Democrats scored yet another perceptibly surprise victory in last week’s midterm elections with a win in New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District.
Although the Republican incumbent, Yvette Herrell, was only first elected to the position two years ago, when she defeated a Democrat who held the seat, the race for the position this year was considered at least by some to be safely on the side of the Republicans. At the elections data and analysis site FiveThirtyEight, the deluxe forecast — which includes expert input as a factor — estimated Herrell had a chance of winning at 78-in-100. The Cook Political Report, which also produces forecasts for the outcomes of elections across the country, took a slightly different approach, classifying the seat as a toss-up. Democratic candidate Gabe Vasquez has since seen the race called in his favor, with a lead a little over a half of a percentage point as of Sunday. Nearly 200,000 votes were cast overall.
Vasquez will represent a district comprising much of the most southwestern regions of New Mexico. One of the most highly populated regions of the district is around the city of Las Cruces, election results indicate. “Make no mistake about it, there’s nothing that happens in Washington that New Mexico can’t do better,” Gabe Vasquez said. “To everyone out there struggling, no matter whether you voted for me or not, please know this: I see you, I hear you, and I’ll fight my heart out for you, because public service is a sacred responsibility that I will never take for granted.” A press release from the Vasquez campaign on the occasion of his win describes the district as “one of the largest districts in the nation – home to rural, urban and native communities – one of the most Hispanic districts in the nation, and the second longest border district in the country.”
Vasquez’s commitment to serving all those in his district isn’t a given. When in office, Trump rather infamously spoke dismissively of the deadly impacts from COVID-19 in so-called blue areas, although on multiple levels the characterization of an area as “blue” or “red” is overly reductive — besides the other issues with Trump’s drivel. Elsewhere in the country, Democrats also flipped House seats currently held by the GOP, including two where the pro-impeachment Republican incumbents were defeated in primaries by candidates more inclined towards extremism. In a southwestern Washington district, Democratic candidate Marie Gluesenkamp Perez defeated Trump-aligned Republican Joe Kent despite holding a nearly non-existent chance of success prior to the election, according to FiveThirtyEight’s estimates. The other district in that category saw Michigan Democrat Hillary Scholten stop former Trump administration member John Gibbs, who previously tied prominent Democrats to Satanism.
I could not be more proud to be elected to Congress by my fellow New Mexicans. Whether you voted for me or not, I will fight my heart out for you, because public service is a sacred responsibility that I will never take for granted. #NM02 pic.twitter.com/50ndIYFFM0
— Gabe Vasquez (@Gabe_NM) November 9, 2022
