By Nash Jones, KUNM
State Sen. Craig Brandt has represented District 40 for over a decade and serves as the minority whip for the Republican Party. The longtime legislator in the Rio Rancho-area red district is facing a challenge this election from Democratic newcomer Amina Everett, who is running as a candidate for change.
Brandt described his leadership role in the Senate as using the rules to his party’s advantage. Like a Call of the Senate, which stalls bills by requiring all members to be present before debate can continue.
“My job as the whip has been to bring those challenges and to understand the rules really well,” he said.
Everett said, if she’s elected, the district will have a Senator who is less focused on gumming up the works in Santa Fe.
“They’re going to get a person who is responsive to their concerns and their needs,” she said. “I think people like my opponent, who’ve been in office so long, that can make a person jaded.”
Education
Education has long been a centerpiece of Brandt’s platform. He sits on the Senate Education Committee and used to serve on the Rio Rancho School Board.
“I have proposed a lot of things and a lot of things have gone nowhere,” he said.
He said the state has been throwing money at the problem of low test scores without seeing results.
“The districts need to be held accountable when that’s not happening,” he said. “How do we do that? Well, we’re going to have to have the state come in and put them on a probationary period.”
Everett said her approach would include hiring more specialists in subjects like reading, where almost 80% of New Mexico students are not proficient by the fourth grade. She would also prioritize smaller class sizes by targeting the state’s teacher shortage.
“Fifteen students is even too many in a class,” she said. “I would say we break it down to 10.”
Crime
Brandt lists crime as a top priority for his reelection. Though several of his recent public safety proposals didn’t pass, he said he expects that to change if he gets the chance to reintroduce a bill to expand the state’s organized crime statute to go after gangs and human trafficking.
“I’ve worked on this with too many people to just let it go,” he said. “It’s one of the bills that I have worked across the aisle. When it comes to the attorney general, when it comes to the governor’s office, we’ve worked on this together.”
Meanwhile, Everett said she will propose a ban on assault weapons.
Both candidates would like to see more police officers recruited and retained. But Everett was quick to qualify that.
“More police officers who are trained properly,” she added.
That includes racial bias training. Everett, who moved to Rio Rancho from Illinois for retirement, said she recognizes not everyone trusts police to make things safer.
“I can say, in the Black community where I came from, that is very very prominent,” she said. “Law enforcement has created that environment and they need to be responsible for dissipating that environment.”
The Democrat has raised only 10% of what Brandt has in the red district, where the longtime lawmaker’s name is also far better known.