Redistricting task force, including RR senator, shifts focus amid turmoil

RIO RANCHO — A task force charged with reforming state office district maps, which includes a Rio Rancho lawmaker, has “shifted strategy,” stating that it can no longer carry out its original mission after two members from one political party resigned.

In a news release Thursday, the New Mexico Redistricting Task Force, which includes Sen. Jay Block, a Republican, said via its chief organizer, the New Mexico League of Women Voters, that it will continue as an educational panel following the Aug. 18 resignations of Sen. Harold Pope and Rep. Cristina Parajón, both Democrats from Albuquerque. Without them, the former 16-member task force did not have an equal number of Democratic and Republican lawmakers.

In separate statements issued Aug. 18, Pope and Parajón both cited President Donald Trump’s and Texas Republicans’ efforts to gerrymander — or redraw — congressional maps for political gain. The efforts have led Democratic state leaders to say they’re going to do the same thing to stop Republicans from having an electoral advantage.

Following the lawmakers’ resignations, the League issued a news release stating, in part, that it was “disappointed” in the lawmakers’ decision to resign, while Block and Pope fired back at one another in prepared statements accusing the other of being hypocritical in responding to redistricting.

Block, who at the time called the resignations an “immature and lackluster stunt,” said Thursday the decision for the task force to shift focus irritated him.

“It bothers me because the Democrats can replace those two elected officials who resigned,” Block said. “If the Democrats were serious about this and wanted fair redistricting, they would work with this task force ... Obviously, the Democrats treat this as a joke because they’re going to do what they want to do when it comes to redistricting.”

The task force was originally intended to review a 2020 task force report and will host two more meetings later this month — Sept. 10 and 17 — before it concludes its work, according to the release and Kathleen Burke, project coordinator for Fair Districts for New Mexico.

Block said he would attend one of the September meetings because he is “committed” to serving on the task force. He will, however, miss the second meeting to travel to Israel. Block plans to send a staffer to the second webinar.

Burke said Thursday that the New Mexico League of Women Voters and Fair Districts for New Mexico are disappointed that resignations led to a change in focus — abandoning reviewing a 2020 task force report, which recommended the Legislature adopt legislation to “improve the openness, transparency, and fairness of political redistricting.” The 2025 task force had hoped to vote or ratify the previous redistricting concepts.

The decision to refocus the task force came about not only after the League received Pope and Parajón’s resignations, but heard the public’s reaction to their departures as well, Burke said.

Nevertheless, the League and Fair Districts are “happy” to educate the public and legislators, said Burke.

“We feel if the legislators really, truly understand the history of gerrymandering in our state, the more legislators will support reform,” she said. “Hopefully, they will share with their colleagues what they learned in these meetings.”

Anyone interested in participating in the webinars can register at fairdistrictsnm.org.