SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez is seeking a second term in New Mexico’s swing district along the U.S.-Mexico border, in a rematch against the Republican he ousted in 2022.
GOP challenger Yvette Herrell waged her fourth consecutive campaign for Congress in the majority-Latino district that stretches from the border to Albuquerque.
In 2021, democratic state lawmakers redrew congressional boundaries to divvy up a politically conservative, oil-producing region among three districts.
Democrats, GOP trying to hold on to border House districts
Vasquez, a former Las Cruces city councilor, has invoked his knowledge of the border region and its economy as the U.S.-born son of immigrants from Mexico. His campaign has proposed safeguards against cartels that smuggle drugs or migrants, and a humanitarian approach to asylum-seekers and support for abortion rights.