Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar and Republican Irene Armendariz-Jackson, who are meeting a third time to represent the 16th Congressional District, have starkly different views on almost every major issue.
Escobar supports women’s reproductive rights to include abortion, comprehensive humane immigration reforms, and initiatives that address climate change. Armendariz-Jackson opposes abortion without exceptions, advocates for mass deportations of undocumented migrants and does not believe human-caused climate change exists.
And while both say strengthening the economy is a top priority, they have very different views on how to achieve that.
Armendariz-Jackson would start by incentivizing and deregulating the energy industry “just enough” to bring down the cost of gas and attracting manufacturing jobs to El Paso, including maquiladoras and tech companies.
Escobar favors expanding the framework of the Build Back Better Act – paid family and medical leave, access to affordable child care, universal pre-K and expanded child tax credits – and implementing what Vice President Kamala Harris calls the opportunity economy in her presidential bid. Escobar serves as a national co-chair to the Harriz-Walz campaign.
A Democrat has represented the 16th Congressional District in the House of Representatives since 1965. Escobar was first elected in 2018 and handily defeated Armendariz-Jackson in 2020 and 2022.
The incumbent – who has emerged as a leader in national Democratic circles – has raised almost 25 times more campaign money than her opponent.
As of Sept. 30, Escobar has raised $1.26 million in contributions, while Armendariz-Jackson has raised just over $51,000, according to the campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. Escobar has spent $1.25 million, leaving about $255,500 in her campaign bank. Her expenditures include $378,000 in contributions to other candidates and political committees.
Armendariz-Jackson, who this week told El Paso Matters she was focusing on door-to-door campaigning, has spent about $46,500, leaving her just under $6,000 as of Sept. 30, her FEC report shows.
Escobar easily defeated Leeland White in the Democratic primary in March with more than 86% of the vote. She defeated Armendariz-Jackson with about 64% of the vote in 2022 and 2020. Armendariz-Jackson didn’t face an opponent in this year’s Republican primary.
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The U.S. House of Representatives comprises 435 members, with District 16 representing most of El Paso County, except for some neighborhoods in the eastern portions of the Lower Valley and East Montana. U.S. representatives get paid $174,000 per year and serve two-year terms.
Here’s what the two candidates had to say about their top issues:
Veronica Escobar
Escobar, 55, said the future of the country, and El Paso, rests heavily on who wins the presidency in November and whether voters maintain Democratic control of the Senate and flip the now Republican-controlled House.
Escobar said that “trifecta” could be transformational for communities like El Paso because residents would see a variety of programs and policies aimed at helping low- and middle-income families.
Escobar points to the Build Back Better and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Acts passed in 2021 as key to continue improving the economy. Aside from that, she said she supports Harris’ opportunity economy, which among other things, would give first-time homebuyers up to $25,000 in down-payment support, implement a $6,000 tax credit for families with newborn children and impose a ban on price gouging groceries.
“But you know, should the election results be disastrous and Donald Trump gets reelected, there will be a lot of plain defense that will be necessary, and the focus will not be on helping communities achieve their greatest opportunity,” Escobar said. “It will be trying to defend communities, defend our democracy, defend people.”
On climate change: Escobar said she would continue what the Inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan infrastructure law started by providing billions to address the climate crisis by reducing carbon emissions and transition to clean energy.
She said her approach is not for the federal government to mandate change, but to incentivize it by strengthening the electric grid, helping school districts transition away from fossil fuel buses to electric school buses, and rebuilding infrastructure with a “climate friendly approach.”
She pointed to the planned modernization of the Bridge of the Americas, which includes doing away with commercial truck traffic, as a way to help improve air quality in that region.
On abortion and women’s reproductive rights: Escobar said protecting reproductive rights such as access to abortion is part of a larger plan to expand access to affordable care, including Medicare and Medicaid. Escobar, who was arrested for blocking traffic during an abortion rights demonstration in front of the Supreme Court after it overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, said “extreme abortion restrictions” are killing women and punishing doctors and cutting off access to fertility treatments for women who want to have children.
Escobar has introduced legislation to protect reproductive health care providers, patients and clinics from threats and violence. Last month, she sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security leaders expressing concerns that migrants being held in certain states didn’t have access to reproductive medical care, including abortion and emergency contraception.
On immigration and border security: Escobar said she plans to reintroduce her bipartisan immigration bill, the Dignity Act of 2023, which she co-sponsored with Republican Florida Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar. The bill would grant legal protection to millions of undocumented people currently living in the United States, expand border enforcement agencies and refine their mission and overhaul the asylum process.
Escobar noted she opposes President Biden’s executive orders barring asylum at the southern border when the number of migrants trying to enter the country between ports of entry hit 2,500 per day. The restrictions under that rule would only be lifted when that figure dipped below 1,500 per day for a week. The rules were amended last month, expanding that 1,500 daily threshold for a month.
