Even in the heart of New Mexico’s biggest city, elderly residents wait too long for health care, and mobile home park tenants live constantly on the cusp of eviction, according to two Democratic candidates vying in the June 2 primary to represent New Mexico House of Representatives District 27.
The district encompasses much of Albuquerque’s Northeast Heights, running east of Interstate 25 and south of Paseo Del Norte. Of the roughly 23,000 registered voters who live within the 6.5-square-mile district, 40% are Democrats, 34% are Republicans and 27% are “other.”
Incumbent state Rep. Marian Matthews is seeking to keep her seat against opponent Abby Foster. Source NM posed several questions to both candidates about their races. Their answers below have been edited for clarity and concision.
District 27 is the only New Mexico House race to feature both a Republican and Democratic primary. Whoever wins the Democratic primary will face either Jahnelle Louise Garcia or Robert Godshall, both Republicans competing in that party’s primary, in the November general election. (Source NM will publish a profile of that primary in the coming days)
Abby Foster
Abby Foster is a married mother of two kids, ages 6 and 8, who attend a public school in District 27. She is also a lawyer, representing adults with disabilities in guardianship proceedings, and has worked as a City of Albuquerque attorney.
“I am running for this seat because I have little kids, and I want New Mexico to be a state where families can thrive,” she said.
What is the most important issue facing HD27?
We don’t have enough health care providers. It’s taking way too long for folks to get an appointment with their primary care doctor, let alone a specialist. And this is in Albuquerque. This isn’t in rural New Mexico counties, where the healthcare shortage is even worse.
Housing is way too expensive. It’s pretty expensive in this district. It makes it hard for working families to afford housing or, if you can get an apartment, it makes it hard to save to buy a house, because the rent is so expensive. And in this district, there are a fair amount of seniors who are getting priced out of their housing. We have these mobile home parks, where the landlords are raising the rent on the land that the mobile home sits on, and pricing people out of their own mobile homes that they own.
What is the most important issue facing New Mexico?
I don’t think there’s one. I think there’s, like, three to five intersecting ones that all matter a lot. If we had more housing stock that was more affordable, then we’d also have an easier time recruiting professionals of all types. We talk about the health care shortage. And there are a lot of aspects to that, and part of it is that doctors graduate with a whole lot of debt, and we don’t pay doctors enough in New Mexico to pay down their student loans, and the housing is too expensive for how much they have in the bank. So, you know, it just doesn’t make sense, and that’s a significant part of why they don’t come here.
If elected, what bill would you first introduce?
There are several bills I’d love to sponsor. Mostly bills that my opponent voted against or was absent for. If I had to pick just one, it would be something health care-related, like requiring managed care plans to fully cover health services for New Mexico Medicaid patients without limitations.
What is your top choice for committee service?
House Judiciary, because I’m an attorney, and we need more people doing close reading of how the bills are actually written. I think we need more legislators who are going to get in the weeds, and that’s where I spend a lot of my time.
What is your strongest skill that makes you the best candidate for the race?
Close listening. Close reading.
Do you support paying state lawmakers, and would you accept a salary?
If we want a Legislature that is representative of New Mexico, we have to pay them. And I also believe that when we don’t pay the Legislature, then we get legislators who treat it like a hobby, and we have real challenges in this state. We need a Legislature that treats their work like the job that it is.
Marian Matthews
Marian Matthews, a retired lawyer and educator, has represented District 27 since 2020. She describes herself as a “big tent Democrat” who deserves to stay as state representative because of her proven track record of devising “solutions that actually work” with the help of fellow lawmakers, regardless of party.
“I think there’s a tendency in certain parts of the party: ‘There’s only one way to think. We’ve got to do it this way or you’re not a real Democrat,’” she said. “Well, this is nonsense… To develop good law, to develop solutions to serious problems, it’s not one way or the highway.”
What is the most important issue facing HD27?
Healthcare. In District 27, we have a lot of older people, and when they’re not able to see doctors or other health care providers, for some of them, it’s like a death sentence. We started down the right path in the 30-day session. The change in [medical malpractice], HB 99 I think, was critical, but we got to put the system back together.
We have several manufactured housing parks in the district, and these kinds of housing alternatives often don’t have some of the same either legal or market conditions that stabilize the pricing. With mobile homes, the landlord can increase the rent, and it’s not unusual for tenants to face three or maybe even more rent increases in a year. And again, a lot of these parks have a number of residents who are older and living on Social Security.
What is the most important issue facing New Mexico?
Water. I mean, this is becoming perilous in the last few years, with climate warming, with lack of rainfall. I have several ideas about what we should be doing. First thing: Albuquerque, back in — I think it was the early 2000s — we imposed a whole series of water conservation measures, which reduced the per person use of water in our city by like 30%. So there’s a number of things like that that we could implement across the state.
We need to be mapping and refilling our aquifers. We need to continue the research as to what use we could make of brackish water. We need to think about so-called produced water, which is water that comes from oil and gas drilling. We just have to get serious about this, and we have to consider it as everybody’s obligation to do something to reduce water use.
If elected, what bill would you first introduce?
I’m going to go back to the compacts.
What is your top choice for committee service?
I’d like to stay on the [House Agriculture, Acequias and] Water Resources, because I’m very interested in water issues, and I’d like to stay on Commerce and Economic Development. I think it’s a great place to be innovative, but it’s also a great place to be practical.
What is your strongest skill that makes you the best candidate for the race?
I’m always willing to sit down, with bills that I’m working on, with people who are critical of them, and say, ‘help me make it better.’ Let’s figure out how we solve a problem. And I have done enough different things in my life, I have some ability to be able to hopefully perceive how something’s actually going to function.
Do you support paying state lawmakers, and would you accept a salary?
It’s a job. It’s hard work, and it should be compensated. I work as hard at this job as I had at any job I’ve ever had. And, yeah, I would take the money.
