Lujan speaks in Portales

The Los Abuelitos De La Casa Senior Center played host Thursday evening to a visit from Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M.

Christina Calloway: Portales News-Tribune

Rep. Ben Lujan, D-N.M., met with senior citizens and other community members Thursday evening at Los Abuelitos De La Casa senior center. Lujan gave attendees the opportunity to voice concerns about political issues, such as health care.

Some attendees had Medicaid-related issues during a forum where citizens largely wanted to talk about health care, while others were just excited to meet with Lujan, now campaigning for his third term in New Mexico's 3rd Congressional District.

Lujan was the runaway winner in the Democratic pre-primary, but will be contested in the June 5 primary by Sean Closson and Harry Montoya for the Democratic nomination. The winner will face either Rick Newton or Jeff Byrd, who are running for the Republican nod in the race.

When Lujan arrived at the center, he introduced himself and shook hands with every individual in the center, then addressed concerns about issues in the upcoming election.

Lujan used many questions as launch points for touting the Democratic Party's agenda, and noting that many aspects would be worse should Republicans control the Oval Office and/or Congress following the November general election.

One woman concerned about President Obama's health care bill asked Lujan about the positive aspects of the Affordable Care Act, passed by Congress in 2010, because she said she had only heard negative things.

"As long as we're talking about the facts, the truth is going to come out," Lujan said, "and therein lies the true opportunity to talk about the benefits of what this means to families."

Other issues Lujan discussed with attendees were Social Security, loans, and taxes.

Lujan said that community health centers like La Casa would be affected by budget cuts if the health care reform bill is repealed by the Supreme Court. The court will rule later this year about the ACA, and could rule the legislation constituional or reject any or all parts of it.

Ben Salazar, senior director at La Casa, asked why Latino voters should support Democrats and President Obama after not fulfilling promises on immigration reform and the failure of the DREAM Act — which would allow illegal aliens who arrived in the country as minors to obtain residency based on completion of military service or a college degree.

Lujan said the blame lied with Congressional Republicans who have provided enough negative votes to keep the legislation from heading to the president's desk.