Ruling Upholds New Mexico Democrat-Led Legislature’s Not-Too-‘Egregious’ Gerrymander

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Court determines 2021 reapportionment diluted Republican votes but state’s congressional districts remain competitive

A New Mexico 9th Judicial District judge has upheld the stateโ€™s post-2020 Census reapportionment, dismissing claims by the Republican Party of New Mexico that the Democrat-led state legislatureโ€™s congressional map is a โ€œracial gerrymanderโ€ that violates the stateโ€™s Constitution.

The 14-page ruling issued Oct. 6 will be challenged by the state’s GOP, but it virtually ensures New Mexicoโ€™s three congressional districtsโ€”all represented by Democratsโ€”will remain as they are for the 2024 elections.

The New Mexico congressional map lawsuit is one of at least a dozen underwayย in state and federal courtsย across the country, including aย South Carolina case, Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, to be heard before the United States Supreme Court on Oct. 11.

How and where those court decisions shake out could have significant repercussions in Congress, potentially making it structurally more difficult for Republicans to expand or sustain their current 222โ€“212 U.S. House majority in 2024โ€™s elections.

The New Mexico decision follows an Oct. 5 ruling by a three-judge U.S. Northern District of Alabama panel that creates a new Alabama congressional map containing one majority-black district and another near-black-majority district presumptively favoring Democrats. Right now, the stateโ€™s seven-member congressional delegation consists of six Republicans and one Democrat.

Alabamaโ€™s new map will also likely be in place for the 2024 elections, even if state GOP officials continue challengingย Allen v. Milligan, which the United States Supreme Courtย votedย 5โ€“4 on June 8 to kick back to the same circuit court panel that initially rejected the map and issued the Oct. 5 ruling.

The Republican Party of New Mexico, state Sen. David Gallegos (R-Eunice), several individual voters, and Roswell Mayor Timothy Jennings, a former Democrat state senator still registered with the party, filed the lawsuit,ย Republican Party of N.M. v. Toulouse Oliver, on Jan. 21, 2022.

The complaint alleged the congressional map redrawn by the state legislature during a 2021 special session and signed into law by Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham was done โ€œin contravention of traditional redistricting principles โ€ฆ to accomplish a political gerrymander that unconstitutionally dilutes the votes of residents of southeastern New Mexico in order to achieve partisan advantage.โ€

Byย John Haughey

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