Funding for New Mexico in Focus is provided by viewers like you.

>> Nash: This week on New Mexico in focus.

Tick tock, tick tock.

We highlight the sprawling third Congressional District as Election Day bears down, >>Fernández: It█s been too long, I█m very angry, and we have pushed.

There has been 4 billion dollars that has gone out there.

>>Zamora: I have had 3 different Zoom meetings with Fema, and what I have learned there is-- is-- not good.

and we wrap up our coverage of the 2026 general with the Republican critic of our state's election system, who now wants to run it.

New Mexico in Focus starts now.

>> Nash: Thanks for joining us I'm Nash Jones.

October has been a big month for our team here on in Focus, as we committed to bringing you in-depth, one on one interviews with each of the candidates in New Mexico's top races this election.

And with the big event now right around the corner, we will finish out following through on that commitment tonight and pass the baton to you to use what you've learned to make an informed decision on who should lead the state and represent it in Washington next.

Election Day is this Tuesday and tomorrow, Saturday, October 31st is your last day to vote early.

How this election will play out, and I don't mean who will win necessarily, but what your experience will be at the polls, how orderly Election Day will proceed, and how accurate the vote counts will end up is up to a lot of people from county clerk's to poll watchers and volunteers.

But the final point of accountability lies with the state's top election administrator, Maggie Toulouse Oliver.

And on Tuesday, New Mexicans will decide who will replace her after ten years in the secretary of State's office.

>> Nash: Last week, we introduced you to the Democratic nominee, Dona Ana County Clerk Amanda Lopez Askin.

You can watch that interview on the New Mexico in Focus YouTube channel or the PBS app right now if you missed it.

Tonight politics correspondent Gwyneth Doland will sit with her Republican opponent, Ramona Goolsby.

But we kick things off here on our final show before Election Day with the interviews those of you in Congressional District three have been patiently awaiting.

The candidates vying to represent you in the U.S.

House.

>> Nash: This is the district that comprises all of northern New Mexico, from Las Vegas to Santa Fe and Los Alamos, clear up to Farmington and down to Gallup in the west.

While it's historically reached as far south as Clovis in the east, its newest iteration has it running all the way down to Roswell and beyond.

That makes CD3 an exceptionally diverse district.

It encompasses the state's conservative southeastern oil patch.

Think Hobbs, along with reliably Democratic northeastern agricultural communities like those in Mora County, and of course, the progressive bastion that is Santa Fe.

It also includes the majority of the 19 pueblos in New Mexico, along with much of the Navajo Nation.

U.S.

Representative Teresa Leger Fernandez has represented the district since 2021.

The tribal advocacy and civil rights attorney has handily won reelection twice since.

And an Albuquerque Journal poll earlier this month has her up 14 points over this year's challenger, Republican State Representative Martin Zamora, a third generation farmer and rancher from Clovis.

You'll meet him a little later in the show, but we begin tonight with the congresswoman.

Here's Gwyneth.

>> Gwyneth: Representative Leger Fernandez, thank you so much for being with us.

>> Fernandez: Thank you, Gwyneth and to all the viewers for tuning and I really appreciate this.

>> Gwyneth: In 2024, 73% of Santa Fe County voted for Kamala Harris.

And in Curry County.

70% voted for Donald Trump.

You have represented these two same areas in just one sentence or two.

Why should you continue to represent these really different parts of New Mexico?

>> Fernandez: I have actually represented my beautifully, incredibly diverse district by delivering resources to every part of my district, $6.7 billion in water funding in law enforcement, behavioral health.

I recognize the beauty of my district, the diversity of my district.

And it always also points out that I overperformed Kamala Harris significantly in Curry County because I show up.

>> Gwyneth: That's great.

You've said the biggest issue facing New Mexicans is the cost of living, and you've blamed President Trump's tariffs and his economic policies, but housing, groceries and health care costs, those were all going up before Trump came back into office.

What is the single most important thing that you have done in office to improve affordability for New Mexicans?

>> Fernandez: So it is going up because of Trump's war, because of Trump's tariffs and the big ugly bill, increased health care costs by they increased healthcare costs in order to give tax cuts to billionaires.

So I think that we can blame President Trump and should blame President Trump for the mess we are in now, because gas prices and diesel prices are out of this move.

So one of this world, right.

So one of the things we can do right now is let's end this war.

We need to turn back what they've done in the big, beautiful bill, because those Medicaid cuts are hurting world health care.

They were hurting my district.

So I do think we need to address those issues.

I've also done housing.

I did my home of your neck, $30,000 down payment.

We got people into homes across my district.

There are issues that we can take on.

Take on the Trump's corruption and the war, overturn aspects of the big beautiful bill, and that will start bringing down the costs that New Mexicans are paying.

>> Gwyneth: Let's talk about Hermit's Peak, Calf Canyon fire.

You helped get $5.45 billion to compensate the victims of these fires.

Four years later, there are still families out there.

They're still waiting for compensation.

They're still living among some of this wreckage.

What responsibility do you bear for making sure the federal government actually delivers the money that these people are promised?

>> Fernandez: That was the biggest wildfire in New Mexico's history.

It was in my it was in my home and it was in my hometown, places I love burnt up.

So I was very angry, but I knew we needed to get something done, which is why I delivered congressionally the $5.45 billion.

Now we all know there's a separation of powers.

It's up to the president and FEMA to get that money out.

Biden was too slow, but it got even worse under the Trump administration with the director that has now been fired.

