Vasquez defeats Herrell to keep New Mexico House seat in Democratic hands

Rep. Gabe Vasquez won a second term on Tuesday in the highly contested battleground of New Mexico’s 2nd District, preserving a Democratic seat that was among the top pickup opportunities for the Republicans this year.

Vasquez defeated GOP challenger Yvette Herrell in a rematch of their 2022 race, when Herrell was the incumbent. It marks the fourth straight cycle that Herrell has been on the ballot for the seat — and the third time she’s lost it.

The sprawling 2nd District encompasses the entirety of New Mexico’s border with Mexico, and immigration — while a hot topic all around the country — resonates even more strongly there. Issues of border security, migration policy and their intersection with domestic crime were all featured in the fierce debate leading up to Election Day — a focus Republicans said would give Herrell the edge.

But Vasquez has vastly outraised Herrell in the fundraising fight. And Democrats had a potent issue of their own to highlight in the form of abortion, which has energized the party’s liberal base — and female voters of all stripes — since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

A new congressional map, adopted in 2021, also extended the 2nd District into parts of the city of Albuquerque, in a shift that’s helped the Democrats.

Still, Vasquez won by just 1,350 votes in 2022, and heading into the contest election forecasters ranked the race among the most competitive in the country.

Donors noticed, and outside groups alone dumped almost $19 million into the district — $9.8 million of it spent on behalf of Herrell, according to OpenSecrets.

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