Check out the website: https://lenspoliticalnotes.com Look at the recent Political Notes and Len’s Letters on the website.
SOUTHWEST: Political Note #389 Tom O’Halleran AZ 01, Political Note #375 Steven Horsford NV 04, Political Note #356 Susie Lee NV 03, Political Note #423 Gabe Vasquez NM 02, Political Note #417 Abby Broyles OK 05, Political Note #377 Lizzie Fletcher TX 07, Political Note #362 Vicente Gonzalez TX 15, Political Note #399 Colin Allred TX 32
WEST: Political Note #422 Christy Smith CA 25, Political Note #383 Harley Rouda CA 48, Political Note #384 Peter DeFazio OR 04.
MIDWEST: Political Note # 398 David Palmer IL 13, Political Note #376 Lauren Underwood IL 14, Political Note #378 Elissa Slotkin MI 08, Political Note #357 Haley Stevens MI 11, Political Note #355 Angie Craig MN 02, Political Note #418 Brad Pfaff WI 03
SOUTHEAST: Political Note #385 Carolyn Bordeaux GA 07, Political Note #410 Charles Evans NC 08, Political Note #416 Stewart Navarre VA 01, Political Note #388 Elaine Luria VA 02
NORTHEAST: Political Note #363 Tom Malinowski NJ 07, Political Note #394 Susan Wild PA 07, Political Note #397 Eugene DePasquale PA 10
SPECIAL ELECTIONS: Political Note #393 Allison Russo OH 15 (Election is on November 2, 2021), Political Note #364 Jana Lynne Sanchez TX 06 (lost), Political Note #382 Melanie Stansbury NM 01 (won),
October 28th, 2021 Political Note #423 Gabe Vasquez NM 02
2022 General Election
Gabe Vasquez’s https://gabeforcongress.com has got one job now. Defeat Yvette Herrell. In 2018, Democrat Xochitl Torres Small rode the Democratic wave and defeated Yvette Herrell to be elected to an open Republican Congressional seat. In 2020, Yvette Herrell made Torres Small a one term Member of Congress. In 2022, Democrat Gabe Vasquez can return the favor and make Yvette Herrell a one term Member of Congress.
Gabe Vasquez is a City Councilor in Las Cruces. He began his career with a BA in Journalism from New Mexico State University. With that degree, he worked four years for newspapers and another four years in public relations. After a stint as a Field Rep for US Senator Martin Heinrich, he found the type of organization he wanted to work for – the New Mexico Wildlife Federation, The Wilderness Society, and the Western Conservation Foundation. He has been the Deputy Director for Federal Lands of the Western Conservation Foundation for the last two years while also serving on Las Cruces’ City Council.
Gabe Vasquez would create, if he could, a Civilian Conservation Corps to “address a severe youth unemployment problem, address racial and social inequities, and help our nation reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the impacts of climate change. [He says] I’m all for building the next generation of conservation leaders.” Born in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, he grew up hunting with his grandfather and fishing with his father. He has become an expert on New Mexico’s outdoors. He helped found Nuestra Tierra Conservation Project in 2017 which provides “communities of color with sustainable opportunities for community engagement, access and education around public lands and waters…”. The Project says conservation is not a project for the elite. Its leadership argues that “a person’s household income should never determine whether they get to enjoy clear air, water, and the outdoors…..”
Gabriel Vasquez led in the effort to create the Nevada Avenue Neighborhood Cooling project for Las Cruces. He understood that planting trees and undertaking what middle class people see as making life more livable would make everyone’s life better. He was instrumental in the creation of the Outdoor Equity Fund which began to award grants in 2020. The goal was to award grants toward ensuring that “access to the outdoors should be low-cost and ubiquitous for all New Mexicans.” These efforts have created new businesses. The Outdoor Equity Fund’s Incubator and Accelerator is awarding grants to support “early stage outdoor businesses…..”
Gabe Vasquez organized these initiatives in a few years as a City Councilor. It might take a little longer in Congress. In Congress, he would be a total contrast to Yvette Herrell. Even though Herrell was the third Native American woman to be elected to Congress, the second from New Mexico, she was not an asset to New Mexico’s environment. In Congress, she joined the Freedom Caucus, the most right wing Republican group. She is a supporter of Donald Trump’s Big Lie claim that he actually won the 2020 election. She was one of those who voted against the certification of the electoral college votes from Pennsylvania and Arizona. When she got to Congress, she had practice claiming fraudulent elections. She claimed fraud in her 2018 loss to Torres Small. Others claimed (Herrell argued that they were primary opponents) that Herrell failed to disclose her real estate company’s nearly a half-million dollars in contracts with state agencies.
Herrell’s voting and her political positions reflect the far-right positions of the Freedom Caucus. She voted to end the Affordable Care Act and has argued that health insurance should be an unregulated free-market commodity. When she was in the New Mexico legislature, she sponsored a bill to end, with some exceptions, late term abortions. She opposed the American Rescue Plan that provided economic support in the midst of the pandemic and opposed the Equality Act to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. When challenged about not wearing a mask for protection against Covid-19, she explained no one in the audience was wearing a mask so she thought she did not need one in that setting (quite the opposite of what common sense would call for).
