Vulnerable Dem incumbent caught calling home state ‘stolen land’ in resurfaced video
A House Democrat running for re-election in a battleground district previously said his home state was "stolen land" and claimed racism was "embedded" into nearly everything, according to a resurfaced...
By Fox News · Fox News
A House Democrat running for re-election in a battleground district previously said his home state was "stolen land" and claimed racism was "embedded" into nearly everything, according to a resurfaced video reviewed by Fox News Digital. "We are on stolen land," Rep. Gabe Vasquez, N.M., said in 2020 before entering Congress during an interview with a New Mexico-based outlet . He added the land used to be Mexican territory and before that was inhabited by Native Americans. "Just about every part of life that we experience has some racism embedded into it," Vasquez continued. "I have become less optimistic about where this country stands in terms of being able to eradicate racism, because it is intergenerational. It is passed on. It is embedded into our system." Vasquez, who is seeking a third term in November, made the remarks while serving as a city councilmember of Las Cruces — the largest city in his southwestern New Mexico district. He entered Congress in January 2023 after defeating a Republican incumbent while positioning himself as a moderate. TEXAS DEM SENATE PRIMARY FRACTURES OVER RACE RHETORIC AS ‘MEDIOCRE’ JAB, ‘OPPRESSOR’ REMARKS IGNITE BACKLASH Vasquez also suggested that he was open to replacing some of the city’s police officers with licensed psychologists and clinicians to respond to certain events during the interview. "Those are the types of things that I'm committed to supporting, where if we do have to take budget away from a specific department, whether you know, it be police or otherwise," Vasquez said, adding that he believed it was unnecessary with the current budget. "If we don't need those positions anymore, if we don't need those budget line items anymore, then we need to get rid of them," he continued. "And that's a decision I'm happy to try to champion at the city council." Vasquez in 2020 appeared to justify rioting following the death of George Floyd, CNN’s KFile first reported . He also voiced support for the defund the police movement…