New Mexico Republican Rep. Yvette Herrell lost her re-election bid to Democrat Gabriel Vasquez in New Mexico’s second congressional district.
Vasquez beat Herrell by less than 1 point.
Polling stations closed in the state at 7 p. m. local time, nine p. m. EST.
Herrell, a Cherokee, joined the ranks of the few Native Americans in Congress after her victory in 2020. She was the first Native American Republican woman elected to the U. S. House of Representatives. U. S.
The 58-year-old New Mexico local ran for the seat in 2018 but narrowly defeated her through her opponent, Democratic lawyer and former Rep. Xochitl Torres Small. Herrell defeated Small two years later.
Prior to his time in Congress, Herrell represented New Mexico’s 51st District for 4 terms in the New Mexico House of Representatives.
Vasquez, Herrell’s challenger, is a city councilman for Las Cruces. He defeated his opponent by a wide margin in the Democratic primary, winning more than two-thirds of the vote. Before running for Congress, Vasquez worked for U. S. Senator Martin Heinrich in southern New Mexico.
He has the support of President Joe Biden.
New Mexico’s second congressional district includes the city of Las Cruces, the largest city in the state at the time, and the western parts of Albuquerque, the largest.
Former President Donald Trump had a 12 percentage point margin of victory over Biden under previous district barriers in 2020 before redrawing to concede parts of the Northeast in redistricting after the 2020 census, turning his political orientation from Republican to Democratic.
Previously, the district encompassed all of southern New Mexico, from state to state.
According to OpenSecrets, Herrell raised $3. 9 million, spent $3. 3 million and had $683,057 in money as of Oct. 19. His opponent, Vasquez, raised $3. 2 million, spent $2. 9 million and still had $348,172 in money to spend, as of Oct. 19.
By early November, super PACs, national party committees and other non-candidate committees had combined to spend about $13. 4 million defending or opposing applicants in this race, adding primaries.
The race between Herrell and Vasquez has been “launched” through Inside Elections, “launched” through The Cook Political Report and “leaning Republican” through Sabato’s crystal ball at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.