New Mexico InDepth article – L.A. City Council redistricting issue reminds us of New Mexico

At a meeting last year with two other Latino city councilors and the head of that city’s federation of labor, Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez made a series of racist and ugly comments about a Black child, indigenous immigrants from Mexico, and fellow city councilors. A recording of the comments was leaked online last week and subsequently reported by the Los Angeles Times, outraging the public and roiling the city council. 

So far, both Martinez and Ron Herrera, who was president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, have resigned their positions. All business of the city council is effectively on hold as the public and other members of the city council demand the other two city councilors who participated in the meeting––Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo–resign as well.

Several members of the public who demanded resignations at Tuesday’s L.A. city council meeting also questioned whether laws had been broken since the four strategized at the meeting about how to draw new political maps in a way that ensures they can remain in office. 

Herrera referred to the group as a Latino caucus, and said his primary goal was to ensure their ability to win re-election. Within that context they discussed how they’d like to see districts of Black, Asian and white city council members changed. 

While Los Angeles has an independent redistricting commission, the city council wasn’t required to adopt the maps it produced – just like New Mexico’s lawmakers weren’t required to adopt maps produced by our own independent redistricting commission in 2021. 

When I read the reports coming out of Los Angeles, I couldn’t help but imagine similar conversations happening among New Mexico state lawmakers.

I prefer to believe that such meetings, if they happened in New Mexico, weren’t racist.

But in the wake of a new report on New Mexico’s redistricting process that finds lawmakers' mainly protected their own seats–which we refer to as “buddymandering”--it’s highly likely, in my mind, that such meetings did occur. 

The redistricting process can seem like a snoozefest to many, but it’s incredibly important. There are federal laws meant to ensure the voting power of racial minorities isn’t diluted through redistricting. But all other communities of interest – for instance, those based on geography, culture, or income – rely on a transparent and politically neutral process for the once-a-decade redrawing of district maps that shape political outcomes well into the future. 

The report co-authored by University of New Mexico political science professor Gabriel Sanchez was crystal clear in its conclusion that New Mexico lawmakers shielded themselves and colleagues in both parties from competition when drawing our state’s new political maps. The outcome: less competitive legislative elections.

One can see the outcome right now. With all 70 of our state representatives up for re-election this year, there are only about ten with truly contested elections. 

Competition is good because it forces elected officials to grapple with the complexities and nuances of diverse constituents. But generally, most members of the New Mexico Legislature have safe seats, because lawmakers are in charge of drawing their own political maps. And their focus on drawing maps that reduce or eliminate competition for their own seats is a principal reason for a growing movement in New Mexico demanding that an independent commission have final say over how political districts are drawn.