I called for his resignation and I and together with the rest of the delegation, have conducted severe oversight of it, but we don't actually run the program.

President Trump before him, President Biden ran that program.

It's been too long.

I am very angry.

And we have pushed there's been $4 billion that has gone out, though, $4 billion to farmers, families, ranchers.

But I'm not going to stop fighting until all gets out.

My job is to push, push, push.

>> Gwyneth: What does that pushing look like?

>> Fernandez: Oh, that pushing looks like before Trump took over.

We used to have regular meetings with the FEMA office, I have letters that I have written.

I have asked questions in testimony, in oversight.

I have encouraged and conducted GAO studies.

You know, the Government Accountability Office can go in there and investigate.

I've called for all of that, including asking for the resignation of the former director.

>> Gwyneth: Let's talk about energy, oil and gas and gas production supports thousands of jobs, especially in southeastern New Mexico.

Generates enormous amounts of money for the state.

You have supported policies intended to move the country away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy.

Green New Deal.

What do you say to a worker in Hobbs who thinks you're trying to put him out of a job?

>> Fernandez: Oh, I have not called for oil and gas to end.

What I said is we should diversify our energy policy.

Listen, New Mexico has the second largest oil development in the country.

It funds our schools.

But we also have the largest wind farm in the hemisphere right now, solar and wind are the most affordable form of electricity.

Let's diversify our energy portfolio.

Let's put people to work building those wind farms.

They make good money building those wind farms, building those solar farms.

I also want the oil and gas companies to make sure they don't leave abandoned wells.

They clean up their mess, they bring down methane.

And what does that do when you have to clean up an abandoned well, creates jobs.

So actually what I proposed would actually create more jobs, not fewer.

>> Gwyneth: But wouldn't a diversification of the energy industry naturally mean less work in oil and gas?

>> Fernandez: It might mean less work in one aspect of oil and gas, but not less work in the energy sector.

Guess what Geothermal uses very similar jobs as oil and gas production, so let's push a diversified, environmentally sound energy policy in New Mexico.

Create a lot of jobs.

>> Gwyneth: I want to move to data centers.

You have long promoted economic diversification and high tech here in New Mexico.

Last month, you called for a pause on new data centers.

Some communities say, hey, we want that investment.

We really need these jobs.

We want what these data centers are going to bring.

If there's a pause, why should they have to wait?

>> Fernandez: So if you look at my no blank checks for data centers, it called for five things.

One is that when you build a data center or anything, right, you should not hurt the natural resources that are available.

Water.

We rely on water.

And I have had dairy farmers, ranchers, other people say do not let them deplete our water resources.

We should not let data centers force their energy costs on consumers.

Make sure that it does not emit more emissions so that we have a worse climate change than what we're going through.

And key to what you're talking about, let's make sure that there is community support for it.

So community support I think is key if you ask them meet these requirements, have the community support, then let's look at moving forward.

But that community support is essential.

And you should not use up precious water that is not available.

>> Gwyneth: Immigration.

You have proposed letting American citizens sue ICE if they're wrongly detained or deported.

Is there one thing that you think ICE is doing right right now?

One thing that's going well with immigration enforcement under Trump?

>> Fernandez: No.

So one of the things I want to make really clear is Democrats believe in stopping drug stopping criminal activity.

So we want to make sure that happens.

But there is a way to do that that is still respects our immigrant community and does not rely on tactics.

There are terrorizing our communities.

This issue of like arresting, detaining and sometimes deporting over 500 American citizens.

Now somebody got stopped the other day.

And so we were finding out, you know, call my office if you need help.

We're the WD 40 for federal agencies.

So we got called, right.

And it was like we tried to find out, well, why did you get stopped?

And I told them because you were driving a truck that looked Mexican like, oh my God, how many people in New Mexico Nuevo Mexicanos drive trucks that could look Mexican?

And this is a problem.

They are stopping people because of the way they look.

>> Gwyneth: But is this a mission problem or a training problem?

>> Fernandez: I think it's both.

I mean, Trump called for mass deportations, right?

So it was about manipulating fear among the public, and they have made it very clear that they don't care of your Native American.

They don't care about your Latino.

If you look a certain way, if you speak Spanish, if you work in a job in agriculture and construction, in certain industries, we're going to pick you up.

We're going to terrorize you.

And they did that in order to generate fear, to gain political power.

I am tired of this administration using fear and division to gain political power.

We're a state that believes in respecting each other's cultural diversity.

I want that to be what we do at a national level.

>> Gwyneth: Earlier you mentioned when we were talking about affordability, the home of your own act.

Homeownership still remains out of reach for many New Mexicans.

Our housing prices are still high and the stock is low.

What would your legislation actually do precisely to make housing more affordable in all parts of New Mexico?

>> Fernandez: So when somebody goes to buy a home, you need a down payment at the time you buy your home.

And right now, home prices have gone up so much that that down payment keeps getting bigger and bigger.

And it's hard to save the down payment because prices for everything else is too expensive.

So what the program, it's not just what it would have done.

I actually did a pilot program in New Mexico, so it was a $30,000 down payment assistance that was available when you bought your home and so that you could go in, you knew you had down payment assistance.

30,000 is not going to get you what you need, sadly, but you could put that together with other savings.

And that way you could afford to buy that first home.

Because once you buy that first home, then it's easier to buy your second home.

It's that starter home that's important.

So this was for first time homebuyers and we did a pilot project.

