Ted Cruz stumps in Las Cruces, calls congresswoman Yvette Herrell a 'rock star'

LAS CRUCES - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, stopped in Las Cruces Monday night on a national tour stumping for Republican congressional candidates and gave a boost to New Mexico congresswoman Yvette Herrell.

"We're going to fire Nancy Pelosi," Herrell told an enthusiastic crowd at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum. House Speaker Pelosi's leadership has been a focus of Herrell's campaign as Republicans aim to edge out Democrats to capture a majority in the House of Representatives in the Nov. 8 elections.

Herrell was introduced by her former state legislature colleague, Rep. Rebecca Dow, R-Truth or Consequences, and spoke only briefly before introducing Cruz.

Without uttering the name of her Democratic opponent, former Las Cruces city councilor Gabe Vasquez, she tied him to Democratic leaders in Washington and said they "don't believe in the American values that are important to us: Freedom. Family. Faith. That's what we need to be fighting for every single day."

Herrell, a realtor and former state House member from Alamogordo, is seeking a second term in Congress after unseating Las Cruces Democrat Xochitl Torres Small in 2020. Herrell represents New Mexico's 2nd Congressional district, which encompasses the southwest corner of the state. Under its new boundaries, redrawn since the 2020 U.S. Census, the usually Republican stronghold includes more of the Albuquerque area than it previouslydid and its population of 706,000 leans slightly Democratic.

On the other hand, Herrell leads Vasquez in fundraising and has the backing of Republican leaders and political committees aiming to keep the seat red. Cruz called New Mexico a "battleground state," although Herrell is the lone Republican in the state's congressional delegation. Both senators and two other House members are Democrats.

"Let me just say Yvette Herrell is a rock star," Cruz said, even though he was the headliner, delivering a half-hour speech loaded with jokes about President Joe Biden and Democratic leaders in Congress, with a sober core excoriating the other party for soaring inflation, crime and increased migrant encounters (including asylum seekers and others crossing without inspection) at the U.S.-Mexico border. Herrell's district includes 180 miles of that border and Cruz also represents a border state.

After graphic descriptions of extortion and abuse by human traffickers in Mexico, Cruz declared, "We're dealing with millions of women and children being assaulted, being brutalized, being left for dead because of political decisions by the Democrats."

The event was paid for by the Truth and Courage PAC as part of Cruz's month-long "Take Back America" bus tour. The itinerary includes 17 states as Cruz is considered a possible candidate for a 2024 GOP presidential run. Cruz previously ran for the nomination in 2016.

The few hundred or so in attendance were invited outside the museum to sign the tour bus and pose for pictures with Cruz and Herrell.

Although they both steered clear of mentioning abortion at the rally, they did not shy away from it when asked directly by reporters. New Mexico is set to be the new home of the women's health clinic at the center of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling this summer in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned the federal right to abortion set by Roe v. Wade in 1972.

Herrell and Cruz argued that American opinion favored at least some restrictions on access to abortions and put the onus on Democrats to define what limits they would support. A Pew Research Center survey this summer reported that 61 percent of American adults favor legal abortion in most or all cases, with a widening partisan gap in views among Democrats and Republicans.

Herrell said she was "unashamedly pro-life" and added, "I know there are some exceptions people agree with. I would like to see you ask the exact same question to my opponent. What are the exceptions that he believes in?"

Cruz said the Supreme Court ruling was a "victory for democracy," arguing: "The status in this country now is that each state will decide the appropriate laws governing abortion and the laws are going to vary state by state, depending on the values and the mores of the citizens of those states."

From Las Cruces, Cruz's tour bus proceeded to Arizona with rallies planned there on Tuesday and Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Herrell's challenger was also planning to receive a high-profile guest: U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., was announced as the headliner at a fundraiser for Vasquez's campaign at a private residence in Las Cruces. While Herrell has positioned herself as a supporter of former President Donald Trump and his policies, Lieu has established his profile as one of Trump's most vocal critics in Congress.

Algernon D'Ammassa can be reached at 575-541-5451, adammassa@lcsun-news.com or @AlgernonWrites on Twitter.

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This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Ted Cruz stumps in Las Cruces, calls Rep. Yvette Herrell a 'rock star'