LAS CRUCES — Republican congressional candidate Greg Cunningham brought some of the most powerful Republicans in the U.S. House to southern New Mexico Thursday, using a Las Cruces campaign event to spotlight rural health care, technology, economic development, and his bid to unseat Democrat U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez in the 2nd Congressional District.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana joined Cunningham at Electronic Caregiver on Main Street alongside House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie of Kentucky and Arkansas Rep. Steve Womack, a senior House appropriator.
KFOX14/CBS4 had announced the event as a press conference centered on the closely watched CD2 contest.
But the gathering quickly became as much about the Las Cruces company hosting it as the congressional race itself.
After touring Electronic Caregiver, which develops remote health-monitoring technology, Cunningham said the facility demonstrated the kind of high-skill innovation he wants to keep and expand in New Mexico.
“As a native New Mexican, I speak constantly on the campaign trail about our children, and our grandchildren, and our futures, and the opportunities that are not provided for our children and grandchildren right now,” Cunningham said. “We need to make sure that we keep the best and brightest of New Mexico right here working.” Pasted text
Cunningham called the technology he saw “off the charts” and “astounding,” arguing that its potential was especially significant for rural communities where patients may travel long distances for basic medical care.
“Our rural communities, folks that live in our rural communities, should not have to drive an hour away to get health care,” Cunningham said. “We should not have to pay higher prices than anywhere else in the world.” Pasted text
Cunningham links NMSU, technology, and jobs
Cunningham also laid out a broader economic-development vision connecting New Mexico State University with growing technology companies in southern New Mexico.
“I want New Mexico State University to become a magnet for technology and innovation, and for that to be a feeder program into what’s happening in this building behind me,” he said. Pasted text
That theme was echoed by Guthrie, chairman of the House committee with jurisdiction over major health-care and technology issues.
Guthrie said he had recently visited Silicon Valley but came away impressed by what was happening in Las Cruces.
“There’s nothing more impressive going on there that’s not going on here,” Guthrie said. “It’s absolutely astounding.” Pasted text
He praised the possibility of creating jobs for New Mexico college graduates while using technology to deliver medical services outside traditional hospitals and doctors’ offices.
Guthrie said remote-care systems could also help combat improper billing by creating better verification that patients actually received services billed to taxpayers.
“This system is the most impressive one I’ve seen to ensure you’re getting care and the payer can know they’re getting what they pay for,” Guthrie said. Pasted text
$50 billion rural health program enters campaign fight
Cunningham also used the event to contrast himself with Vasquez over a federal rural health program.
“I will support the Rural Health Transformation Act that provides money for programs like this,” Cunningham said. “My opponent voted against it.” Pasted text
The underlying vote requires some context.
Congress established a $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program as part of the sprawling 2025 Republican reconciliation law, providing funding from fiscal years 2026 through 2032 for states with approved rural-health transformation plans.
Vasquez did vote against the overall H.R. 1 package on July 3, 2025; the final House vote was 218-214. But the rural-health fund was only one provision of a much larger law containing tax, Medicaid, food-assistance, energy, and other policy changes. Vasquez has said he opposed the broader package because he believed other provisions would harm New Mexicans, particularly through changes affecting health coverage and assistance programs.
Scalise nevertheless made the rural-health fund a centerpiece of his remarks, saying Republicans wanted to direct money toward patients who need it while cracking down on health-care fraud.
“We created a $50 billion rural health care fund,” Scalise said, arguing that technology like Electronic Caregiver’s could help address the difficulty of reaching patients in remote communities. Pasted text
Scalise: ‘We need him on our team’
The event also demonstrated the national Republican investment in Cunningham’s campaign.
Scalise, the No. 2 Republican in the House, made no ambiguity about the political purpose of his visit. His current position as House majority leader is confirmed by the House’s official leadership roster.
“We need him on our team,” Scalise said of Cunningham. “We need him working on behalf of all the citizens of New Mexico in Washington, D.C.” Pasted text
Womack was similarly direct.
“I came to help Greg win this race because it’s that important to our current majority,” he said, before praising the health technology he saw during the visit. Pasted text
The Republican congressman from Arkansas currently serves on the House Appropriations Committee and chairs its Transportation, Housing and Urban Development subcommittee.
Scalise turns up heat on Vasquez
During questions after the prepared remarks, Scalise broadened his attack from health care to the larger battle for control of Congress.
He described the election in stark ideological terms, calling it “common sense versus communism” and accusing Vasquez of siding with what Scalise characterized as the “far left socialist wing” of the Democrat Party on taxes, immigration, and other issues. Those descriptions were Scalise’s political characterizations, not neutral assessments of Vasquez’s record. Pasted text
Scalise also claimed the CD2 contest had been tightening and said Cunningham had “a real opportunity to flip this seat from Democrat to Republican.” Pasted text He did not identify a specific poll in the remarks provided, so that assertion should be understood as a campaign claim rather than an independent election forecast.
Cunningham, meanwhile, used the appearance to argue that national Republican leaders see economic potential in southern New Mexico beyond the political stakes of one congressional race.
“We want to take what’s happening here in southern New Mexico with CD2 and take it national,” Cunningham later told KVIA. “The goal was today was to open their eyes and to give them an idea of what our potential is and what New Mexico has to offer for the country and for the rest of the world.”
With Election Day less than three weeks away, Thursday’s gathering made another point unmistakable: national House Republican leaders are paying attention to New Mexico’s southern congressional district — and Cunningham is increasingly bringing some of Washington’s biggest GOP names to make his case.
With Cunningham, New Mexicans finally have a chance to advance to a brighter future.