Homes were bought by first time homebuyers, grandparents, people starting off their families for the first time.

Single mothers, everything right across my district and every almost in every region of my district.

It was very successful.

>> Gwyneth: Let's talk about the Four Corners rail project.

You've taken credit for securing $4 million for this project.

Freight rail.

But San Juan County and the Navajo Nation have been developing that project for a long time.

And Republicans say your contribution to the federal grant application was essentially signing a letter of support.

What role did you actually play in securing that funding?

>> Fernandez: So when I went up to San Juan County, this was one of the things they asked me for.

They have thanked me for the work that I have done.

And in promoting this, it's one of the things they talk about as a priority.

But remember, this is federal funding.

So when we get federal funding, it might look like a letter, might be one visible.

But I am talking to the people saying we need this.

I led a letter for continued funding for various aspects of transportation that was bipartisan.

And when you do these letters, you█re also talking to the appropriators.

You are promoting the idea.

You're saying this is really important.

So that's kind of the work we do.

And remember it is federal appropriation.

So as work we are doing at the federal level to get this money to our local communities for very important projects.

>> Gwyneth: Is bringing money back to New Mexico the most important thing you do?

>> Fernandez: It is a very important thing I do, not the most, but I think there's a lot I want to point out.

I have brought direct funding that I not just a big federal funding like the railroad funding, then circles down $6.7 billion to New Mexico, $400 million for the Eastern Navajo pipeline.

I'm sorry, the eastern pipeline.

So the eastern part of my district, $400 million Navajo Gala pipeline, getting water to all those Navajo homes that don't have a. We've raised that appropriation, the authorization level, to about close to $2 billion, about $1.8 billion, hundreds of millions of dollars that I have personally gone, jumped out of my car to corner the appropriation chair to say, you need to get this money out.

Acequias.

Acequias need money too.

I was just down-- But I love what I've done bringing money back.

Significant money.

Almost more money than anybody.

When I was a freshman, nobody brought as much money home as I did.

>> Gwyneth: I want to talk about some of the other things that you've been working on.

You've talked a lot about the importance of bipartisanship, working across party lines, particularly now that Republicans control Congress.

Is there an example of a significant accomplishment you have achieved by working with Republicans during this term?

And I'm looking for something that's not necessarily a straight up dollar amount.

>> Fernandez: Well, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, the Tularosa Downwinders are the true heroes of this story.

Right?

But it also requires us to carry the legislation.

So they came to my office.

They sat around the table when I first got elected, we all cried thinking about, well, they told me about all the cancers in the family.

And then we realized everybody we know and look at all the radiation.

I built and worked with the bipartisan coalition Utah, Missouri, Arizona.

I carried it on the House side, helped develop the legislation.

Ben Ray carried it on the Senate side, worked with Josh Hawley.

You know, I invited Speaker Johnson to a candlelight vigil we had that was a very bipartisan effort affecting.

>> Gwyneth: Did he show up?

>> Fernandez: He did not.

He told me he'd think about it.

And then, you know, when it ended up in the legislation I went and talked to him about do not strip it out.

And he pointed out to me that some of the Freedom Caucus didn't like how much that was going to cost, but I was there pushing to make sure that the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act got turned into $100,000 for everybody who has suffered from the cancers related to uranium mining and the explosion of the bomb.

Very bipartisan.

>> Gwyneth: One last question for you.

Your district stretches from Santa Fe and Los Alamos to Clovis, Roswell and Hobbs.

When we talk two years ago, you emphasized your rural roots and all the federal money again today.

But the people in southwestern southeastern New Mexico have very different political, cultural, economic priorities from many of your constituents in Santa Fe.

What's one thing that you have accomplished for Clovis, Roswell, or Hobbs that wouldn't have happened without you?

>> Fernandez: $400 million in the Eastern Pipeline?

I was just there at the Ute pipeline, the one of the independents who sits on the council, said, thank you for that work.

I know you perched, I brought home.

So a lot of it sometimes is money because that's what pays for a project.

And I think that's really important that I have championed.

I inherited that, but I have pushed for it and continued to push for it.

The issues around funding for ranchers and farmers.

The Equip act, which is the conservation funding so that you can get the water to your farms.

I had a farm to Congress conversation because we were going to have the farm bill.

The pecan farmers told me about how their crop was not included in the ability to get perennial crops, and therefore funding that they needed for the pecan farmers.

Do you know how many pecan farmers we have down there?

That aspect of my bill is now in the farm bill.

>> Gwyneth: How many are there?

>> Fernandez: How many pecan farmers?

We actually are sometimes the second largest pecan producer after Georgia.

New Mexico has a lot of pecan, they're delicious, by the way.

>> Gwyneth: Representative Leger Fernandez, thank you so much for being with us.

>> Fernandez: Okay.

Thank you very much, Gwyneth.

We're grateful to Congresswoman Leger Fernandez for coming in to talk about her record and her plans for district three, should she win a fourth term in Washington, Martin Zamora would prefer she didn't.

The Clovis based Republican farmer first found his way into the headlines a couple of years after voters elected him to the state House of Representatives, when he joined a groundswell in his party to falsely shout that Donald Trump had won the 2020 election.

After six more years in the legislature, where he serves as the ranking member of the House Agriculture Acequias and Water Resources Committee, Zamora wants a promotion to D.C.. He ran unopposed in the GOP primary to face off against Leger Fernandez.

