Vasquez-Herrell debate appears to be off the table

Voters in New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District are unlikely to see a debate or candidate forum with U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, the Las Cruces Democrat serving his first term in Congress, alongside his Republican challenger, Yvette Herrell.

The campaigns could not agree to a date to appear for a debate on Albuquerque television station KOB 4. The Herrell campaign told the Las Cruces Bulletin that negotiations for a date took place during August and September, with KOB proposing a number of dates. The Herrell camp preferred a date close to the start of early voting, which opened Oct. 8, while the Vasquez campaign preferred a date later in October.

Paul Smith, a spokesperson for the Herrell campaign, said the campaign agreed to Oct. 16 as a compromise date suggested by KOB, but that the Vasquez team rejected that date as well. The Vasquez campaign has cited scheduling conflicts and complained that Herrell would not compromise. Herrell has indicated she will appear alone on KOB on Oct. 16, and called Vasquez’s absence “a slap in the face to the voters of the Second Congressional District” in a news release.

Herrell did not appear at an Oct.3 candidate forum hosted by the All Pueblo Council of Governors, which Vasquez attended along with candidates from New Mexico’s two other House districts. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee called Herrell out in a news release accusing her of “ducking public events where she’d get questions about her record from everyday New Mexicans,” although Herrell held an event in Deming that day.

This week, it was Vasquez’s turn to be razzed by Herrell and her allies for missing a debate, with state GOP chair Steve Pearce encouraging voters to “reach out to Gabe Vasquez and remind him that he works for you. Insist on a debate between him and Yvette and remind him that it is essential for upholding democracy,”

“It’s disappointing that instead of defending his extreme positions on defunding the police and softening border security, Gabe Vasquez has chosen to hide from the voters,” the Herrell campaign added.

It is also that case that polls by KOB and The Hill show support for Vasquez at 9 percentage points over Herrell’s, with 538.com data projections favoring the Democrat’s chances for reelection. The surveys report that 8 and 9 percent of respondents, respectively, were undecided.

With just over three weeks left before Election Day on Nov. 5, the closest Vasquez and Herrell may come to sharing a stage is on page 4 of a voters guide published by the League of Women Voters of Southern New Mexico.

Herrell, a former state lawmaker from Alamogordo, served one term in the House from 2021 to 2023, and was unseated by Vasquez, a former Las Cruces City Councilor, in the 2022 election. The margin was razor-thin, with Vasquez just 1,350 votes ahead of the incumbent. However, the 2024 matchup takes place in a new district map, following redistricting that takes place every 10 years. The 2nd Congressional District still encompasses the southern border and southwestern corner, but now incorporates a portion of Albuquerque and less of its former conservative territory in the southeast, and now leans Democratic based on 2020 data.