Closer look: Senate map would reshape southern New Mexico’s congressional district

This story was originally published by Source New Mexico.

A map of voting districts that would make southern New Mexico an easier place for Democratic congressional candidates to get elected is heading to the Senate floor for a vote on Friday.

The proposal brings Las Cruces into the same congressional district as the southern part of Hobbs, the southern half of Zuni Pueblo, the southern half of the Mescalero Apache tribal lands, and the South Valley just outside the city limits of Albuquerque.

But the district would retain its core area, said Brittany Poss, data and analytics director at Research & Polling, Inc. That includes the entire counties of Cibola, Catron, Socorro, Hidalgo, Grant, Luna, Sierra and Doña Ana, according to the map.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday morning approved the map in a 6-3 party-line vote. The legislation now heads for a vote by the full Senate and then over to the House side.

The map is based on — but not identical to — one approved by the independent Citizen Redistricting Committee.

Doña Ana County’s population is nearly 70% Hispanic, according to the latest census numbers. But because of how political boundaries are drawn today, “their voices largely go unheard and under-represented,” the Center for Civic Policy stated in submitted comments. “This map attempts to address these nagging racial equity concerns.”

Poss said the map would bring the adult Hispanic population in CD 2 to a little more than 56% — an increase of about 5%.

Republican opponents tried to amend the measure to rejoin some of the areas that had been divided, including portions of Albuquerque with Valencia County, which is south of the city.

Sen. Greg Baca (R-Belen) argued during the Senate Judiciary hearing that Valencia County is a “bedroom community” or suburb of Albuquerque, and they should be considered a shared community of interest. The committee rejected Baca’s amendment and approved the original bill.

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The New Mexico Acequia Association and the Pueblos of Laguna and Acoma also opposed the map because of how the changes would affect the 3rd District in the northeast.

Conroy Chino, a lobbyist for the two pueblos, said they’re against the plan because of their close relationship with U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez and because the map would reduce the Native American population that’s old enough to vote in CD 3 from 20% to 16%.

Paula Garcia, executive director of the Acequia Association, called the Senate proposal a “major deviation” from the three maps approved by the CRC. She said adding such a large part of southeastern New Mexico to CD 3 will dilute the voices of the people already in the district today.

Eli Cuna is the redistricting campaign manager for the Center for Civic Policy, which drew the map on behalf of a coalition of community organizations that the CRC approved .

She told the Senate panel that her organization believes in the new public input process the state implemented this year, which included working families from across the state who spent up to seven hours a day attending redistricting meetings before the special session.

“That’s commitment,” she said. “That’s really hard-working people really engaging in democracy, because we believe democracy should be working for and by the people.”

The Senate map based on that work upholds many of the main principles expressed by the people who participated, Cuna said, and that includes aligning the South Valley with relatives in southern New Mexico.

The map also acknowledges that people in the southeastern part of the state are asking for more than one representative in Congress, she said. As the proposed districts are drawn, all three congresspeople from New Mexico would have constituents in the SE quadrant of the state.

Austin Fisher is a journalist based in Santa Fe.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Senate map would reshape southern New Mexico’s congressional district