KRWG Public Media is covering the New Mexico State Representative race for district 33. Early voting opens October 6th. Democratic candidate Micaela Lara Cadena spoke to Noah Raess.
Noah Raess:
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and why you are running for this office?
Micaela Lara Cadena:
Yes. Hello, I'm Micaela Lara Cadena, and I'm honored to be a state representative in New Mexico's House district 33. I grew up in this valley and have been so honored to raise my own kids here in the communities that raised me. I first ran for office after doing legislative based advocacy for more than a decade, and sometimes I still laugh and say that those years as an advocate, knocking on doors and pushing for votes were maybe more impactful than what happens when you actually get up there and hold a vote yourself. But over those eight years I've been in office, I'm immensely proud of what I've held and carried, including really important legislation so that access to repro health care and abortion remain safe and legal in New Mexico and for so many else around the country that come here for the care that they need. I'm also really proud to have been a sponsor of the Indian Family Protection Act. So that native children stay with their families and with their tribes. More than ever in these last couple of years, I've been talking about water, and I think it's a conversation we should all be having. But what I've said from the beginning is that I'm immensely proud to bring my southern New Mexico values to the Capitol. It certainly feels far from home to get all the way to Santa Fe, but I'm grateful to have such relationships across this valley so that I can always learn and listen and turn to people that have insight to share as we get into lawmaking.
Noah Raess:
Yeah, and you kind of touched on this a little bit, but I was hopping to kind of expand. What are the top issues in your district and how would you successfully address those issues?
Micaela Lara Cadena:
Being in a legislative role means that every day we consider questions that have statewide impact and statewide consequence. For the first couple of years, I was proud to be on the House Ag and Water Committee, as well as the House Judiciary Committee. I then moved to tax, and eventually over this last term, I asked the speaker to send me back to ag and water. As many of your listeners I imagine know, the next decade is going to shape our water future in this valley. For years now, I've been watching the pending decision on Texas v. New Mexico, a massive piece of litigation that the United States Supreme Court finally ruled on and moved forward with our settlement agreements. What that means is that in this valley in the lower Rio Grande, the state of New Mexico is going to buy back over 18,000 acre feet of water, of water rates. That amounts to about 9000 acres or 15mi² of land. So in this next decade, and we are under an order from the United States Supreme Court, the state will be buying back waters of severing water rights from land that we know today is farmland. Our valley will look and feel and be different on the other side of that. So especially in this next term, we as people who live here and breathe here and imagine futures here, deserve to be in a conversation about what those water realities are and how we respond to them in a collective way. So now we're under an order from the Supreme Court. It comes and kicks back to the state to implement those next steps. And being in the legislature gives me a key voice and a key perspective to lead some of those conversations and to make sure our voices are centered in them.
Noah Raess:
And data centers have been a major topic of debate in Doña Ana County, the state, but also nationally. What do you think the state's role should be in handling new data centers and maybe ones that are already in existence?
Micaela Lara Cadena:
I really look forward to the day where I don't have to spend all my time and energy talking about data centers, but certainly here in Doña Ana County, most of us, an overwhelming majority of us, agree that what happened with Project Jupiter was devastating. And the impending harm coming to our communities cannot be understated. Those dirty deals originated in Santa Fe with our current governor, Lujan Grisham, and with key legislative leadership, including Chair Nathan Small that made deals on Project Jupiter without letting the rest of us or any of us know what was going on and what was coming. So for myself and colleagues, Representative Rubio, Representative Chavez, Senator Hamblin, we are trying to step up and make sure that these same kind of dirty deals aren't rolling through the rest of New Mexico. So there will certainly be, certainly many approaches to get that done. Colleagues are talking about a moratorium on new development for data centers. Some of us have gone further to say at this point, because of all that's gone down, we should be talking about a ban on data centers. Polling is out there, including really critical polling from the Albuquerque Journal that shows the majority of New Mexicans stand with us. People have real questions. They haven't been answered. And there are so many New Mexicans, from right to left across bipartisan samples that want politicians to slow down and consider what the consequences of data centers are At least enact a moratorium. Many support a ban. The majority support a ban, but are certainly saying we need at least a moratorium or pause on new data center development so that we all can catch up and put appropriate protections and parameters in place should data centers like Jupiter continue to try to show up in our state.
