A Republican Redistricting Strategy for New Mexico

In yesterday's LA Times, there was this very interesting piece on Latino voting with a heavy emphasis on recent New Mexico politics, brought to our attention by New Mexico politico Mickey Barnett.

It comes complete with quotes from former Chairman Harvey Yates of the New Mexico Republican Party, from Albuquerque Journal pollster and political statistician Brian Sanderoff, and from as-yet-un-indicted co-conspirator Bill Richardson, who told the reporter this:

 "Democrats have to recruit more Latino candidates and they have to start siding with Latinos on redistricting and other issues," Richardson said, "because many Latinos perceive that the party doesn't care enough about electing more Hispanic officials."

Richardson's comments support my view that assuring Hispanic Democrats of a majority in the northern district of New Mexico while offering them a chance in both of the two southern districts would be the best way for the Republicans to get two winnable districts in New Mexico.  This strategy has at least four significant advantages.

1) There's a chance that any such plan could attract enough support in the Democrat caucus to prevent the legislature from adopting a Congressional redistricting plan that would lock in two Democrats and one Republican for the rest of this decade.  After all, Ben Ray Lujan, the father of New Mexico's Third Congressional District's current incumbent, is Speaker of the New Mexico House of Representatives.

2) In addition, if Republicans were to propose such a district map, it would have a chance of being selected by New Mexico's Democrat judiciary after a Governor Martinez veto.

3) Such a plan would also stand a chance in Federal court in the event of a suit alleging discrimination under Voting Rights Act.

4) Finally, this strategy would go a long way toward convincing New Mexico's Hispanics that Republicans are serious about their votes.