New Mexico Supreme Court will not overturn Republican’s redistricting appeal

A previous version of this article and headline incorrectly stated the Supreme Court would not "take up" the lawsuit.

In a unanimous decision, the New Mexico Supreme Court will not overturn a lower court's decision regarding a redistricting lawsuit after finding no reason to contest the district court’s finding.

The decision on Nov. 27 means that Congressional District 2, previously a Republican lock in the U.S. House of Representatives, will become much more competitive between the two parties over the next decade.

In October, Ninth Judicial District Court Judge Fred Van Soelen found that the “purpose in redrawing CD 2 … was to entrench the Democratic Party in power by diluting the votes of citizens favoring Republicans,” he said in his ruling.

Van Soelen said the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives accomplished this feat by cutting up voting blocks in Lea, Eddy, and Chaves Counties and scooping votes by adding portions of southern Bernalillo County into the district.

During a three-day trial in October, Republicans argued this was intended to splinter the influence of the oil and gas industry, which aligned itself with the Republican party in the southeast corner of the state.

However, Van Soelen said the move did not violate the New Mexico Constitution because it only prohibits “egregious” gerrymandering.

Van Soelen pointed to the close results of the 2022 election between Alamogordo Republican Yvette Herrell and Las Cruces Democrat Gabe Vasquez. Herrell and Vasquez are running against each other again in 2024.

Van Soelen said this was evidence that the gerrymandering needed to be more effective and egregious.

The Republican Party took the case to the state Supreme Court a week later. According to court records, the party agreed with Van Soelen’s assessment that Democrats had gerrymandered CD2 but said he erred when determining that the gerrymandering was not egregious.

Ultimately, the state high court, all Democrats, found that Van Soelen's ruling followed the law.

At around 1 p.m., the Democratic Party of New Mexico said it was glad the Supreme Court upheld the district court's ruling, calling the lawsuit and legal process "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," the statement read. "Now that this matter is finally resolved, both parties can focus on what matters - reaching voters and serving New Mexicans.”

Shortly after the Democrats released their statement, the Republican Party said it was disappointed in the ruling, adding the party "intensely disagree that Democrats did not intentionally entrench the Second Congressional District by shifting it."

"We are contemplating our next course of action in conference with our legal team," the party said in the statement.

Justin Garcia is a reporter with the Las Cruces Sun-News. He can be reached at JEGarcia@lcsun-news.com

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: New Mexico Supreme Court will not overturn GOP redistricting appeal