Herrell and Mike Johnson open “Battle Station” as the battle for CD2 heats up

Justin Garcia Las Cruces Bulletin

Attention all units!

Congressional candidate Yvette Herrell and Las Cruces Republicans have designated a small office off N. Solano Drive as a campaign office or “battle station” as the battle for the 2nd Congressional District races toward Election Day.

The Republican candidate and former congresswoman was accompanied by Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson of Louisiana to open the campaign office before a crowd of about 75 people.

“We came here to heat up this district. I’m so happy to have Yvette back in the fight,” Johnson said.

Herrell and Johnson attacked Democratic Congressman Gabe Vasquez on the immigration issue while urging Republican supporters gathered in the office to campaign and fundraise for them.

“Gabe Vasquez voted not once, but twice, to give illegal immigrants the right to vote in our elections. You can’t vote to give illegal immigrants the right to vote in our elections and then turn around and tell the people of New Mexico that we have a problem at the border,” Herrell said, referring to the SAVE Act.

This bill would prohibit non-US citizens from voting and impose stricter voter registration requirements. The bill has stalled in the US Senate as Democrats point out that the law already requires voters to prove their US citizenship before registering to vote.

Herrell is seeking to reclaim the House seat she held from Democrat Gabe Vasquez from 2021 to 2023. Vasquez ousted Herrell from the seat in 2022 and took control of New Mexico’s southern district. While the seat has been held primarily by Republicans, it has flipped back and forth between Republicans and Democrats in recent election cycles: Democrat Xochitl Torres Small succeeded Steve Pearce, who left Congress to run for governor, from 2019 to 2021 until Herrell ousted her in 2020.

“It’s changed every two years since 2018, but we have to stick it out and get Yvette back in office,” Johnson said, adding, “New Mexico’s Second District is one of the most closely contested districts in the country.”

Several national media outlets have also named New Mexico’s CD-2 as one of the most competitive in the nation – and for good reason.

Vasquez defeated Herrell by about 1,200 votes in 2022. And while the election did not have as many false allegations of fraud as previous CD-2 elections, it did raise questions about redistricting and gerrymandering.

In 2020, the Democratic-controlled New Mexico Legislature approved a new district for CD-2, splitting the southeastern part of New Mexico into two districts. Previously, this part of the state, known for its oil production, was firmly in CD-2.

A judge found that the state’s Democrats had gerrymandered the district, but not so severely that it violated the law. The judge used Herrell and Vasquez’s close 2022 election race as evidence that the district had not been significantly gerrymandered.

These realities provide the backdrop for what is sure to be a close race between Vasquez and Herrell. But they were not the centerpiece of Herrell and Johnson’s campaign. Instead, Republicans sought to paint a picture of an unregulated border and an American economy crushed by President Joe Biden’s policies.

“Our nation is in danger, and the danger comes from this administration and these policies that are killing our country,” Herrell said.

Johnson is the second Republican speaker of the House that Herrell has brought to Las Cruces. Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, campaigned for Herrell in Las Cruces in 2023.

The Bulletin contacted Vasquez’s camp but received no response. However, Lauryn Fanguen, spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, sharply criticized the event.

“Putting Mike Johnson on the campaign trail may win Yvette Herrell favor with party leaders, but for the average New Mexican, it only means reminding them of Herrell’s unwavering anti-abortion extremism. Johnson and Herrell’s radical and divisive abortion agenda was already soundly rejected in 2022, and New Mexico voters will reject Herrell again this November.”

Fanguen added: “After being heard on video admitting that she wants to ban all abortions, it is not surprising that Yvette Herrell is now dating the architect of a national abortion ban. Birds of a feather flock together to ban abortions.”

The event also attracted a small protest group calling on Johnson to pass a revised Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). The law would help families who suffered radiation exposure following a series of lawsuits in the 1990s by uranium miners and people affected by radioactive fallout.

The original RECA law expires this year, and advocates have called on Johnson’s House of Representatives to renew it. Johnson has resisted calls to pass the bill. Herrell told Source New Mexico she supports the bill, which affects dozens of people in southern New Mexico.