Daisy Maldonado

Provide a short bio of yourself and tell us how you got into public service?

I am Daisy Maldonado, a community organizer, trained economist, and candidate for Doña Ana County Commission District 1. I came to Las Cruces from El Paso in 2003 to attend New Mexico State University, made this community my home, and raised my son here in the Las Cruces public schools.

I got into public service the way most people from working-class families do, not by planning it but by witnessing injustice and deciding I could not look away. I watched my mother, a caseworker, spend her entire life serving people on the margins of society, and when she died at fifty from lupus and inadequate healthcare, I made a promise to stand with those who have the least power and access to decision making bodies but are directly impacted by their decisions.

Over the past decade I served as the director of a nonprofit. I supported leaders, built coalitions, engaged in advocacy water, vaccine and early childhood funding advocacy across colonia communities, environmental organizations, and civic groups, work that ultimately brought me face to face with Project Jupiter, cost me my position, and led me here.

Project Jupiter has become one of the biggest economic development conversations in southern New Mexico. What do you see as the potential benefits and risks of the project for Doña Ana County, and what do you think the county should do at this point with the project?

I want to be honest about both sides of this. Economic development projects have the potential to create jobs and generate tax revenue, and I do not oppose development when it would support the economic mobility for many families in our county.

But Project Jupiter was approved in three weeks, without independent environmental review, without meaningful community input, and without settled answers to basic questions about water consumption, air pollution, the deterioration of our land and the developers were still changing their energy generation plans as recently as April 27 of this year, months after the commission already voted yes.

Right now during the construction phase water consumption has not been disclosed, when constructed the data centers will consume at least 60,000 gallons of water every day for operations, and the amount of water needed to construct the power plants as well as for their operation has to not been shared with the public.

The EPA has designated our area as a nonattainment zone for air quality meaning our air already fails federal health standards before this project adds a single additional emission. At this point the county commission should be demanding independent environmental and health impact assessments, full public disclosure of the water usage plan, and a community benefit agreement that guarantees local jobs and living wages before the project continues.

I would not have voted yes in September 2025, and I will not support any development that requires the sacrifice of our natural environment or constituents' health and wellbeing.

Juvenile crime and youth violence have become growing concerns across the county and the city of Las Cruces. What do you believe are the root causes of the problem, and what role should county government play in prevention, enforcement and rehabilitation?

Young people may engage in criminal acts when they grow up without stable housing, without mental health support, and without adults in their lives who have the time and resources to be present. The root causes of young people engaging in criminal acts in Doña Ana County are due to the conditions of poverty, housing instability, under-resourced schools, and a complete absence of paid pathways for young people to build skills and find purpose close to home.

County government cannot solve this alone, but it can invest in youth programs, paid internships, support community organizations that provide mentorship and civic engagement programming in colonia communities and urban neighborhoods, and ensure that county behavioral health resources are accessible, adequately funded, and available to young people before they reach a crisis point.

Enforcement is a matter of care, our youth deserve a county government who will work to serve their needs, address resource gaps and leverage programming and funding from city, state and federal sources to collaboratively work toward developing a county where every child, youth, individual and family can thrive.

Many residents say they feel growth is happening faster than infrastructure can keep up — including roads, housing, water resources and emergency services. How should the county balance economic development with protecting quality of life and long-term sustainability?

This tension is real and it is felt acutely in different parts of the county in particular for those who have been waiting the longest, in the colonia communities. There are communities that still have to deal with unreliable access to quality water, rural roads that are dangerous and unpaved, emergency response times that are too long and lack of broadband.

My answer is that the county should require new development to pay for the infrastructure it creates and demand the cost is not left to existing residents. That means mandatory community benefit agreements that include infrastructure investment, independent assessments of a project's impact on water, roads, and emergency services before approval, and a county Capital Improvement Plan that prioritizes the communities with the greatest unmet need rather than the greatest political access.

Growth that strengthens existing communities and extends infrastructure to those without it is sustainable development. When taking into consideration all of the infrastructure needs the county needs to apply for federal funding and then partner with city and state agencies to optimize that funding with those additional resources and expertise to enhance and improve the infrastructure we all need and use every day.

County government often operates with less visibility than city or state government, yet it makes major decisions involving taxes, public health, law enforcement and land use. What is one area where you believe the county commission needs to improve, and what would you do differently if elected?

Transparency, specifically the gap between when major decisions are being made and when residents find out about them. Project Jupiter is the most visible example, but it reflects a pattern: the commission approves significant financial commitments, land use decisions, and development agreements with very little advance public notice and very limited opportunity for meaningful community input.

By the time most residents learn about a decision it has already been made, and the public comment period that is scheduled is more performance than participation. If elected I will post plain-language summaries of all significant upcoming commission items on social media and in community communications before meetings, hold regular constituent office hours in colonia communities and urban neighborhoods of the district, and advocate for a formal community engagement requirement on any development proposal seeking county financial incentives, so that input shapes decisions rather than being collected after the fact for appearances.

Doña Ana County includes urban neighborhoods, rural communities and agricultural areas that often have very different priorities. How would you approach representing the entire county, especially when the interests of Las Cruces and smaller communities conflict?

I would start by showing up, consistently, in person, in the communities that do not typically see their county commissioner except during election season. The rural and unincorporated communities of District 1 have the same right to responsive county government as downtown Las Cruces neighborhoods, and they have historically received less of it.

When genuine conflicts arise between urban and rural interests I would apply a straightforward standard: which decision best protects the health, safety, and long-term wellbeing of the most vulnerable residents affected?

That standard does not always produce easy answers, but it produces honest ones. I would also be transparent with every community about the reasoning behind difficult votes because people can accept a decision they disagree with more readily when they understand how it was made and believe their commissioner actually listened before voting.

My decade of work across colonia communities and Las Cruces neighborhoods has given me relationships across this district that I will draw on every single day in office.