State Rep. Nathan “Nate” Cote, D-Las Cruces, has announced that he will seek re-election this year.
The District 53 representative cited his success as a freshman legislator and the opportunity to serve the people of his district as the prime factors in his decision to seek re-election.
“I have worked very hard here in the district and in Santa Fe to get things done,” Cote said in a news release. “It’s gratifying to see the results in people’s daily lives.”
In his first session in 2007, Cote successfully sponsored legislation that eliminated the requirement that active-duty military members pay state income tax, in addition to legislation that provided a tax exemption for locomotive diesel fuel as an incentive for Union Pacific to move its railway depot from El Paso to Santa Teresa. The second will result in 300 new jobs in southern New Mexico and long-term industrial investment in the state, Cote said. His first successful bill granted disabled veterans free access for life to state parks and museums.
During the 2007 and 2008 sessions, Cote passed domestic violence legislation, and in the recent session he sponsored one of the few successful health-care bills, an expansion of the role of physician assistants as a means to address the lack of medical providers in rural areas. He was able to secure capital outlay appropriations for projects including flood control, road repair and senior and community centers.
“I have particularly enjoyed meeting with people in the district,” Cote said, “especially in the many neighborhood meetings that I held between sessions. What I’ve learned there has really helped in my work as a legislator.”
Cote is the only member of the Transportation and Public Utilities Committee from the southern part of the state and one of two to sit on the Taxation and Revenue Committee. Health care, economic development, domestic violence and improvements in infrastructure are among the issues that he intends to address in coming months. As a veteran and active outdoorsman, he said he plans to improve veterans programs and work to protect natural resources.
Essential to all of that, Cote said, will be his continued commitment to work closely with his constituents and with public officials in both Doña Ana and Otero counties to get important legislation passed for the people of the district.
Cote was first elected in 2006, defeating 12-year incumbent Rep. Terry Marquardt, R-Alamogordo.
State Rep. Nathan “Nate” Cote, D-Las Cruces, has announced that he will seek re-election this year.