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Jerri D. Rowe
“You can’t keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect different results,” Jerri D. Rowe said. She is running for the New Mexico House of Representatives in District 6, this is a district which represents most the western half of Cibola County, and the south western portion of McKinley County, the largest municipality in this district is the Village of Milan.
This district has long been dominated by Democrat influence, and Rowe seeks to change that. A conservative Republican, Rowe wants to see House District 6 “return to the people and stop caring more about the people of Santa Fe than of Cibola and McKinley.”
Rowe didn’t originally plan on running for office, she had been searching for someone to compete against the nearly 14-year long incumbent, but after failing to find a candidate to take up the contest, Rowe decided to become a doer and step up herself. Rowe sees an opportunity to win this seat, and if she does, Rowe has plans.
Rowe and her husband own Papa’s Pawn Shop, and in her free time she volunteers with the Grants Animal Care Shelter. Rowe has seen the needs of rural animal shelters, and the rural communities that suffer when there are stray animals. If elected, Rowe wants to support rural animal shelters across her districts, by funding them and increasing their capacity to care for animals without having to euthanize them. Rowe already uses her personal vehicle, and her personal money to move animals from the Grants Animal Care Shelter to other shelters that are not as full.
Rowe wants to incentivize tax cuts to small, locally owned businesses, over so called “big box” stores such as Walmart. “We are last where we should be first, and first where we should be last,” Rowe said, “Our economy is hurting, people just pass through here and they don’t stay. Why are we supporting large stores when we could be supporting the ones owned by our locals?”
Rowe said that one of the biggest issues, and the one which is continually holding back New Mexico, is government overreach. For her part, Rowe believes in a small government, that is restrained by its people, and not the other way around.
Rowe said that a top priority of hers is tackling crime, she shared her disgust with the current “catch and release” system in New Mexico, and said that as a representative she will work toward amending that constitutional decision. “We have to go back and protect our citizens, and hold our criminals accountable,” Rowe said.
Rowe is challenging longtime Representative Eliseo Alcon for this seat, despite repeated attempts by the Cibola Citizen to contact Alcon, he did not respond to our requests for an interview.