Sheriff says Vasquez had to be shamed into supporting police

Eddy County Sheriff Matthew Hutchinson is blasting U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez after the Democrat congressman’s delayed response to National Police Week, accusing Vasquez of treating law enforcement like an afterthought while officers in southern New Mexico face the daily consequences of crime, fentanyl, and the border crisis.

In a new opinion column titled “Our congressman won’t back the badge,” Hutchinson said Vasquez remained silent for the first two days of National Police Week, which ran May 10-16, before finally posting a message after being publicly called out by Republican congressional candidate Greg Cunningham.

“For two full days, our congressman said nothing,” Hutchinson wrote.

“It was not until Greg Cunningham, the Republican candidate for New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District, called out Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., publicly for his silence that Vasquez finally posted something acknowledging the week,” he continued. “Two days late. On top of that he has his replies turned off so nobody could respond.”

Hutchinson, who said he has served in law enforcement in southeastern New Mexico for 19 years, made clear that National Police Week is not just a political talking point for officers and their families.

“I have stood at funerals for officers killed in the line of duty. I have looked their families in the eye,” he wrote. “National Police Week is not something I need a politician to remind me about. But I do need to know that the person representing this district in Congress actually cares about the men and women who protect it.”

The sheriff argued Vasquez’s delayed post looked less like sincere support and more like political damage control.

“When your congressman has to be shamed into showing up during the one week a year dedicated to law enforcement, and then shuts down the conversation after he does, that is not support,” Hutchinson wrote. “That is damage control.”

Hutchinson said the episode fits a larger pattern from Vasquez.

“This is a pattern with Gabe Vasquez,” he wrote. “He called for defunding the police. His own words, on camera. He called the crisis at our southern border a ‘non-existent threat.’ He voted against funding the Department of Homeland Security.”

Vasquez has long faced criticism over past comments made during a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest, when he said, “It’s not just about defunding the police, it’s about defunding a system that privileges white people over everyone else.”

Those comments have followed Vasquez through multiple congressional campaigns, even as he has more recently tried to present himself as supportive of law enforcement.

Hutchinson pointed to the reality faced by officers in Eddy County, where deputies deal with the fallout from drug trafficking, smuggling, and border-related crime.

“Down here in Eddy County, my deputies do not get to show up two days late,” he wrote. “They do not get to turn off the conversation when it gets uncomfortable.”

“They are on the roads every night, pulling over vehicles loaded with fentanyl, chasing smugglers and dealing with the consequences of a border that Vasquez refused to secure,” Hutchinson added. “They answer every call. They do not wait to be called out first.”

The sheriff then announced his endorsement of Cunningham, a Marine veteran and former Albuquerque police detective who is running as the Republican nominee in New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District.

“That is why I am endorsing Greg Cunningham for Congress,” Hutchinson wrote.

Hutchinson described Cunningham as someone who understands law enforcement because he has lived it.

“Cunningham is a Marine who served in combat. He came home and became a detective with the Albuquerque Police Department. He has worked the cases, made the arrests and put himself in danger to protect his community,” Hutchinson wrote. “He did not need a career in politics to understand what law enforcement goes through. He has lived it.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee also seized on the op-ed, accusing Vasquez of betraying law enforcement.

“Defund the police Gabe Vasquez was just brutally called out by Eddy County Sheriff Matthew Hutchinson in a scathing op-ed,” the NRCC wrote in a release.

The committee said Hutchinson “took Vasquez to task for wanting to defund the police, constantly voting against border security measures, and remaining silent when it comes to supporting law enforcement.”

NRCC spokesman Reilly Richardson added, “Defund the police Gabe Vasquez’s abysmal record speaks for itself. Law enforcement leaders know Vasquez will never give them meaningful support, which is why they’re supporting Republican Greg Cunningham for Congress.”

Vasquez’s allies have argued he supports law enforcement funding, pointing to legislation such as the Invest to Protect Act, which is aimed at helping small and rural police departments recruit and retain officers.

But Hutchinson’s column shows that, for many law enforcement leaders in the district, Vasquez’s newer pro-police messaging does not erase his record or past comments.

“The officers across this district deserve better than a congressman who treats them like an afterthought,” Hutchinson wrote. “The families who pray every night that their loved ones come home safe deserve someone who does not need to be pressured into standing with them.”

For Vasquez, the criticism lands in one of the most politically sensitive areas of the 2nd Congressional District, where border security, public safety, and fentanyl remain top concerns.

And for Cunningham, Hutchinson’s endorsement gives his campaign a law enforcement validator from southeast New Mexico — one of the regions most directly affected by the policies Vasquez’s critics say have made communities less safe.