And as you'll see in his conversation with politics correspondent Gwyneth Doland, Zamora's roots in our state's rural way of life are central to his campaign.

Here again, is Gwyneth.

>> Gwyneth: Representative Martin Zamora, thank you so much for being with us.

>> Zamora: Glad to be here, Gwyneth.

>> Gwyneth: I want to talk about your district that you're running in.

In 2024, 72% of Taos County voted for Kamala Harris in Curry County.

70% voted for Donald Trump.

These voters are all represented by the same person in Congress.

Why should it be you?

>> Zamora: Because I'm a diverse person, right?

We've we've served eight years now in the New Mexico House, and my district is very diverse in the New Mexico House.

We go from eastern New Mexico.

Curry Roosevelt County, having the biggest cheese plant in the world.

American.

American cheese producer, dairies, sprinklers, underground irrigation.

And we move across the district into small town USA.

Melrose, Fort Sumner.

Vaughn.

And when you look at the furthest west part of the district, in House district 63, we're looking at-- and rural New Mexico and land grant.

>> Gwyneth: But the congressional district is much bigger and much more diverse than that, including Santa Fe.

>> Zamora: It is bigger, and we're ready for the challenge.

We're ready to represent the people of Congressional District three.

We believe we're the ones that the people will pick because of our diversity and our.

Leadership that we've provided in the past, not only in the district, but throughout the state of New Mexico.

>> Gwyneth: I spent some time looking through your campaign finance reports, and there's a pretty clear geographic pattern.

You've raised thousands of dollars from donors in Clovis and other in eastern New Mexico communities, but Santa Fe County alone accounts for 22% of the population of the third Congressional district.

And you've raised almost nothing there or elsewhere in northern New Mexico.

What does that say about your connection to the northern part of the district?

>> Zamora: What it says is that we█re newcomers to that part of the district, but we're not weak, there.

Boots on the ground, what we're seeing from the people and the response we're getting is good, really good.

We haven't concentrated as much in that part of the country as we have right by our home base, because we're so strong, right by our home base, and people have been real supportive.

We have traveled the district extensively from corner to corner to every nook and cranny that you can think of, and people are responding really good to us.

We look forward to to winning this race and-- >>Gwyneth: Alright.

I want to turn to the economy for a minute.

Republicans have controlled Congress for two years, and Donald Trump has been president for nearly two years.

This time around, mortgage rates just hit 7%.

Are Americans better off economically than they were two years ago?

>>Zamora: No.

We're having some hard times, not not only in the country, but in the state of New Mexico.

Our concentration should be here in the state of New Mexico and how we can help New Mexicans.

People are having a hard time at the pump.

We understand that the country's going through.

The world is going through hard times.

There are some shifts that are going to happen and are happening today as we speak.

We hope that these fuel prices come back down in the field.

Prices will affect everything else.

All the way from price of eggs to groceries and everything we consume.

>> Gwyneth: In your opinion, what is pushing these prices up?

>> Zamora: The cost of fuel.

The wars.

>> Gwyneth: Right, right.

Let's talk about Medicaid.

You've criticized your opponent Teresa Leger Fernandez for voting against the big Republican budget bill that included the expansion of compensation for New Mexico downwind.

She supported the expansion, but opposed the larger bill, which also made major changes to Medicaid and Snap.

If you had been in Congress and that had come before you, would you have voted for that bill?

>> Zamora: We sure would have.

I believe it's a good bill for the country as a whole.

You know, we see it in Santa Fe, especially as minority party people in in the New Mexico House.

And you can't always have everything perfect and seems like what's going on at the national level in our congressional delegation is, is the head butting with Trump.

And we need to see what's good for New Mexico and move forward with it.

>> Gwyneth: Well, there's some really specific stuff here.

You know, the state health care authority estimated that this would cost 88,000 New Mexicans their Medicaid coverage and 58,000 people their food benefits.

So do you believe the trade offs on Medicaid and Snap were worth it?

>> Zamora: We need to do what's right for the state, for the people of the state.

The state of New Mexico needs to abide by the rules of Medicaid with the federal people.

We haven't been doing that.

We're way off on on our reports, the way we should be taking them in and where they should meet.

And we need we need to address that and fix it.

>> Gwneth: Are you talking about the error rate or -- >> Zamora: Yes, the error rate is way off.

>> Gwyneth: So that error rate is makes it okay to take the program away from 88,000 people?

>> Zamora: No, no.

And we'll fight for that.

We'll be the watchdogs in, in at the US House fighting for New Mexico and trying to fix those things and make it better.

>> Gwyneth: Okay.

Immigration.

Your campaign says you want to finish the border wall, reinstate Remain in Mexico and Title 42, which allowed border agents to quickly kick migrant crossers out of the country, require mandatory detention for people who cross the border illegally and crack down on sanctuary policies.

So let me ask you this.

What should happen to someone who's been living and working in New Mexico without documentation for 10 or 20 years, that has no criminal record and has children who are U.S.

citizens?

>> Zamora: We need we need to overhaul the immigration policies we have.

We have needed to do that for a long time now.

The workers are needed here in the US.

They're needed in the agricultural businesses that we have in the processing businesses for beef.

They're needed in the dairies.

They're needed in the restaurants.

We see them.

We see a lot of good people.

A lot of good people come into the US and go to work here.

>> Gwyneth: You're starting to sound to me like you support a pathway to citizenship.

>> Zamora: If not citizenship, good work visas.

And but we don't need the open style border that we had under the Biden administration that wasn't vetting anybody.

