New Mexico’s Supreme Court has affirmed the Ninth Judicial District Court’s earlier ruling that upholds New Mexico’s newly reworked congressional district map. The new map was redrawn in 2021 by the state’s Democratically- controlled legislature.
New Mexico has three congressional districts, and historically District Two has always performed positively for Republicans. Now with the southern fourth of Albuquerque and the entire southern half of New Mexico including Las Cruces included in the district, the formerly Republican-leaning district currently has “…a variety of constituents better reflecting the diversity of interests in New Mexico as a whole,” states a 2021 Lea County Tribune article.
On October 6 Ninth Judicial District Judge Fred Van Soelen found that the new redistricting map does not “…entrench the Democratic Party in power and therefore does not violate the New Mexico Constitution”. In his ruling Judge Van Soelen writes, “Because ‘entrenchment’ is the touchstone of an egregious partisan gerrymander which the New Mexico Constitution prohibits, the Court finds that the congressional redistricting map enacted under Senate Bill 1 does not violate (the GOP’s) equal protection rights under Article II, Section 18 of the Constitution of New Mexico.”
The Republican Party of New Mexico quickly filed an appeal to the lower court’s ruling, and on Monday, November 20, the New Mexico Supreme Court heard oral arguments about the issue. Finally, on Monday, November 27, New Mexico’s five Supreme Court justices unanimously affirmed via a three-page order the Ninth District Court’s ruling that the new redistricting map is not illegal.
The ruling strongly impacts Lea County voters, as well as those throughout southern New Mexico, and lays the groundwork for a fierce 2024 race for New Mexico’s Second Congressional District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. It should be remembered that in 2022 under the new redistricting map Democrat Gabe Vasquez, formerly a member of the Las Cruces city council, beat incumbent Republican Congresswoman Yvette Herrell, of Alamogordo, by less than one percent of the vote in the highly contested Second District race. The prediction is that Vasquez and Herrell will again face off for the U.S. House of Representatives seat in another highly contested race in 2024.
Both Republicans and Democrats Have Held the Second District Seat
Rep. Vasquez’s 2022 win cannot be attributed in total to the new redistricting map. It should be remembered that in the 2018 and the 2020 elections a “flip-flop between the two parties” resulted, states an article posted at NMPoliticalReport.com. In 2018 Democrat Xochitl Torres Small, currently the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, won the District Two seat against Herrell by a margin of 51% to 49%. Herrell at the time was a member of the New Mexico House of Representatives. In 2020 the tables turned and Herrell beat Torres Small after receiving 54% of the vote.
New Mexico’s Republican Party Republican Chairman Weighs in on High Court’s Decision
About the high court’s decision Steve Pearce, chairman of the Republican Party of New Mexico, issued the statement, “We are disappointed in the NM Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold the gerrymandered map that disenfranchises the voices of conservative Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike and divides up vital industries. We intensely disagree that Democrats did not intentionally entrench the 2nd Congressional District by shifting it 18 points in their favor.” Pearce commented that the court’s ruling “leaned heavily on the closeness of the previous election” where “well-known” Herrell was defeated by “lesser-known” Vasquez.
In response, the New Mexico Democratic Party said in a press release, “We are glad that the State Supreme Court ordered that the District Court’s redistricting decision will be upheld, hopefully putting to rest months of frivolous distractions from Steve Pearce’s New Mexico Republican Party. After a non-partisan, deliberative process that was informed by and invited expert and public input from communities across the state, and subsequently went through the complete legislative process in committees and both chambers, the Supreme Court’s decision reaffirms that these maps are fair and representative of New Mexico and our diverse communities.”