Unless redistricting makes drastic changes in New Mexico’s Second Congressional District, the people of this moderately conservative, majority Hispanic district will get to choose between its extremist conservative incumbent and an interesting and innovative outdoorsman. Help the people of NM 02 choose Gabe Vasquez https://gabeforcongress.com . Donate to the cause. Flip a Republican seat. Keep the House Democratic.
Democrats to flip Republican seats (I will keep adding to this list)
California 25 Christy Smith https://www.christyforcongress.org Help her make the third time a charm.
California 48 Harley Rouda https://harleyforcongress.com Help him get his seat back from a far rightist supporter of Trump and Elder
Illinois 13 David Palmer. https://palmerforillinois.com Help this financial planner and former basketball player defeat a perpetually vulnerable Republican
Iowa 02 Christina Bohanan https://bohannanforcongress.com Help this popular U of Iowa law school professor and state rep
North Carolina 08 Charles Evans https://www.charlesevansforcongress2022.com/ Help this formerly incarcerated guy who created a non-profit to help others like him
New Mexico 03 Gabe Vazquez https://gabeforcongress.com Help this outdoorsman who knows how to make government work
Ohio 15 Allison Russo https://allisonrusso.com (Special election November 2, 2021.) Help this health care researcher win an open Republican seat.
Oklahoma 05 Abby Broyles https://www.abbybroyles.com Help this young, former television celebrity and investigative reporter defeat a vulnerable Republican
Pennsylvania 10 Eugene DePasquale https://eugeneforcongress.com Help the former State Auditor defeat Incumbent Scott Perry – perhaps the most active Congressional conspirator in the effort to overturn the 2020 election
Virginia 01 Stewart Navarre https://stewartnavarre.com Help this former Marine Colonel and medical exec defeat an extreme Republican in a district with a hint of purple
Vulnerable incumbent Democrats and Dems defending Open Democratic Seats.
West
Nevada 03 Susie Lee https://www.susieleeforcongress.com Received 48.75% of the vote in 2020
Nevada 04 Steve Horsford https://www.stevenhorsford.com Received 50.67% of the vote in 2020
Oregon 04 Peter DeFazio https://www.defazioforcongress.org Received 51.26% of the vote in 2020
Texas 07 Lizzie Fletcher https://www.lizziefletcher.com Received 50.79% of the vote in 2020 (Redistricting makes this seat safer for her)
Texas 15 Vicente Gonzalez http://www.vicentegonzalez.com Received 50.5% of the vote in 2020 (He is now running in the safe Democratic TX 34)
Texas 32 Colin Allred https://www.colinallred.com Received 51.95% of the vote in 2020 (Redistricting makes this seat safer for him)
Washington 08 Kim Schrier https://www.drkimschrier.com Received 51.79% of the vote in 2020
Elsewhere in the US
Georgia 07 Carolyn Bordeaux https://www.carolyn4congress.com Received 51.39% of the vote in 2020
Iowa 03 Cynthia Axne https://cindyaxneforcongress.com Received 48.9% of the vote in 2020
Illinois 14 Lauren Underwood https://underwoodforcongress.com Received 50.67% of the vote in 2020
Kansas 03 Sharice Davids https://shariceforcongress.com/ A ten point victor, but facing redistricting for 2022
Michigan 08 Elissa Slotkin https://elissaforcongress.com Received 50.88% of the vote in 2020
Michigan 11 Haley Stevens https://haleystevensforcongress.com Received 50.2% of the vote in 2020
Minnesota 02 Angie Craig https://angiecraig.com Received 48.21% of the vote in 2020=
New Jersey 07 Tom Malinowski https://malinowskifornj.com Received 50.61% of the vote in 2020
New Mexico 01 Tom O’Halloran https://www.tomohalleran.com Received 51.61% of the vote in 2020
Virginia 02 Elaine Luria https://elaineforcongress.com Received 51.6% of the vote in 2020
Wisconsin 03 Brad Pfaff https://bradpfaff.com Candidate to replace retiring Ron Kind
REDISTRICTING AND ITS IMPLICATION – in order of map adoption
Oregon Adds a competitive sixth seat. Probable gain of one Democratic seat.
Maine Slight changes in its two seats. Probable no change.
Nebraska Changes in its one competitive seat. Probable no change
Indiana Makes a competitive seat less competitive. Probable no change.
West Virginia Loses one seat. Probable loss of one Republican seat.
Texas Gains two seats from 23 R 13 D. Adds an R seat and a competitive seat. Probable gain of two Republican seats
So far: Probable net gain of one Democratic seat and one Republican seat
Organizations to support
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) https://dccc.org
The Democratic National Committee (DNC). https://democrats.org The official organization of the Democratic Party.
Fair Fight https://fairfight.com Promotes fair elections around the country
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Support Democrats. Sadly, Republicans have become enemies of democracy.
