SANTA FE – Legislators are looking for ways to break a stalemate about redistricting plans for the New Mexico state Senate amid a standoff with Native American leaders about fair representation.
Senate leaders scheduled floor deliberation Wednesday on a bill to redraw Senate political districts, after repeated delays and private meetings with tribal leaders. Lawmakers are in a special session to redraw congressional and legislative districts based on new census data.
Tribal leaders are seeking to bolster Native American influence in the political process amid dissatisfaction with public education, access to basic household infrastructure and economic opportunities. The state is home to 23 federally recognized Native American communities, including large portions of the Navajo Nation.
A Native American consensus map would shore up voting-age Native American majorities in three state Senate districts in northwestern New Mexico and reinforce robust minority-Indigenous voting blocs in two additional districts.
Left intact, the proposal from Indigenous groups would leave Republican state Sen. Joshua Sanchez of Bosque outside the boundaries of his current district, potentially to compete in a neighboring district against GOP Senate minority leader Greg Baca of Belen. Native American leaders have denounced an effort to fight that pairing and others like it under their plan.
On Tuesday, the All Pueblo Council of Governors that represents 19 Indigenous communities urged members of the state Senate in a letter to vote down any components of a Senate redistricting bill that modifies consensus recommendations from tribal governments.