>> Gwyneth: Has the pendulum swung too far?

I mean, I'm sensing a conflict here between us needing these workers, but the deportation of people with no criminal record who haven't done anything wrong other than be here.

>> Zamora: And why has the pendulum swung too far?

You know, you hit on a good point there.

Is it because of policies?

Is it because of politics?

Are people putting these people together and sending them to the US and having them flock here?

That's what we were hearing through the national news.

And then policy has to do with it and how people can get around the world now.

They can they can fly from China to Mexico and then cross the border afoot or whatever means, and we're not taking care of it.

So, so technology, policy, politics outside of policy has has affected all this.

And then criminal people, people wanted to come into the US to, to maybe do bad things to our people here.

So we need to defend our, our borders and secure our borders.

And yet look at the good policy part of it.

There's a lot of different approaches we need to take to fix our immigration issues.

>> Gwyneth: Well, let me let me move on to Hermit's Peak, Calf Canyon.

You've been particularly critical of the response to the to the fires.

You said of people in Mora and San Miguel counties, these are my people.

And you've said Teresa Leger Fernandez utterly failed them.

She did help secure the $5.45 billion, called for the claims office director to resign, demanded an independent review and has pressed FEMA over the remaining claims.

But what should she have done that she didn't do?

>> Zamora: Man, that one just really aggravates me.

The first person that asked for the resignation of the director was Martin Zamora.

Not Teresa Leger, not the governor, not any of our congressional delegation.

They came in afterwards and asked for the resignation of Mr.

Mitchell.

And I have had three different zoom meetings with FEMA.

And what I have learned there is not good of how everything is played out, and I have done some investigating of my own people's names that were on that list to receive money should not have been moved up on the list and then allocated to check to them, and people that shouldn't have received a check.

Shouldn't have, shouldn't have got those checks and things weren't looked at over a period of four years.

If I am elected, I will use my authority to ask the tough questions of FEMA.

And that's where Teresa Leger should have been.

Teresa Leger was too relaxed She didn't do her job.

And that's why I'm saying that Teresa Leger failed her people.

>> Gwyneth: Have you -- are you saying here that you have found evidence that she didn't know about, or that the federal government was unaware of?

>> Zamora: I will wait and apply what I know about FEMA and the recipients and how this money got handled.

If I am given the authority to do that job.

>> Gwyneth: But if people are still waiting on getting this money, why?

Why wait?

>> Zamora: Because I don't have the authority to go in there and hammer FEMA for what they've done.

And how are we going to fix the rest of the issue?

>> Gwyneth: You could just make it public.

>> Zamora: I'm going to wait.

>> Gwyneth: Okay.

Let's talk about public lands, Chaco Canyon.

The Trump administration has proposed reopening more than 300,000 acres of federal land around Chaco Canyon to oil and gas leasing and mining.

Pueblo leaders have strongly opposed that, and Teresa Leger Fernandez has fought to keep those protections in place.

Do you support reopening that land to drilling and mining?

>> Zamora: What I support is that people should not be doing a land grab and sure enough, not the government and affecting the Alaties that own that land as to what they can do and how they can prosper on their land.

That is their land.

They have the authority to use it as they wish.

And this is a land grab, is what it is.

>> Gwyneth: So if Pueblo leaders say that development there threatens a sacred cultural landscape, how much weight should that carry in the federal government's decision?

>> Zamora: It should carry a lot of weight, but it needs to be the decision of the people that own that land.

>> Gwyneth: It's complicated, though, because some of that is federal land, some of its Navajo and some of its Pueblo.

>> Zamora: I have been and talked to the Alaties.

They're not happy with what happened.

What happened and is happening.

So does that mean that the is just going to fold over or do they have rights.

And that's that's what we have.

That's what we have to consider is what are their rights and why should the federal government come in and tell them, no, this is the way you're going to use your land.

That land was allotted to them.

It belongs to them.

And if there's on gas on it and they want to drill and prosper from that, why should we keep our native people?

The lattice, particularly in those in that buffer zone, why should we keep them under our thumb and not let them prosper?

>> Gwyneth: Thank you.

For more than 20 years, there's been a plume of toxic chromium in the groundwater under the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

It has now reached San Ildefonso Pueblo land.

The state find the lab $6 million and says it's at an impasse with the Department of Energy over how to clean it up.

Who's right here?

Is it this state or the federal government?

And what would you do about it in Congress?

>> Zamora: We need action on these places.

That's not not just the chromium at Pueblo Ildefonso We have PFAS contamination throughout the state, and we have other contaminants that we're looking at on the burn scars.

We need action on these places.

We need.

We need the political game to quit.

And we need to put physical cleanup to work.

>> Gwyneth: Whose job is that?

>>Zamora: It's going to either be NMED or it's going to be the Environmental Protection Agency.

>> Gwyneth: And who should it be, do you think?

>> Zamora: Those negotiations need to take place.

We need to see where the contamination comes from.

We need to see who can afford to take care of it, who's responsible for it.

And DoD is one of the hardest to work with.

That's why the lawsuit happened between New Mexico and Department of Defense.

We're having issues in Clovis with the PFAS and the DoD in the Air Force base as to where where they can drill their test wells, what they can pump, what they cannot pump.

And DoD is not following state rules, state laws.

There's there's a breakdown between the federal government and the state government as to how we're going to do these things.

>> Gwyneth: You've said you want less government regulation in 2023, you sponsored two bills that would have limited what cities and counties could do at the local level.

