Republicans vow to appeal judge's ruling upholding New Mexico congressional redistricting map

New Mexico Republicans say they will appeal a state judge’s ruling that knocked down their challenge of congressional redistricting the GOP charges undermines Republican voting strength in the southern part of the state.

In a ruling made public on Friday, District Judge Fred T. Van Soelen conceded that the redistricting plan devised by Democratic lawmakers in 2021 substantially diluted the Republican vote in Congressional District 2 in southern New Mexico.

But the judge denied the New Mexico Republican Party’s challenge on the grounds he did not find that the “vote dilution rises to the level of egregious gerrymandering.”

Steve Pearce, chairman of the Republican Party of New Mexico, said the party will appeal its case to the New Mexico Supreme Court.

“The Republican Party of New Mexico believes the fight is too important to accept this setback without contest,” Pearce said in a statement released by the party.

A statement issued by the Democratic Party of New Mexico said it is no surprise a lawsuit “attempting to throw out competitive, fairly drawn maps” failed.

“Steve Pearce’s defunct Republican Party of New Mexico is merely looking to place blame somewhere for their recent election losses,” the DPNM statement said.

Judge Van Soelen pointed to the 2022 congressional election, the only one held since the boundaries were redrawn, as evidence that Democratic and Republican candidates have a competitive chance to win in Congressional District 2.

In the 2022 race for the District 2 U.S. congressional seat, Democrat Gabe Vasquez defeated Yvette Herrell, a first-term Republican incumbent, by the slim margin of 0.7%

The Republican Party countered that Herrell’s “very high name recognition” makes that race an unfair test of District 2’s competitiveness.

“Judge Van Soelen agreed that there was partisan gerrymandering in the district map for CD2, but we disagree with his ruling that it was not an egregious gerrymander,” Pearce said.

He said the gerrymandered districts disenfranchise the votes of all conservative voters, regardless of their party affiliation.

State Sen. Joseph Cervantes, a Las Cruces Democrat, sponsored the senate bill that changed congressional district boundaries.

“I’ve maintained that we met every legal and constitutional requirement and the court has affirmed the exceptional legal work that goes into lawmaking done right,” Cervantes said. “We clearly got it right.”

He said the redrawn districts are more competitive.

“With more competitive districts, we will send to Washington representatives more closely aligned with all New Mexicans, not just party loyalists,” Cervantes said.