FIRST ON FOX: A sitting House Democrat, running in one of the nation’s closest House races in New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District, threatened to “kill” and “bury” a fellow student during a dispute while attending college, according to police records obtained and verified by Fox News Digital.
Representative Gabe Vasquez, while enrolled as an undergraduate student at New Mexico State University, was the subject of a police report filed by another student that alleged that Vasquez used the “phone to terrorize, intimidate, threaten, harass, and threaten to” kill”. ” and “bury it.”
In the February 2005 police report obtained by Fox News Digital, Vasquez admitted to making a call that was interpreted as threatening but apologized and said, according to police, that he was “very upset” about the condition of a friend of his who He was suffering from alcohol poisoning on his birthday after being pressured to drink and later died.
The victim stated in the police report that in addition to threatening the lives of the people involved, Vásquez used “several bad words in Spanish.”
Vásquez came out with a warning after promising not to contact the individual again and the matter was closed.
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Rep. Gabe Vasquez, Democrat of New Mexico, during a tour of CN Wire Corporation in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, on Wednesday, February 21, 2024. Vasquez, a Democrat currently serving in New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District, will He is running for re-election against former Republican Rep. Yvette Herrell, who served in the district from 2021 to 2023. (Photographer: Justin Hamel/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Fox News Digital contacted the person who filed the complaint against Vasquez, but he declined to discuss the complaint, saying they have “reconciled” and “we are moving on with our lives.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Vasquez campaign manager Dylan McArthur said: “It’s sad to see Yvette Herrell fall so low as to use the death of a close college friend almost 20 years ago to lie about the character of the congressman because he is trying to distract people from his horrible history of wanting to ban all abortion in the state.
Vásquez’s interaction with police was not the only time he had problems with authorities.
The previous year, Vasquez allegedly had a controversial interaction in New Mexico when he was accused in a police report of using the “n” word while calling a former employer of his, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Vasquez denied being the person who made that call in a statement to the Daily Mail saying: “I have not and would never use language like this, this attack is categorically false.”
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Police records, first reported by the Washington Free Beacon, also show that in 2005, Vasquez was arrested by the Las Cruces Police Department after neighbors called with a noise complaint. Vasquez allegedly attempted to flush marijuana down the toilet prior to his arrest.
Vasquez was also involved in a domestic dispute with his girlfriend in Las Cruces after an argument over her drinking too much, which led police to his home “in reference to a possible domestic matter.” Vasquez was not arrested in that incident, which did not include physical violence.
It has also been reported that Vasquez failed to appear in court in El Paso, Texas, in 2002 for driving without insurance and that a warrant was issued for his arrest in April 2008. That warrant was finally executed in March of this year. , resulting in Vásquez posting cash bail of approximately $900 and pleading no contest, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Vasquez is running against former New Mexico Congresswoman Yvette Herrell in a race that the Cook Political Report classifies as a “Democratic divergence.”
“Threats to kill and bury someone should not be overlooked,” Herrell told Fox News Digital in a statement. “This is extremely dangerous and unhinged behavior by Gabe Vasquez, and he owes the Second District of New Mexico an immediate explanation and apology.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Congressional Leadership Fund spokesperson Courtney Parella said, “A disturbing pattern of behavior continues to emerge from Gabe Vasquez that completely disqualifies someone in his position.”
“There is no excuse in the world that allows harassing, terrorizing, intimidating and threatening another person’s life. But for Vásquez, it is normal.”
Against the backdrop of Vásquez’s clashes with police departments in New Mexico and Texas, the congressman has advocated for policies that defund police departments.
Vasquez appeared on a local news station apparently in costume during the 2020 George Floyd riots and said, “This isn’t just about defunding the police, it’s about defunding a system that privileges white people over everyone else.”
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Representative Gabe Vásquez. (Getty Images)
Vasquez previously promised that he would “fully support” cutting the police budget in half in Las Cruces, where he served on the city council. Fox News Digital previously reported.
“I wholeheartedly and absolutely support police reform and the #blacklivesmatter movement, and I will not stop pursuing transformative reform that brings justice to our city and people of color in our community. You can count on my support,” Vásquez wrote to a voter demanding “at least” a 50% reduction in the Las Cruces Police Department’s budget.
In a statement to Fox News Digital in 2022, Vásquez said: “I oppose defunding the police. As a Las Cruces council member, I repeatedly voted to increase funding for the police and partnered with them, while supporting police reforms. common sense”.
“Gabe Vasquez has a long history of extreme verbal abuse,” NRCC spokesperson Delanie Bomar told Fox News Digital. “Between calling a former colleague the n-word and now this, it is abundantly clear that Gabe is unfit to hold public office and does not represent New Mexico values.”
Fox News Digital’s Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report