Harris has said she plans to keep those rules in place.
“My colleagues, both Republican and Democrat, frequently point to the White House and make demands of the White House and have expectations with regard to immigration and border policy, but it is our job as legislators to address both immigration reform and border policy reform,” Escobar said.
Armendariz-Jackson criticized Escobar for comments the congresswoman made to a group of so-called “angel moms,” families of victims killed by undocumented immigrants, who testified during a House Judiciary Committee hearing last month.
After expressing her condolences, Escobar said their situations were being exploited for political purposes by congressional Republicans who blame the administration for the recent years’ influx of migrants, noting that it’s Congress who is charged with approving immigration reform.
“The very compassion she started with was washed away with her comments at the end,” Armendariz-Jackson said, adding she believed Escobar was dismissing the families’ pain to “make a political statement herself.” The Republican candidate said Escobar “is on the side of open borders and allowing everyone in,” – a statement Escobar refutes.
Escobar said she stands by her comments to the angel moms, saying Republicans use immigration as a scare tactic to draw in voters. She said a bipartisan border security bill that was blocked by the GOP after former President Trump, who’s seeking reelection, pressured Republicans to kill it.
Escobar serves on the House Armed Services Committee, the Judiciary Committee and Ethics Committee. Escobar previously served on the El Paso County Commissioners Court as a commissioner and later county judge.
She was first elected to Congress in 2018, becoming one of the first two Latinas to serve Texas in Congress and the first woman from El Paso elected to the position previously held by Beto O’Rourke.
Irene Armendariz-Jackson
Armendariz-Jackson, 54, said her vision for the future is that the country “goes back to its roots” as a “conservative nation under God.”
She said that means that “the prosperity we’ve had continues, that the American dream stays alive and available to those that are dreaming of coming to America legally.”
She said that she doesn’t believe any immigration reform like what Escobar talks about is needed. Instead, she said, immigration law needs to be enforced to keep out “illegals” and stop granting asylum to those who cross the border illegally.
“The problem is Democrats and these people that want to come into the United States, and they have opened the door completely,” she said. “What’s happening now is complete disregard for the law.”
Saying there is already a path into the United States and citizenship, Jackson-Armendariz points to her parents, who she says migrated into the U.S. “the right way,” as examples of how people can come into the country without breaking the law.
However, U.S. immigration law sharply limits the number and types of people who can enter. For much of the world’s population, asylum is the only means of possible legal entry into the United States.
Armendariz-Jackson said she supports mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.
She said she would support increasing Border Patrol and other border enforcement agents if they were deployed to “secure the border” and not be regulated to “desk jobs” and other duties.
More on the economy: Armendariz-Jackson said she’d like to address gas prices, blaming President Biden for increases at the pump, although experts have said presidents have little control over them and instead depend on global supply and demand.
For the past six years, the United States has produced more crude oil than any country in history. The country produced 12.9 million barrels of oil per day in 2023, the highest production on record.
Armendariz-Jackson said providing incentives and minimizing regulations in the energy industry would bring down the cost of gas, which in turn would reduce the price of goods, including groceries.
Armendariz-Jackson said she would also focus on the manufacturing industry, calling it “key to the economy in El Paso thriving.” She said she would work to attract manufacturing jobs here – garment factories to create jobs primarily for “those who come here legally” or others who don’t speak English. That was a key part of El Paso’s post-World War II economy, but those low-wage jobs evaporated by the 1990s in the face of cheaper labor around the globe.
“They don’t need to understand the language in order to cut up a pair of jeans, to cut a blouse, to be able to provide a good life for their family,” she said, adding that she would work to attract manufacturing companies that support high-tech and engineering jobs here.
To help do that, she would work to incentivize companies through tax breaks and under federal and state programs that could provide grants or other funding to get them started.
On climate change: Armendariz-Jackson said she believes climate change doesn’t exist and that it’s a farce put on by Democrats like former Vice President Al Gore. That argument is overwhelmingly rejected by climate science experts.
“They don’t set an example if they say that the carbon footprint is destroying the earth, and they’re riding in huge SUVs and flying in private planes,” she said.
On abortion and women’s reproductive rights: “I’m a born-again Christian and I believe that the only one that can give and take life is God,” Armendariz-Jackson said, calling herself pro-life. She said she opposes abortion in all cases, including rape and incest, and would support a total nationwide ban on abortion and work to have “unborn babies” be recognized as a “full person with full rights.”
Armendariz-Jackson is a Realtor and small business owner who is married to a retired Border Patrol agent and veteran. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work.
Early voting begins Monday, Oct. 21 and runs through Nov. 1. Election Day is Nov. 5.
The post Incumbent U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, Irene Armendariz-Jackson meet for 3rd time in District 16 race appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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