Herrell, Mike Johnson open ‘battle station’ as fight for CD2 heats up

Attention all units!

Congressional candidate Yvette Herrell and Las Cruces Republicans christened a small office off of N. Solano Drive as a campaign office, or ‘battle station,’ as the war for Congressional District 2 races towards Election Day. 

The Republican hopeful and former congresswoman was joined by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to unveil the campaign office before a crowd of about 75.

“We came here to turn up the heat in this district. I am so excited about Yvette getting back in this battle,” Johnson said.

Herrell and Johnson took shots at Democratic congressman Gabe Vasquez on immigration while calling on the Republican faithful gathered in the office to canvass and fundraise on their behalf. 

“Gabe Vasquez voted, not once, but twice, to allow illegals to vote in our elections. You cannot vote to have illegals vote in our elections and then turn around and tell the people of New Mexico that we've got a problem at the border,” Herrell said, referring to the SAVE Act.

This bill would make it illegal for non-U.S. residents to vote and require stricter voting registration requirements. It has stalled in the U.S. Senate, with Democrats pointing out that the law already requires people to attest they are U.S. citizens before registering to vote. 

Herrell seeks to regain the seat in the House of Representatives she held from 2021-23 from Democrat Gabe Vasquez. Vasquez unseated Herrell in 2022 for control of the southern New Mexico district. While the seat has been represented mostly by Republicans, in recent election cycles the seat has ping-ponged between Republicans and Democrats: Democrat Xochitl Torres Small succeeded Steve Pearce, who left Congress to run for governor, from 2019-21, until Herrell ousted her in 2020. 

2. Speaker Mike Johnson gives a speech during a campaign event for Yvette Herrell on Aug. 21, 2024.

“It's changed every two years since 2018, but we need to hold it and get Yvette back in office,” Johnson said, adding, “The second district of New Mexico is one of the big toss-up districts in the country.”

Multiple national media outlets also named New Mexico’s CD-2 as one of the most competitive in the U.S., and for good reason. 

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

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

A judge found that state Democrats had gerrymandered the area, but not significantly enough to violate the law. The judge used Herrell and Vasquez’s close 2022 contest as proof that the district had not been significantly gerrymandered. 

Those realities set the backdrop for what is sure to be a tight race between Vasquez and Herrell. But they were not the centerpiece of Herrell and Johnson’s stump. Instead, the Republicans sought to paint a portrait of an unregulated border and an American economy downtrodden by President Joe Biden's policies. 

“Our nation is in harm's way, and the harm is this administration and these policies that are killing our country,” Herrell said. 

Johnson is the second Republican Speaker of the House Herrell has brought to Las Cruces. Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, stumped for Herrell in Las Cruces in 2023. 

The Bulletin contacted Vasquez's camp but did not receive a response. However, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Lauryn Fanguen slammed the event. 

“Bringing Mike Johnson on the campaign trail may buy Yvette Herrell favor with her party’s leaders, but all it does for the average New Mexican is remind them of Herrell’s steadfast anti-abortion extremism. Johnson and Herrell’s radical and divisive abortion agenda was already resoundingly rejected in 2022, and New Mexican voters will reject Herrell once more this November.”

Fanguen added, “After being caught on tape admitting she wanted to ban all abortion, it’s not shocking Yvette Herrell is now hanging out with the architect of a national abortion ban. Just birds of a feather trying to ban abortion together.”

The event also drew a small protest group calling for Johnson to pass a revamped Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, known as RECA. The bill would provide relief to families who suffered radiation exposure following a series of lawsuits in the 1990s from uranium miners and people affected by nuclear bomb fallout. 

The original RECA sunsets 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 in southern New Mexico.