KRWG Public Media is covering contested races around the region. Gina Ortega is running to become the Las Cruces’s next mayor, and KRWG’s Jonny Coker spoke with her regarding final thoughts about her campaign.
Transcript:
Jonny Coker:
So how do you feel like your campaign has gone in general so far?
Gina Ortega:
I think the campaign's actually going very well. People are excited to see that I'm back, and that I'm still running, not giving up.
Jonny Coker:
So what has been the main issue that's resonated with voters here in Las Cruces so far?
Gina Ortega:
Pretty much what people have been saying for the last eight years, this is my third time running, and they're just tired that their voices are not being heard. They're really concerned now with the drug problems that we're having here in the city. They're worried about the crime. And the homelessness, unfortunately, they know that the affordable housing project has been coming up a lot.
But I think it's mostly the crime, and the drug issues that we're having here in the city.
Jonny Coker:
And if elected to mayor of Las Cruces, how are you going to address those issues that these voters bring up?
Gina Ortega:
Well, I think it's important that we give people back their voices. Like I said, this is not my first time running and I ran on that I want people to have, you know, be able to come and say what their thinking or what they're worried about or what they're concerned about. Because I believe that right now we depend on seven people to actually make the decision for the whole city.
And I would like to have people come to city hall meetings and actually give us their ideas and their thoughts on maybe how we can solve these problems, because we have a lot of people here that have a lot of experience or knowledge or maybe have great ideas that I think that we're just not thinking outside the box.
