Friday, June 7, 2024

YVETTE HERRELL: WILL SHE RUN FROM HER CONGRESSIONAL RECORD?

    Former Congresswoman Yvette Herrell, seeking to return to Congress, recently texted me a campaign message.  It featured a collage of images and texts smearing incumbent Congressman Gabe Vasquez, no hero of mine, who seeks re-election.  My response to her message was a simple one, a question why she has nothing to say about her record.  But a look at Herrell’s record answers it.

 

    Incumbent candidates for public office have voting records; challengers usually do not.  However, in New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District, voters have two candidates with voting records: Republican Herrell, who served from 3 January 2021 through 3 January 2023; and Democrat Vasquez, who has served since 3 January 2023.  Ballotpedia reports Herrell’s voting record; it also reports Vasquez’s voting record.  Given the adversarial partisan voting pattern during President Biden’s first three years in office, it is reasonable to assume that, with some exceptions, what Herrell opposed Vasquez would have supported.

 

    People often either do not know or often forget their representative’s votes even on important issues.  As the 2024 election approaches, Republican candidates have been telling—that is, lying to—their constituents that they supported popular legislation which they actually opposed.  So, to inform or remind them, I provide Herrell’s voting record during her one term in office.  Her record reflects votes on major bills which Ballotpedia selected as indicative of an officeholder’s positions.  For a brief description of the bills, use the link at the bottom of the table.

 

    A few words on Herrell’s record.  First, an assessment.  Aside from two votes for defense authorization, Herrell has voted against major bills meant to help people (e.g., women’s and LGBTQ+ rights), protect consumers, assist the economy, or improve election procedures.  Second, a caution.  Her record reflects her membership in the Freedom Caucus, the radical Republican group which has obstructed even Republican-friendly bills and risked government shut-downs.  Those who vote for her do so at their risk and everyone else’s risk.  Third, predictions.  Given her record and membership in the Freedom Caucus, she is likely to run from or lie about her record.  Give both, she is not likely to claim that she will work on a bipartisan basis; if she does, the claim will be dead on utterance.  Fourth, a question: aside from national defense, what is Herrell for?

 

YVETTE HERRELL’S CONGRESSIONAL VOTING RECORD

VOTE        BILL                                                                                              PASSED

Nay            Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act                                         228-206

Nay            American Rescue Plan Act of 2021                                               220-210

Nay            Inflation Reduction Act of 2022                                                    220-207

Nay            Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act      220-204

Nay            For the People Act of 2021                                                            220-210

Nay            Assault Weapons Ban of 2022                                                       217-213

Yea            National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022             363-70

Yea            James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for

                        Fiscal Year 2023                                                                       350-80

Nay            American Dream and Promise Act of 2021                                   228-197

Nay            Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise

                        to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022                       342-88

Nay            Chips and Science Act                                                                   243-187

Nay            Women’s Health Protection Act of 2021                                       218-211

Nay            SAFE Banking Act of 2021                                                           321-101

Nay            Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022                                        260-171

Nay            Equality Act                                                                                   224-206

Nay            Respect for Marriage Act                                                              258-169

Nay            Continuing Appropriations and Ukraine Supplemental

                        Appropriations Act, 2023                                                        230-201

Nay            Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act                            217-207

Nay            Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021                                227-203

Nay            Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act                                           220-203

Nay            Bipartisan Safer Communities Act                                              234-193

Nay            Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United

                        States, for high crimes and misdemeanors                             232-197

Nay            Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition

                        Improvement Act of 2022                                                       225-201

Source: Ballotpedia (https://ballotpedia.org/Yvette_Herrell)

 

    Herrell addresses a number of her views on major subjects, including abortion and gun control, in an audio/visual tape, “Yvette Herrell in 2020 virtual candidate forum hosted by the Republican Party of Valencia County.”  Her remarks on abortion run for over three minutes, from 21:20 to 23:26; on gun control, from 36:17 to 38:34.

 

    For what it is worth—and it is worth very little—I provide Vasquez’s voting record.  He has little to run on or from.  Few votes were on matters of significant legislation—for which only a do-nothing-constructive Republican Party is responsible.  Several bills or resolutions, some with attractive names—“Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023,” “Lower Energy Costs Act,” “Relating to a national emergency…,” and “Providing for congressional disapproval…”—Vasquez rightly opposed because they were not good ones.  The one vote which sticks out is his “yea” vote on resolution opposing socialism.  Plainly, this vote, vigorously opposing socialism (no politician of either party has the faintest idea what it is), is virtually a necessity.  Out of Ballotpedia’s sight, he probably does pork-barrel politicking for his conservative constituents.

 

GABE VASQUEZ’S CONGRESSIONAL VOTING RECORD

VOTE        BILL                                                                                        PASSED

Yea             National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024       310-118

Nay            To terminate the requirement imposed by the Director of

                        the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for

                        proof of COVID-19 vaccination for foreign travelers,

                        and for other purposes                                                          227-201

Nay            Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023                                                  217-215

Yea            Denouncing the horrors of socialism                                          328-86

Nay            Lower Energy Costs Act                                                            225-204

Nay            Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of

                       title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the

                       Department of Labor relating to “Prudence and Loyalty in

                       Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder

                       Rights”                                                                                        219-200

Nay            Relating to a national emergency declared by the President

                        on March 13, 2020                                                                 229-197

Yea            Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023                                                314-117

Rep.

Hakeem

Jeffries

(D-N.Y.)    Speaker of the House election (January 2023) - 15th vote

                        Rep. Kevin McCarthy                                                            216-212

Yea            Declaring the office of Speaker of the House of

                        Representatives to be vacant                                                  216-210

Rep.

Hakeem

Jeffries

(D-N.Y.)    Speaker of the House election (October 2023) - 4th vote

                        Rep. Mike Johnson                                                                220-209

Nay            Directing certain committees to continue their ongoing

                       investigations as part of the existing House of Representatives

                       inquiry into whether sufficient grounds exist for the House

                       of Representatives to exercise its Constitutional power to

                       impeach Joseph Biden, President of the United States of

                       America, and for other purposes                                              221-212

Yea            Providing for the expulsion of Representative George Santos

                      from the United States House of Representatives                    311-114

Source: Ballotpedia (https://ballotpedia.org/Gabriel_Vasquez)

 


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