Two prominent Albuquerque legislators resigned from New Mexico’s Fair Districts Task Force on Monday, citing frustration that the state is pursuing redistricting reform while other states engage in partisan gerrymandering with impunity.
State Sen. Harold Pope Jr. and Rep. Cristina Parajón both stepped down from the task force effective immediately, one day before the group’s scheduled Tuesday evening meeting. Both Democrats said they could not continue participating in a process they believe puts New Mexico at a disadvantage compared to states like Texas, Ohio and Missouri.
“I cannot in good conscience continue serving under a framework that places rules and restrictions on New Mexico while states like Texas, Ohio, and Missouri are allowed to gerrymander maps with impunity,” Pope wrote in his resignation letter.
The Fair Districts Task Force was working to develop recommendations for independent redistricting to minimize gerrymandering and ensure fair representation for New Mexico residents.
Parajón, who represents House District 25, said in her resignation letter that “fairness is not asking one side to play a professional baseball game with wiffle ball bats.” She called for federal legislation to create uniform redistricting rules across all states.
“We need the Freedom to Vote Act; we need the John Lewis Voting Rights Act; we need to reverse Rucho v. Common Cause; and we need every single state, whether Republican or Democrat, to play by the same fair rules,” Parajón wrote in her resignation letter.
Pope, who represents Senate District 23, argued that “without federal legislation to create uniform rules, the promise of equal representation is an illusion.” In his resignation letter, he called the current situation “a rigged game that weakens the very foundations of our republic.”
Sen. Jay Block, R-Rio Rancho, a member of the Fair Districts Task Force, criticized the resignations as “obvious political posturing” in a statement released Tuesday by New Mexico Senate Republicans.
“I literally laughed when I read the hypocritical statements from these two radical Democrats who, unsurprisingly, turn a blind eye to the blatant gerrymandering in New Mexico,” Block said in a press release.
Block noted that New Mexico voters, 46% of whom voted for Republican President Donald Trump in 2024, “have been denied anything except exclusive Democrat Party representation in our federal and statewide offices.” He argued that Republican-held districts were “carved up” by Democrats during the state’s most recent redistricting efforts.
New Mexico has a troubled history with redistricting. Previous redistricting efforts have faced geographic representation concerns, with many feeling that redistricting committees had over-representation of members from central New Mexico, particularly Albuquerque, while needing more representation from the southern parts of the state and Native American communities.
The 2025 Fair Districts Task Force, chaired by retired judges and including legislators from both parties, was established to address these ongoing challenges and develop recommendations for the next redistricting cycle in 2031.