role in his approach to legislating.

“I grew up with my dad stopping at the side of the road to help almost every stranded motorist, even when we had to be someplace in time, including going to church in the morning, and I always wondered why my dad did that, but it was because it was part of his faith,” Vasquez said.

“It was because if he had the opportunity to help somebody that was in need, he would do it. And it was a calling from God for him. So, my approach to Congress is very similar to stopping on the side of the road and helping that stranded motorist.”

Vasquez had between $4,000 and $60,000 in assets, as well as a mortgage on his Las Cruces home in the range of $250,000 to $500,000, according to his 2023 financial disclosure report, which covered his finances from January 2021 through the end of 2022. The National Wildlife Federation paid him a $68,310 salary in that time frame, while Nuestra Tierra Conservation Project paid him an $8,500 consulting fee.

If reelected, Vasquez wants to continue working on expanding the Radiation Exposure and Compensation Act to include New Mexico downwinders, legislation to make it easier for veterans to access health care and water settlements rights for tribes in his district.

“I take my job seriously when it comes to honoring that sovereign relationship that we have with tribal communities in the district,” Vasquez said.

During his short time in Congress, Vasquez has emphasized bipartisanship, forming the Southwest Caucus with Arizona Rep. Juan Ciscomani, a Republican — perhaps because he needs to win over conservative and centrist voters in District 2. Vasquez was also the only member of New Mexico’s congressional delegation who was absent during President Joe Biden’s 2023 visit to the Land of Enchantment. His office said he had prior commitments to see his father, according to previous coverage.

Vasquez introduced bipartisan legislation with Republicans John Curtis of Utah and John Duarte of California that would eliminate bureaucratic hurdles for people with leases to ranch on public lands to make minor range improvements — the Ranching Without Red Tape Act. A companion bill has been introduced in the Senate.

He is pushing a package of immigration and border security legislation that would do everything from introduce new screening technology at ports of entry to allowing immigrants an easy path to legally become agricultural workers to increasing penalties for human trafficking.

“Undocumented workers in the southeast (of New Mexico) working in oil and gas and fossil fuels are one of the best kept secrets of the oil and gas industry. ... These are folks that are driving trucks, that are welders, that are pipefitters, that are carpenters, that are honestly sometimes putting their lives on the line and the lives of their families on the line to produce energy for the country and to produce energy independence,” Vasquez said.

The congressman held a recent town hall in Hobbs to talk about ways that those undocumented workers could get opportunities for temporary residency or a pathway to citizenship.

Vasquez is a first-generation American with a binational family. About half of his family still lives in Mexico, he said.

“The bills that I have introduced are informed by my experience, not only living on both sides of the border, but working intimately with law enforcement, border patrol, state police, local sheriffs and local police departments,” he said.