The New Mexico State Supreme Court ruled that the redistricting of the congressional map did not violate any state laws intended to prevent partisan gerrymandering.
In issuing this ruling, the state Supreme Court upheld a district court decision and denied an appeal by the Republican Party of New Mexico.
The decision denying the Republican Party of New Mexico’s appeal was filed Monday following oral arguments the previous Monday.
The five presiding justices concurred that the appeal was denied and that the Oct. 6 ruling by New Mexico Ninth Judicial District Court Judge Fred T. van Soelen stands.
Van Soelen ruled that the alleged gerrymandering of the congressional maps in the 2021 redistricting maps could be taken to court for a legal analysis but the map in question was not unlawful.
“The governor signed these maps with full belief in their constitutionality, and we are pleased to see the court’s decision today,” Office of Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham spokeswoman Maddy Hayden said via email Monday.
The state GOP argued that since the 2nd Congressional District was extended into Albuquerque, that the district was illegally gerrymandered in favor of Democrats.
Redistricting is done following the decennial Census, which showed that the population had shifted north.
The 2nd Congressional District is predominantly the southern half of New Mexico.
“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,” Republican Party of New Mexico Chairman Steve Pearce said in the statement. “We intensely disagree that Democrats did not intentionally entrench the 2nd Congressional District by shifting it 18 points in their favor.”
Pearce argued that the court used the closeness of the 2022 election when U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, a Democrat and former Las Cruces city councilor, won by less than one percent over incumbent Yvette Herrell, a Republican from Alamogordo.
“We are contemplating our next course of action in conference with our legal team. RPNM is proud to fight for the fair representation of every New Mexican, regardless of their political party,” Pearce’s statement said.
The Democratic Party of New Mexico was as elated for the decision as their Republican counterparts were furious.
“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,” the Democratic Party of New Mexico released in a statement Monday. “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. Now that this matter is finally resolved, both parties can focus on what matters – reaching voters and serving New Mexicans.”
The two elections prior to the district map change were the 2018 and 2020 elections which showed a flip-flop between the two parties with Xochitl Torres Small winning the seat with 51 percent of the vote to Herrell’s 49 percent of the vote in 2018.
A rematch between Herrell and Torres Small in 2020 ended with Herrell winning with 54 percent of the vote to Torres Small’s 46 percent.
