Herrell seeks return to the House of Representatives

In 2022, Yvette Herrell was denied a second term in Congress by a narrow vote in New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional district. Her challenger, Gabe Vasquez of Las Cruces, overtook her by just 1,350 votes. In an interview with the Las Cruces Bulletin, she described that loss as “a hard pill to swallow.”

As the lone Republican in the state’s delegation to Washington, Herrell added, “New Mexico lost a conservative voice, a different opinion about things or a different way of looking at things.” And it wasn’t long before she set her sights on returning.

Herrell has run for southern New Mexico’s seat in the House of Representatives in four consecutive elections. In 2018, the former state legislator and real estate broker from Alamogordo narrowly lost her bid for the open seat to Democrat Xochitl Torres Small. In 2020, with President Donald Trump on the ballot, Herrell ousted Torres Small to win her first term in the House.

The district has been represented by Republicans for most of its history, but the district map, redrawn following the 2020 Census, now leans Democratic. Herrell ran for re-election on a map that lost conservative terrain in the east of the state and gained new territory in Albuquerque. Yet the district still encompasses the state’s southern border and New Mexico’s bootheel, as well as the southeast where much of the state’s petroleum sector is based.

Herrell did not entirely blame redistricting for her 2022 loss, though she suggested it was one factor in lower turnout among Republicans that year, particularly in Otero County. On Nov. 5, 2024, with Donald Trump once again at the top of the Republican ballot, she anticipated more participation and excitement along with inroads she has toiled to establish in the newer parts of her district.

Regarding policy, Herrell said her campaign is squarely based on tougher law enforcement on the border, lower federal spending and reduced regulations, crime and education.

This year, there will be no televised debate between Herrell and Vasquez, after the campaigns could not agree on a date, leaving the campaign discourse mainly to advertisements. The Herrell campaign and outside groups supporting her have attacked Vasquez’s voting record on those issues but in the closing weeks have focused on sowing doubts about his character using police reports from 20 years ago documenting unpaid traffic citations, misdemeanor cannabis violations and complaints alleging he made verbal threats or slurs. Meanwhile, Vasquez and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee have sought to tie Herrell to Project 2025, an omnibus policy document drafted by supporters of Trump (which Trump has disavowed), and efforts at a national ban on abortion (something Herrell has said she would not support).

In an interview at the Bulletin’s offices, Herrell mostly avoided mentioning her opponent and said she wanted to work in a bipartisan manner. “We don't have enough honest conversations because everything gets so divisive,” she said, “and I think it plagues the ability for us to come up with some solutions, a different idea – and I think that's sort of the missing piece, especially in Congress.”

In past runs, particularly 2018, Herrell has taken a more partisan tone against Democratic governance and highlighted her alignment with Trump on the issues. In her first speech on the House floor, less than a day after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, she argued against certifying electoral college results from Arizona and Pennsylvania in the 2020 presidential election. That led the Las Cruces City Council to pass a resolution condemning her action.

At the time, Vasquez was himself a city councilor representing District 3.

With a recent Albuquerque Journal poll suggesting Vasquez leads the contest by four percentage points and Herrell closing the distance from previous polling, Herrell emphasized bipartisanship over broader ideological battles, saying that face-to-face conversations with voters in newer and more Democratic parts of her district had been productive.

“I think our state could be way more competitive regionally,” Herrell said, returning to challenges such as New Mexico’s longstanding low marks in education, as well as crime rates and “crazy tax policy” she said makes New Mexico less attractive for private enterprise.

She said, “If we could just come together and work collectively with our elected officials on every level … and see how we can best help the people of New Mexico and, obviously, the nation, I think we'd be better for it in so many ways.”