John Block

Far-left Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has once again spoken out of both sides of her mouth — this time about gerrymandering. For those unaware of the term, in essence, it means manipulating the political boundaries of districts to favor one party or class. 

Lujan Grisham signed into law the most partisan, extremist gerrymandered maps imaginable earlier this year. The maps approved for Congress, state House and state Senate were drawn by the dark money Center for Civic Policy, which skewed district lines for political gain.

These changes created snake-like figures in district maps, probably most notably in the congressional district boundaries, which chopped up many communities, such as Hobbs and Roswell, into two or even three districts, while pairing people in the extreme southeast corner of the state with communities that have nothing in common, such as with Santa Fe and the extreme northwest side of the state.

But despite this partisan gamesmanship, Lujan Grisham now claims to be on a “mission to end gerrymandering,” touting an endorsement with the far-left Eric Holder-affiliated “National Democratic Redistricting Committee,” which actually advocates for drawing districts to benefit Democrats.

The partisan group wrote, “We’re thrilled to endorse Gov.@Michelle4NM! Throughout her tenure, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grishman has acted as a fierce #DemocracyDefender who signed #FairMaps into law – making her re-election pivotal to New Mexico and our nation.” 

Despite once claiming to support fair districts, leftist members of the state “Citizens Redistricting Committee” pushed through partisan choices for maps. Here is what they originally said: 

Board Member Curtis said, “It seems like a radical change to any of the districts — since we’re not an elected body — … the public would have to say ‘we want a radical change.’” Member Curtis said, “there would have to be overwhelming support for a radical change from the current districts” and “We are imposing something on people if we’re doing radical change without the public jumping up and saying ‘this is what we want.’” 

Board Member Rhatigan added, “…unless there’s overwhelming public consensus to change the general composition of our three congressional districts, I’m inclined to draw districts that we have one [representative] in Albuquerque and we have one northern district and a southern district.”

As we previously reported: 

​​The maps were not the work of the state’s Citizen Redistricting Committee. Rather, the work of dark money operatives apparently seeking a left-wing political advantage. 

During the closed-door special session in which Democrats rammed through the extreme proposals, public comment was cut off or not accepted at all and no notice was given to the public to addend critical committee hearings on the proposed maps.

Even the left-wing Albuquerque Journal decried the partisanship in the drawing of maps. In a recent editorial, the paper wrote that the maps were drawn for “naked political gain.” 

“So much for keeping like-minded communities together, prioritizing communities of interest, protecting marginalized groups, avoiding court intervention, and not favoring anyone, specifically political parties or incumbents.”

But for everyone who was involved in the redistricting process in New Mexico, it is clear that Democrats shamelessly drew political maps to benefit themselves while doing everything possible to skew the board in their favor through gerrymandering.