The New Mexico Supreme Court upheld a Democratic-drawn Congressional map that divided a conservative, oil-producing region and reshaped a swing district on the southern border. 

All five New Mexico State justices signed a shortly-worded order that was published on Monday, noting that while the redistricting plan enacted by Democratic state lawmakers in 2021 did succeed in diluting the votes of their political opponents, those changes fell well short of “egregious” gerrymandering. 

State Republicans had attempted to argue that the boundaries, as currently drawn, would entrench Democrats’ power. Democrats countered that the 2nd District in southern New Mexico remains competitive, with Democrats having won there in 2022 by just a 0.7% margin.

The New Mexico state Supreme Court’s decision follows an order from the U.S. Supreme Court that Alabama redo a Republican-drawn map that had only allowed for one Black-majority district in that state.

Earlier this month, a federal appeals court in New Orleans ordered Louisiana’s GOP-majority state legislature to draw a new Congressional map by January 15, after a lower court ruled its current district boundaries disenfranchise Black voters there.

And in Florida, a circuit judge prohibited a redistricting map that was pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) because it also diminished the ability of Black voters in northern Florida to vote for a representative of their choice.

Legal challenges to Congressional maps are also ongoing in Arkansas, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. 

PHOTO: New Mexico Congressional map

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