KC Counts:
I'd like to start by having you tell us about how your background has prepared you to serve as New Mexico's next lieutenant governor.
Harold Pope, Jr.
Sure, you know, we talk about the roles of lieutenant governor being president of the Senate, presiding over the Senate floor, being lieutenant governor, of course, and having to step in as governor. If something were to happen to the governor, the governor goes out of state, serving on boards and commissions. And being the ombudsman, I think being a state senator gives you a lot of experience to serve in that position. I'm also the Vice Chair of Senate Education and serve on Senate Conservation, and I chair the Military and Veterans Affairs Committee in the interim. I also believe that experience that I have serving over 20 years in the military, retired Air Force officer that started off in the enlisted ranks, kind of just prepares me to have the experience and understand the perseverance and really the struggle and understanding how important this type of job is, whether it be lieutenant governor or if I ever had to step in to be the governor in the future if something were to happen.
KC Counts:
You touched on some of the content of my second question, the second highest ranking executive official acting as immediate successor and stand-in for the governor if elected. How else would you characterize the responsibilities of New Mexico's lieutenant governor?
Harold Pope, Jr.
Sure, I know. I'm sorry. I answered part of the question already. And I think probably just too many interviews probably trying to answer everything all at once.
KC Counts:
It's very common. It happens A lot.
Harold Pope, Jr.
Yeah, being lieutenant governor, presiding over the Senate, being the ombudsman, and serving on several boards and commissions, right, are also part of the job. But I also see it as really being a person who shows up in the community. The role that I foresee myself in is being a person that reaches out to all the communities and really being that voice on the 4th floor. And that's not a knock on anyone who's been lieutenant governor or serving now. But that's what I want to be, a voice for the community to where we're talking about policies, when we're talking about new laws in our state, or we're talking about what happens most of the year outside of our legislative sessions. A lot of policy is done within our agencies and within our departments. And I just really want to be that voice that really speaks for them and really helps our communities and helps them thrive and really be proactive and not reactive. We all know the governor's office has to step up when we have natural disasters and things that happen in our state, but I want to do more to really being that voice to the 4th floor.
KC Counts:
What issues facing the state are you most passionate about and how will you use the office of Lieutenant Governor to address them?
Harold Pope, Jr.
Sure, I think the top of the list, of course, is affordability, which I think pulls in a lot of issues, right? A lot of the affordability issues are unfortunately coming out of Washington and coming from this administration when it comes to tariffs and this war and everything going on. But I believe we can do a lot more to help people in our state, whether it be tax policies, how we deal with healthcare costs, prescription drugs, what we do with our permanent funds, what we do with tax policy. And I think we have to really look outside the box and figure out what we are going to do. One thing I hear so much from a lot of our folks who are really impoverished and low income and our seniors that are stuck really in fixed income that's coming in, we need to really start looking at things like guaranteed basic income and issues where when we look at our tax policy, if you don't have any children or you're not really making an income, what is a tax break that really doesn't help you? And so I would say affordability is the big issue. What can we do at the state level to help our people? And then after that, of course, access to health care. How do we get more providers here? How do we get the workforce here? How do we grow our own? We need to really talk about how we're going to really ramp up our medical professionals in our state, really support them, avoid those student loans, but really grow our own to where our doctors and the people that want to be here stay here. And of course, education, CYFD, issues aren't on our environment. And questions of what kind of state we want to be going forward. when it comes to data centers, when it comes to things like produced water, there are countless issues that I think are really important. And the voice of the people will need to be in Santa Fe to make sure that we're going in the right direction.
KC Counts:
What else do you think is important for people to know about your campaign that I haven't asked you about yet?
Harold Pope, Jr.
Sure, I think people need to understand that my campaign is really people powered and people driven. I have refused to take oil and gas, corporate, corporate, or corporate PAC money. I want to be beholden to the people, not to where the checks come from. I think this is a big issue nationally, whether it be DC or locally, that people are fed up with really how money controls our policies and politics. And that's something I don't want to be part of. That being said, I know that's tough to do. It's tough to get your name out. It's tough to pay for TV time and run a campaign without that type of money. But I believe you can still do that by getting out there, talking to people, talking about the issues. And I just really want to do it the right way. Finally, I'd say I'm a retired Air Force guy who started off in the enlisted ranks. I've just never forgotten where I came from. And while I've been very successful and educated, I've gotten here because people invested in me and people mentored me and people helped me get to where I'm at. And that's really what this is about for me is how do we invest in our people here in New Mexico, especially our young folks that I see so much potential in that even they have more potential than I have. Our communities that need to be invested in while we just continue to talk about investing in corporations and people to come into our state, we need to do more to invest in our communities. And so that's what this campaign's about. And that's what I'll continue to do, whether Lieutenant Governor or if I remain in the state Senate.
KC Counts:
And that is District 23, State Senator Harold Pope Jr. Thank you so much for the time. We appreciate speaking with you.
Harold Pope, Jr.
Thank you. Thanks for the opportunity.