Noah Raess:
And CYFD has been in hot water this year between an attorney general's investigation and reporting showing that CYFD dropped a child off at the US-Mexico border. What do you see as the best path forward for this department?
Micaela Lara Cadena:
That is a really important question. Over the years, I've gotten to sit with and learn from and listen to families that are system impacted, families that are struggling under the immensity of poverty and resources that are always promised but rarely delivered. And I've sat with families when they've had children removed, children that they loved and desperately wanted. But still faced removal when they couldn't secure safe housing or didn't have resources to navigate substance use and dependency. Unfortunately, over the last couple of years, we've seen this Democratic governor enact extreme directives that I still say were unlawful and immoral. To take babies and to take the little ones from their families, when in fact families are asking for support and resources. So what I'd say moving forward is that we need trusted leadership. We need people that come from social work. We need people that come from behavioral health backgrounds, come from families who know the weight of these decisions. Like someone I trust says often, CYFD isn't broken, it's working exactly as it was designed to. So I want to imagine something different so that when families in New Mexico need support and resources, that we actually have an agency that can meet them there in a respectful and dignified way. And then of course, in some of those terrible circumstances when things have gone too far and little ones are no longer safe, then in a very considerate and cautious and conservative way, that we have the right tools in place to get those little ones to safety. But for me, it's reimagining the whole system.
Noah Raess:
And New Mexico has ranked near the bottom in terms of education for many years. What do you think needs to be done to turn this around?
Micaela Lara Cadena:
Well, we have a court order explaining lots of this we need to implement. We need to follow through on the directives that come out of Yazzie Martinez. We have to trust tribes. Certainly in the middle of our failing education systems, we need to provide more resources, more dollars, more support so that tribal governments can care for their own little ones. Even in the last couple of years, the legislature moved proposals that would have done so. And this governor unfortunately vetoed those same proposals that would have put dollars where they're most needed inside of nations, tribes and pueblos to oversee and continue to carry the responsibilities of their own educational systems. When we come to the Martinez side of the Yazzie Martinez, ruling, across our state, we continue to fail, kids. As a parent myself, as someone raised by two classroom educators, I've always said that children deserve places to find belonging. So I would love to see, besides more school days that we always have debates about what happens in the classroom, we have to figure out how to offer belonging outside the classroom. We need real investments in the extracurriculars, whether that's music and our band programs and every other fantastic thing happens where so many of our young people find joy and connection and laughter to theater departments, to athletic departments like kids in New Mexico should not be turned away. I continue, or since I've been in office, I've been in closer conversation with our current superintendent and others because even in Las Cruces, there's kids that somehow rack up the courage to go out for something like eighth grade girls soccer and if we don't have enough slots, we're turning them away. That can change the course of their lives. If we have an eighth grader who actually shows up for something and we say we don't have room for you, that means we've failed them. They showed up and we turned them away. So certainly I'm really impressed and grateful with Superintendent Ruiz and his current LCPS leadership. They take those concerns seriously, and they're moving mountains to make sure that when young people are looking around for somewhere to be that we offer so many pathways in our schools.
Noah Raess:
And finally, what else do you think it is important for voters to know about you and your campaign?
Micaela Lara Cadena:
Noah, I hope voters have some energy to listen as we get into another election season in this race and a few across the county. We are in very contested primaries. Overwhelmingly, it seems that I want a Democratic primary that was all about Project Jupiter. In that race, Project Jupiter lobbyist found someone to run against me. They funded someone to run against me, and they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attacking me. I'm immensely grateful that people know me. People have built a trusting relationship with me and saw through lots of that nonsense. But I'm hoping voters offer us again the bandwidth to continue to be in these conversations with us. I trust voters. They deserve honest and accurate information. Sadly, like much of what they're going to get this season, is not that. So please continue to like pay attention. Ask questions. Show up at town halls, listen to our forums. Listen to the radio shows. Because there are big gaps between the people that are running for these seats. And, yeah, I'm grateful that voters will give us a chance to knock on those doors. Be in those conversations so we can talk about why we're running and who we are.