One would have prevented them from banning new gas stations, or requiring that gas stations install electric vehicle charging stations.

The other would have prevented them from restricting the use of fuels like natural gas and propane.

At the time, no New Mexico community had actually proposed those kinds of bands.

Why did you think that the state in 2023 needed to step in and prevent local governments from making those decisions for themselves?

>> Zamora: My fear was that they were going to make people stop selling propane, kerosene, diesel, all the other fuels that are used in so many other places in nooks and crannies of our state.

>> Gwyneth: Was there a bill that would have banned the sale of all those fuels?

>> Zamora: Well, that's we were doing a preemption bill.

So the preemption means that we were preempting that they were going to try to do this.

So we were going to keep that from ever even start happening.

>> Gwyneth: Okay.

After the 2020 election, the Santa Fe New Mexican asked you whether Joe Biden had won and you didn't answer, but you eventually told the reporter, I feel like hanging up on you.

Six years later, can you answer that question?

Did Joe Biden win the 2020 presidential election?

>> Zamora: Whoever won and served as president won, right?

Donald Trump won.

He's he's serving as our president.

And Joe Biden won his election.

He served as president.

He won the election.

There's there's not any question about it.

What the issue and the argument is, is when a reporter calls you and they start pushing their weight around and asking you questions and trying to put you in a spot, that's that's where the question is about the infighting with the reporter.

>> Gwyneth: Now, if you win this election, what is the first piece of legislation that you would sponsor?

>> Zamora: I don't have a particular bill.

What I have is, is thoughts and education from me serving here in the state of New Mexico and how we move this state forward.

>> Gwyneth: Representative Martin Zamora, thank you so much for being with us.

>> Zamora: Thank you, I enjoyed it.

>> Nash: Thanks to State Representative Martin, Zamora for sitting down with Gwyneth to tell voters why he wants to climb the political ladder to his seat in the US House.

For the final interview of our slate of election coverage this cycle.

Gwyneth turns to another Republican who shares some views with Zamora.

Ramona Goolsby worked for three decades as a nurse practitioner, moving to New Mexico in 2019 and taking her skills to the VA.

She's also been an accountant and a small business owner, but during the last handful of years, New Mexicans have gotten to know her as one of the state's loudest election critics, as that movement has grown nationwide.

Goolsby has led several referendum efforts aimed at election integrity and aligned herself with some of the region's most notorious election deniers.

Goolsby sailed unopposed through the Republican primary.

Now she wants your vote to become our state's first new chief elections administrator in a decade.

With Democrat Maggie Toulouse.

Oliver's departure from the secretary of state's office following a tenure that seen New Mexico elections become some of the safest and most secure in the nation.

>> Gwyneth: Ramona Goolsby, tha so much for being with us today.

>> Goolsby: Thank you for having me.

>> Gwyneth: Now, your opponent has been eight years administering elections in Dona Ana County, as the County Clerk, you've spent several years scrutinizing and challenging the way elections are administered, but you haven't run one.

Why should voters choose you to oversee elections statewide?

>> Goolsby: I think that█s a great question.

One -- the first thing I have to say is, we're not running for County Clerk.

We're running for an executive level leadership position.

And as far as elections go, I like to always start at the bottom.

And I'm not saying that election clerks at the -- checking clerks are at the bottom, but that█s one of the jobs that I've done worked Election Day municipal elections -- the federal election, presidential elections.

And you get a firsthand view of how things are done.

And I really appreciate that.

And then voter registration.

Been a voter registration agent for a long time, and just studying the process, and especially the ethics and campaign finance information have been really keyed in on that.

So, you know, like I said, the executive leadership, I definitely have a hand on that as well as the business.

Elections are extremely important, and I'm not downplaying them.

But the business side of that office is the first side of the state government that business is trying to start, seize.

So we do have to make sure we have small businesses covered in everybody else.

So, it's multifactorial, it's not just -- >> Gwyneth: It's a big job.

>> Goolsby: It's a big job, it█s not just an Election Clerk.

>> Gwyneth: Now, earlier you mentioned a voter roll cleanup, and you've promised that in your first 30 days, you'll create a voter roll cleanup task force.

What exactly would that task force do that the Secretary of State and County Clerk's aren█t doing right now?

>> Goolsby: Well, that task force would be -- would comprised of County Clerk█s as well, because they're the ones that have to do that.

But there are other individuals within the state that are interested in seeing how we can -- of course, follow the law, but make sure that we get our voter rolls as well maintained as they should be, providing tools that they need, as making sure they have access to the national change of address database, making sure that they have access to vital statistics.

Whatever tools we need to make sure that those voter rolls are well maintained.

I have lots -- and I'm sure everybody does.

When you're talking with people, they will give you instances of, well, my grandmother has been dead for 30 years and I still get mail for her.

You know, those kinds of things.

And it's concerning to people because they think that they've already got that taken care of, or -- somebody has moved out of the house and they're still getting mail for them.

So I mean, it definitely, I think would help people feel at ease knowing that that was a concerted effort to have that maintained.

So we're going to get some people involved and use the tools we have -- >> Gwyneth: I understand that people are concerned about the voter rolls and concerned that dead people might be on there, things like that.

Is it important to balance not scraping off people who are alive and valid, you know, voters?

>> Goolsby: It is very important.

And we don't want to remove anybody that is an eligible voter, for sure.

But anything worth doing does take a little bit of time.

