What challenges need the most attention right now?

SARAH: People are struggling to pay their bills. The federal government’s recklessness has led to folks paying more for all sorts of things, from food to health care to gasoline. Democrats in the Legislature have worked to keep necessities affordable. I have successfully carried legislation that uses state oil and gas revenue – not your tax dollars – to preserve funding for SNAP and health insurance that the feds cut.

Families should be able to afford what they need. Corporations manipulate our grocery bills all the time. I’ve proposed legislation to ban the use of artificial intelligence and digital price tags at grocery stores, and I’ll keep pushing to stop this.

I’m also fighting for folks to get paid time off from work to recover from illness or care for sick family members. I’m pushing to eliminate the income tax for most New Mexicans. And I’m fighting to stop data centers like Project Jupiter from connecting to our power grid and making us pay for their electricity.

What’s another need folks are sharing with you, and what are you doing about it?

SARAH: I often hear concerns about crime. One critical need is new infrastructure. I’ve pitched in $100,000 for a police training facility in Las Cruces, and I’ve raised $5 million for a new public safety facility in Chaparral. When it’s fully built, Chaparral will have a police and fire station, an ambulance bay, and an animal control facility.

The need is great. I know one woman whose mother died while waiting for an ambulance. And we’ve all had to deal with the packs of stray dogs. I was bitten by one while campaigning on Election Day in 2024.

Addressing Chaparral’s need is a bipartisan effort I’ve spearheaded with Sheriff Black. I’m excited to break ground on the facility later this year!

New Mexicans are worried about data centers. What are you doing to address their concerns?

SARAH: Construction crews building the Meta data center in El Paso were taking water from fire hydrants in Chaparral. I worked to stop them and send Meta back to Texas.

As for Project Jupiter, I’m fed up with the developers’ dishonesty, broken promises, and threats. I’ve asked the state to reject Project Jupiter’s proposed power plant. It’s too much pollution. I will also fight any proposal that creates the possibility you’ll pay for their electricity.

In the next session I’m planning to support strict rules for any future data centers, or a temporary moratorium if we need more time to agree on regulations. I will support legislation to force independent power plants like Project Jupiter’s to comply with our renewable energy rules.

I’ll continue fighting to bring transparency to lobbyists like Project Jupiter’s. And I’m proposing legislation to tax artificial intelligence data centers.

We must hold Project Jupiter and Meta accountable, and force any future data centers to be better neighbors than they have been.