“The people of this nation have spoken,” President-Elect Joe Biden said. “They’ve delivered us a clear victory. A convincing victory. A victory for ‘We The People.’”
Biden delivered his presidential acceptance speech in Delaware, after neighboring Pennsylvania was called in his favor.
Here in New Mexico, local government officials are hopeful about the victory, including Las Cruces City Councilor Gabe Vasquez who says the Biden victory is a huge win for the state.
“I think New Mexicans overwhelmingly voted in support of a Biden administration, and I think we're hungry for national change,” Vasquez said. “I think we have some terrific leaders at the state level and representing us in Congress…Acting seriously on climate change, racial justice and racial equity, economic development opportunities for rural New Mexico and helping to mitigate the impacts of COVID are all things that I am looking forward to under this administration.”
Vasquez is hopeful newly elected leaders will be able to bring transformative change to New Mexico. He’s calling on officials to be bold in their decision making.
“For too long, we've been at the bottom of a lot of lists, including academic and poverty and child well-being and child hunger. And I think we really have to turn that ship around in a meaningful way,” Vasquez said. “There are going to be some bold proposals moving forward in the state legislative session in 2021. Including legalizing cannabis, recreational cannabis, which I think is really important for Las Cruces and Doña Ana County, in particular, because a lot of those dollars would come from outside of the state and create economic based opportunities.”
Vasquez has been a strong supporter of legalizing marijuana in New Mexico. This year, states like Arizona, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota legalized cannabis—something Vasquez is hoping to see the newly elected legislature do here.
“I'm counting on our state Senate to make the right call, to diversify our economy during a time when we desperately need it,” Vasquez said. “The governor supports this wholeheartedly. The House of Representatives, I know the majority supports this wholeheartedly. It's going to be up to our state senators to champion this and to see a future that people are asking for.”
District 4 Doña Ana County Commissioner Isabella Solis says the legislature should find other ways to strengthen the economy by helping small businesses.
“I think right, now, we need to open our state back up carefully,” Solis said. “I mean, I know that there are a lot of people that still fear the pandemic and the numbers that are increasing and the deaths, and I understand that, but we need to open our state back up, get our students back to school. Let's review the budget. What are we able to do?”
While disappointed in the Biden win, Solis says Americans need to come together and talk about their differences.
“We have one America,” Solis said. “It's the United States of America. I think that people should respect one another. And to be able to have unity, we really have to be real with ourselves and our policies. I think that unity is only created by the one that really wants to unify. If somebody wants to have unity it is going to start with them.”
Las Cruces City Councilor Johana Bencomo echoed sentiments of wanting to create a landscape of unity—hoping the Biden administration will take action to fix some of the underlying tensions in America.
“I'm really hoping that Biden, and Vice President-Elect Harris can really take the time to understand people's fears and anxieties and be able to act on them much differently,” Bencomo said. “I mean, I really hope that a conversation at the federal level regarding racial anxieties and racial injustice is really addressed. And I'm hoping that a woman of color at the helm can really help usher that.”
Bencomo says she's looking forward to learning more about the Biden administration’s plan for COVID-19 and hopes that New Mexican families and small businesses will be able to receive the assistance they need to get through the pandemic. In the meantime, Bencomo says she will continue to fight for the most vulnerable families in the community on the local level.
“I will certainly continue to speak up about the vulnerable families in Las Cruces and in our community, and especially those who were already vulnerable before the pandemic,” Bencomo said. “The economic recovery for those families is going to be extended even longer, and so, I'm really hoping that my colleagues and I can really hone in and focus on that 24% poverty rate…Cities are like laboratories of change. And I really think that Las Cruces has proven in the past, and can continue to prove, that we can be forward and progressive thinking in terms of how we address some of these societal issues.”
