Sam's Priority Issues
Supporting Families and Children in Education
As a mother with a special needs child who participated in early intervention programs, outpatient therapy programs, and special needs care in the public school system, I can tell you from experience, New Mexico can do better to support parents and families.
Children deserve adults willing to fight the hard battles on their behalf, ensuring they receive the quality education and support they need. Teachers deserve to get a paycheck that doesn’t leave them having to work a second job or provide their own materials for their classrooms. Parents deserve a seat at the table when it comes to the decisions that will determine their child’s education and future. I will fight to give them the support and opportunities they deserve.
Keeping our Streets Safe
For years, we’ve asked our state leaders to do something about the rampant crime that seems to be growing every day. Instead, they put soft-on-crime laws in place and strip every protection and resource away from law enforcement and first responders that are charged with keeping us safe.
My brother is a firefighter. He was issued a bulletproof vest for use while on duty. That was the day I realized our community is suffering under a kind of violence like we’ve never experienced. Law enforcement officers are working for all-time-low wages, with all-time-high liability. It’s no wonder first responders are leaving their careers in droves and criminals are walking the streets free. You ought to be able to call 911 and get a quick response, but our extreme politicians in Santa Fe are too worried about their own agenda, leaving us to wonder if help will ever come. It must change.
Keeping Businesses on Their Feet
Politicians in Santa Fe have not made doing business in New Mexico easy. Increased taxes and piled-on regulations gets passed on to the consumer, which means the cost of basic needs like gas, food, housing, clothing, power and water goes way up. On top of that, those politicians are raising our taxes! I won’t let greedy politicians in Santa Fe drain you of your hard-earned dollars, and I’ll put a stop to the bad policies that put too many local businesses out of work.
Making Healthcare Accessible
If you’ve tried to make a medical appointment in New Mexico, it’s likely you were told you had to wait weeks or even months. The healthcare environment in New Mexico is abysmal and getting worse every day. When I gave birth to our daughter with special needs in 2020, my husband and I were forced to leave New Mexico because access to local, quality medical care was unavailable. Since that time, the extreme policies of Santa Fe politicians have driven doctors out of New Mexico and caused direct harm to our community. We need a major shift in how we approach healthcare in our state, and I have the experience to turn it around now.
Protecting our Water, Agriculture, & Resources
New Mexico is home to one of the most productive agriculture economies in the country. Per year, our ag industry supports a total of 257,697 jobs, pays $11.52 Billion in total wages, pays $4.13 Billion in business taxes, exports $275.03 Million in products, and is responsible for a total output of $40.23 Billion. Southern New Mexico is home to the largest production agriculture industry in the state. Our Southern New Mexico farmers are literally the reason you have food on your family’s table, and our economy in the beautiful Mesilla Valley is kept afloat by this industry.
But instead of supporting farmers, politicians in Santa Fe have made power grabs for the control of our water resources that our ag industry relies on. They have a heavy governmental hand that requires farmers to pay huge permits for everything from water and fertilizer to fuel and equipment. They have basically ignored the infrastructure needs of Southern New Mexico.
My job is to advocate for water rights and funding for water projects that Southern New Mexico needs to thrive economically. Let me use my skills to fight for you in the Senate, to keep our water flowing to farmers and to keep affordable and accessible food on your table.