>> Gwyneth: So, what evidence do you need to have in order to remove someone?

>> Goolsby: Well, a Death Certificate if they've passed away.

Obituaries are considered legal notifications and -- documents from vital statistics that can also be used.

>> Gwyneth: Okay, Voter ID -- you've said that you have not seen evidence of widespread voter fraud, but you also say that New Mexico should require voter ID showing ID at the polls stops one kinf of fraud, someone voting as another person.

What evidence do you have that that's happening in New Mexico right now?

>> Goolsby: I don't have any specific evidence to that.

The reason I support that is because of the phone calls and the conversations that I have had with New Mexicans, as we've seen on polls, it's an 8020 issue, and I always enjoy talking with people that are registered differently than I am.

And one of the ladies that I talked with, she's red, she said, “I'm a registered Democrat.” And I said, “Great, I want to talk to you.” Because I really do want to understand everybody's perspective.

And she said, “What are you going to do about voter ID?

And I said, well, what do you want done about voter ID?” And she said, “I think it just makes common sense.” She said, “We have to have it no matter what we do.” And if it makes people feel more comfortable that I show an ID and more people were participate in the process, then I'm all for that, and it does make sense.

And if we have people in this state that can't get an ID for whatever reason, they're extremely limited in anything they do -- technically.

>> Gwyneth: Well, I'll tell you, I run around with nothing but my phone a lot these days because -- they aren't carting me as often as they used to.

[both laugh] >> Gwyneth: But if there's no evidence of the problem, wouldn't voters feel more confident in the process if candidates just said, “We're not seeing voter fraud, it's not a problem.” >> Goolsby: I don't necessarily think that.

And the reason is because of identity theft.

It is one of the largest crimes -- most -- it█s the biggest crime right now, not just in the United States but worldwide.

And that has people on edge.

People are always -- I mean, how many times do you get ads for -- identity theft, identity thefts?

So, people are concerned about those types of things -- -- >> Gwyneth: But, isn█t identity theft about taking your money, not voting in your place?

>> Goolsby: Not necessarily.

Well, not necessarily.

We don't know what all they do with the data that they take.

So, you know, ensuring that you are who you are is fine.

Like I said, I do -- I live in Rio Rancho which requires ID to vote in municipal elections.

And I've worked both.

And I will tell you that people walk in with their ID and they're very happy to bring it in.

I also like the fact that we do have verbal verification.

I think that's probably something that will be kept.

But yes, I think that we have a consensus, actually, a large number of people that feel more confident with it.

And if that's the way they feel, then I -- >> Gwyneth: Well, it's not a consensus, right?

Because a lot of people say that it does disenfranchise young voters especially.

>> Goolsby: Yeah.

>> Gwyneth: They're less likely to be carrying ID, fewer of them have driver's licenses these days -- >> Goolsby: They are getting less and less, but they usually have -- to get on any type of transportation, like if you're flying somewhere, if you go to the doctor, you're supposed to have your ID.

I mean, there's lots of things that you need an ID for.

So we want to make sure that they have access to that.

>> Gwyneth: You have, as we said earlier, not served as a County Clerk, which is a common resume item for someone running for a Secretary of State.

But you did have a business related to this kind of work, the G.A.B.I.

Center for accountability.

>> Goolsby: Yes.

>> Gwyneth: Tell me about the center, what did it do and who were your clients?

>> Goolsby: Yes, it's GABI Center for accountability.

It is the -- Government Accountability By Independence.

And when I started that business, I was registered as Decline to State.

And what we did was IPRA requests, which you know a lot about.

When we try to get information from the government, a lot of people get very frustrated.

And I actually was approached to do IPRA request and I was -- I told them I was very happy to teach how we do it.

I've had pretty good success at getting most of the information I request, but people were like, “no, I really don't want to put my name on it.” And I was always like, “Well, why?” And they█re, you know, they have different reasons.

So, one of the things we do is IPRA requests for -- we've done it for parties, we've done it for individuals, we've done it for companies just so they can get the data that they need.

>> Gwyneth: So, you're paid to file inspection of Public Records Act requests, and effectively hide the name of the person who really wants the information?

>> Goolsby: Well, yeah, I request it.

So yeah, they call it security on their part.

So we do get information.

>> Gwyneth: Okay.

David and Aaron Clements were leading voices challenging New Mexico's 2020 election results.

And in 2022, they were quite vocal in front of the Otero County Commission, which then refused to certify the primary until the state Supreme Court ordered it to do so.

You said you talked frequently with the Clements and that they have valuable information.

Do you believe that New Mexico's 2020 election was accurately counted?

>> Goolsby: I think that there were some areas that, just like in any other state, that there were some miscounted.

We can pull, you know, canvasing, reports and see that things were not exactly originally as they were counted.

But as far as widespread, I don't I have not seen that.

>> Gwyneth: If a county commission refused to certify election results while you were Secretary of State, what would you do?

>> Goolsby: I would personally go and find out what their concern was before taking a legal step.

I really do want to understand why they wouldn't do that and see what evidence they have.

And then at that point, do whatever we need to do to get the elections certified.

>> Gwyneth: Do you believe that the Clements presented that amount of evidence to the county commission?

>> Goolsby: I don█t know exactly what the Clements presented.

>> Gwyneth: Okay.

You've said you were registered as an Independent running that business, although you're a Republican again.

>> Goolsby: Yes, yes.

>> Gwyneth: You've said you want to take the politics out of the Secretary of State's office.

