BY JULIE ANN GRIMM, J E F F P RO CTO R e d i t o r @ s f r e p o r t e r. c o m
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On the heels of redistricting, advocates plan to push harder to remove lawmakers from the process
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JANUARY JANUARY 12-18, 12-18, 2022 2022
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SFREPORTER.COM SFREPORTER.COM
s New Mexico lawmakers debated the redrawing of voting districts this winter, predictable partisanship stoked race and class conflict both below the surface and out loud. Some believe the racial makeup of new congressional districts comes close to striking the right balance; others say the altered boundaries foment polarization. “That we are going to have a real opportunity to send another Hispanic member of our state to the Congress is very exciting for me,” said Sen. Michael Padilla, an Albuquerque Democrat. “I have heard someone on the floor say that now it’s possible to have someone in CD2 who would be Hispanic...Is that the goal? Are we trying to elect people of particular ethnicities?” asked Sen. Gay Kernan of Hobbs—a Republican whose city largely moved from one congressional district to another in the change. When it came to new state legislative maps during another debate, a plan to protect incumbents turned into a fight with a consortium of Native tribes standing firm against lawmakers. While redistricting battles between political parties happen in every state, the divisions and alliances along New Mexico’s other demographic lines make its quest for fair maps in state and national offices even more complex. At the end of the once-in-a-decade redistricting fight, the Legislature had the final say: The tribes and pueblos drew a hard line and ultimately won the legislative boundaries they favored when the governor signed a plan on Jan. 6. A new three-way split of congressional districts across New Mexico kept things equal for tribes and also resulted in a significant shift that gives Hispanic voters a majority in a district that has flip-flopped between the major parties as a battleground in recent years. The approved maps in some ways mirror recommendations from an appointed committee for the 2021 redistricting process. Yet, the new Citizen Redistricting Committee’s (CRC) recommendations were just that: non-binding suggestions. The state’s legal scaffolding allows those with power to redraw maps to their own advantage—and they did. With court battles still not out of the question, advocates for a power shift say a constitutional amendment would take the politics out of the state’s process. Meanwhile, incumbents are strategizing about how new congressional districts might change the political landscape amidst a national tug-of-
war over control most experts expect to end in November with Democrats taking heavy losses. While the pain and uncertainty—and even the progress—of the special session is fresh in mind, Rep. Natalie Figueroa, D-Albuquerque, has already met with drafters and potential co-sponsors, and plans to introduce a Joint Resolution for such a constitutional amendment in the regular session that begins on Jan. 18. Whether majorities in both chambers of the Legislature will vote to divest themselves of authority in redistricting remains in question, and even if they do, the decision would then be in the hands of voters. “We are girding our loins for a long battle,” Figueroa told reform advocates in a Zoom call earlier this month, “but it’s important. Don’t anyone think it’s going to happen quickly.” Prior to the 2021 bill that established the CRC, nearly 20 proposed bills have attempted to decouple redistricting from the Roundhouse. All have failed. Kathleen Burke, project director for Fair Districts for New Mexico, says the nonpartisan group hopes what political will exists is enough, especially in the Senate, which resisted transparency and made wholesale changes to maps with little explanation. “There have been some shifting sands,” Burke tells SFR. “We have seen some failure to follow through, we have had some disappointments because while legislators might understand the ethical problem at hand, when they are looking at losing their own seat or perhaps losing the opportunity to be a strong voice for their party or their constituents, we have seen legislators equivocate.” But Burke, a 20-year resident of the state who manages the project under the auspices of the League of Women Voters, says the special session might have kicked up some interest among lawmakers. “I think there was quite a bit of frustration,” she tells SFR. “I think they might be able to see that there could be a better way for this to be done.” Legislative leaders agreed before the start of the Dec. 6 special session the Senate would first work on Congressional maps while the state House of Representatives would take on new boundaries for legislative districts and the Public Education Commission. The CRC had delivered a handful of recommended maps for each set of offices after holding extensive public meetings across the state and online over the summer and fall. Under state law, major party leadership and the state Ethics Board members appointed its members. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued a statement in her call noting she looked for-
