David L. Mooney

Healthcare: Residents of rural New Mexico often travel significant distances for medical care and face shortages of doctors and other providers. What should the Legislature do to improve access to affordable health care in communities throughout District 38?

We should begin moving toward universal healthcare in our state. Our current system favors insurance companies over patients and doctors. No New Mexican should go broke because of a health emergency.

In the coming months, our rural healthcare will be hit hard by federal cuts, and we need to protect access to that care.

For folks who need to travel for their healthcare, we should extend and expand bus services in the short term and work towards expanding the rail runner in the long term.

Affordability and the rural economy: What should the Legislature do to reduce the cost of housing, food, utilities and health care while creating more good-paying jobs in the smaller and rural communities of District 38?

Our economy should work for the people who live here. We must invest in local businesses, workforce training, infrastructure, and career pathways that sustain New Mexicans here, support good-paying homegrown jobs over giveaways to out-of-state corporations, and help small businesses grow while protecting our water, land, and air.

Every dollar we as a state invest in supporting small businesses, we will get back tenfold. Rather than our money going to out-of-state shareholders.

Water and economic development: Communities throughout District 38 face limited water resources while also pursuing economic development, including proposed data centers and other large projects. What requirements should the state place on developments that require substantial amounts of water or energy, and under what circumstances should the state reject a project?

If we don’t slow these projects down now, and negotiate from a place of strength, we will be dealing with the consequences for generations. 

I support a statewide moratorium of at least 18 months while we set clear rules for water, energy, and infrastructure impacts. Water is too precious to risk irreversible decisions, and New Mexicans can’t afford higher utility rates. Future development must meet strict standards and put our communities before corporate profits.

Government accountability: What changes would you support to make state government and the Legislature more transparent and accountable, including disclosure of lobbying activity and the influence of organizations and businesses seeking to shape state policy?

Passing a lobbying transparency bill (in line with previous attempts that have sadly failed) is absolutely one of my top priorities. Much of our state’s problems, from data centers taking advantage of us, to our issues with healthcare, can in large part be traced back to corporate lobbyists. Lobbying transparency won’t solve every problem right away, but it’s the best and biggest thing that we could do right now, to start solving the problem.

The Bulletin asked each Dona Ana County candidate four questions to allow voters to assess where the candidates stands on important issues heading into the election. The questions vary for each office, but are the same for every candidate running for the same office.