redistricting

A push to take the job of drawing voting districts away from state lawmakers and give it to an independent commission has failed to pass in every legislative session since New Mexico redrew its maps in 2021. A joint resolution introduced Monday again seeks the change for state offices, but would leave the power to redraw the U.S. House map in the hands of legislators.

After a proposal to take the responsibility of drawing the state’s voting maps out of New Mexico lawmakers’ hands failed to pass in the last two legislative sessions, advocates and lawmakers calling for a fairer, less partisan process are planning to take another stab at it.

The New Mexico Supreme Court issued an order Monday affirming a lower court’s ruling that the state’s congressional map is constitutional. The state Republican Party had appealed, arguing Democratic lawmakers “egregiously” gerrymandered the 2nd Congressional District, making it difficult for their party to win even one of the state’s three seats.

The state Supreme Court on Monday heard arguments in the New Mexico Republican Party’s appeal in a case that saw Democratic lawmakers cleared of accusations of egregious partisan gerrymandering in the state's 2nd Congressional District. The question before the high court is whether Democrats had to guarantee their party’s victory to have drawn the map illegally, or simply make it harder for the GOP to win.

The Republican Party of New Mexico has appealed a district court ruling on the state’s congressional map, which upheld it as constitutional.

A New Mexico judge on Friday upheld the state’s congressional map as constitutional in a trial over whether the Democrats, who control the Legislature, illegally drew the boundaries in 2021 to guarantee their party’s victory.

Attorneys for the state Republican Party and other plaintiffs have filed new evidence in the New Mexico redistricting case ahead of a ruling later this week. The plaintiffs argue the Democratic-controlled Legislature intentionally diluted GOP votes in the 2nd Congressional District, which used to lean Republican. They say newly-surfaced text messages and emails back that up.

What was scheduled to be a three-day bench trial to determine whether New Mexico Democrats illegally drew the boundaries of the state’s congressional map in 2021 ended a day early on Thursday. While the courtroom proceedings are done, more evidence in the case is yet to come.

In their opening statement, attorneys for the plaintiffs alleged that GOP lawmakers had no say in the map, that the Democrats moved voters around unnecessarily, and that statistical analysis shows the map wasn’t drawn fairly.

A trial begins Wednesday over New Mexico's congressional map. Unlike some other active fights over redistricting, it's the state's Democratic lawmakers who are accused of crafting illegal districts.