>> Goolsby: Yes.

>> Gwyneth: But you've also described politics as a mission field, and you've talked about working to recruit Christian leaders to run for office.

Your faith is a prominent part of your campaign.

I see a lot of it on your social media field.

How do you recognize these two things?

Taking the politics out of the office, but having politics as a mission field closely tied to your faith?

>> Goolsby: Well, as a Christian, I feel that we -- value justice.

And in our country, justice -- we have statutes, rules and laws that we follow.

I also believe that we -- are seen by love, and I think that that makes inclusion, that it means speaking to every person that is eligible and making sure everyone feels included as far as that goes.

So those are principles, you know that -- I think the two -- love is the most important principle as a Christian.

But also we have justice and we have -- you know, inclusion in that.

That's what we all want.

>> Gwyneth: You've talked about Emerge New Mexico, which trains Democratic women to run for office.

It is more than 100 alumni now in office in the state, including your opponent in this race.

I was interested to see you say that, Emerge█s ideology doesn't match Christian ideology.

And now I'm curious, do you believe that Democratic Party values are incompatible with Christianity?

>> Goolsby: No I don't.

>> Gwyneth: So, how do Emerge█s ideology -- how does that not match Christian ideology.

>> Goolsby: Emerge has more of a what I would call -- socialist type -- theory, from what I've read, and I do not believe that socialism as a political ideology is compatible necessarily -- especially with the Constitution because of individual rights and those types of things.

>> Gwyneth: So, 100 women is a lot.

>> Goolsby: It is a lot of women.

>> Gwyneth: Are there 100 socialists elected to office here in New Mexico?

>> Goolsby: You know, I don't know that they themselves personally align as completely with party -- their particular Emerge.

I do know that my opponent was -- in ‘24 was endorsed by the Democratic Socialists, and I think in the Primary she was as well, preferred, I think.

>> Gwyneth: The big picture here.

>> Goolsby: Yeah -- you're talking big picture.

I think that people don't necessarily always agree 100 percent with who trains them, and I think that's fair to say.

>> Gwyneth: But are you saying they're not Christian?

Many of them are.

>> Goolsby: No, I'm not saying they're not Christian.

That's not my job.

>> Gwyneth: Okay.

You have said that states are sovereign when it comes to elections and that you don't want outside pressure.

Last year, President Trump's Justice Department sued New Mexico to get the state's full voter file names, birthdates, addresses, driver's license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.

Secretary Toulouse Oliver refused, saying, state law protects that data and a federal judge dismiss the case.

If you had been Secretary of State at that time, would you have handed over the file?

>> Goolsby: I would have followed the law.

>> Gwyneth: And that means, no, you would not have handed over the file?

>> Goolsby: That's correct.

>> Gwyneth: You would have done the same thing Toulouse Oliver did?

>> Goolsby: That's right.

>> Gwyneth: Okay.

You've also said that you've registered as Decline to Say, because you didn't want your election work to be seen as Partisan.

During that time, you were one of the leaders of the effort to repeal laws of the legislature passed in 2023, including two on abortion and gender affirming care.

And you sued the Secretary of State when she rejected those petitions.

The Republican Party of New Mexico publicly backed that effort.

How is that nonpartisan?

>> Goolsby: There were people that were not Republicans that signed the petitions.

It's personal conviction about personal issues.

That's what those petitions were for.

>> Gwyneth: Okay.

What's one thing about how New Mexico runs elections right now that you would keep exactly as it is?

>> Goolsby: I would keep -- thanks for the question, I█m going to have to process that.

There are a lot of things that I like about our elections.

I like the fact that we're very, very particular about being accessible.

We do really a pretty good job of trying to educate the public.

I see the efforts on the County Clerk's office.

I think we should continue that.

I really do value the paper ballots, and I think people really like that part of it, and I do too.

I do think we need to do audits, and I think the certification process is fine.

When the clerks present to the county commission and they review the records and they sign.

I think that's fine as well.

>> Gwyneth: Thank you so much for being with us today.

>> Goolsby: Thank you for having me.

>> Nash: Thanks to Ramona Goolsby for exploring her views on the Secretary of State's role and her plans for the office with us.

And a special thanks to Gwyneth Doland.

She is wrapping up her 16th year as politics correspondent here on in Focus, and she is integral to how we bring you the news.

And with recent staffing challenges we've had.

There is no way we could have gotten to as much as we did as well as we did this election season without her, and a reminder that the polls are open from 7 a.m.

to 7 p.m.

this coming Tuesday, November 3rd.

If you're trying to vote early tomorrow, Saturday, October 31st is the last day to do it.

And finally, if you're still holding on to an absentee ballot, you'll want to hand deliver it to a polling place or ballot dropbox rather than mail it in at this point.

>> Nash: Now, before we go, we want to acknowledge the death of Dolores Huerta, the New Mexico born co-founder of the United Farm Workers Union and feminist icon who died Wednesday of cancer at her home in California.

She was 96.

Huerta last appeared on our show in 2017.

Here she is speaking with correspondent Russell Contreras about the political climate of the time and the history of organizing.

You can find that interview on our YouTube channel.

And for a vivid portrait of Huerta█s life and work, I encourage you to read local Associated Press reporter Susan Montoya Bryan█s piece out this week for New Mexico PBS I'm Nash Jones.

Until next week, stay focused and vote if you haven't already.

Funding for New Mexico in Focus is provided by viewers like you.