Democrats will continue to have a chance at winning four of the five seats on New Mexico's utility regulatory agency under a redistricting plan approved Wednesday by a state District Court judge.

Two Republicans, two Democrats and an independent currently sit on the PRC, which regulates utilities, telecommunications, insurance and motor carriers such as ambulances.

District Court Judge James Hall adopted a redistricting proposal advocated by a group of Democrats and minority voters, including Rep. Antonio "Moe" Maestas of Albuquerque.

The plan preserves most of the state's geographical divisions currently found in PRC districts.

Brian Sanderoff, a redistricting consultant for the Legislature, described it as a "status quo oriented plan."

"After accounting for population shifts, there is not a significant difference in the partisanship between the current districts and the districts" in the court-approved plan, Sanderoff said in a statement.

District boundaries must be adjusted to account for population changes during the past decade. The goal is to equalize district populations as much as possible to give equal weight to all voters as required by the legal doctrine of "one person, one vote."

PRC redistricting ended up in court after GOP Gov. Susana Martinez vetoed a proposal passed by the Democratic-controlled Legislature.

The court-approved plan provides for a solidly Republican district in Eastern New Mexico, including the cities of Raton, Clovis, Portales, Roswell, Hobbs and Carlsbad.

The new district will run from the Colorado border south to New Mexico's border with Texas. Commission Chairman Pat Lyons, a Republican, represents District 2, which currently covers southeastern New Mexico. North-central New Mexico, including Santa Fe, Taos and Chama, will make up a heavily Democratic district that extends into the city of Rio Rancho and parts of the west side of Albuquerque.

North-central and northeastern New Mexico have been together in one large district that strongly favored Democratic candidates, based on voting in recent statewide elections. An independent, Doug Howe of Santa Fe, represents District 3.

Howe was appointed last year by the governor to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Democrat Jerome Block Jr., who pleaded guilty to fraudulent use of a state-issued gasoline credit card and other felonies.

Under the court-approved plan, the Albuquerque area 1st District will continue to favor Democrats and its boundaries change only slightly to include parts of the community of Corrales. Democrat Jason Marks represents the district but is term-limited and can't seek re-election this year.

A northwestern New Mexico district, including the cities of Farmington, Gallup and Grants, will remain reliably Democratic in its voting. Native Americans account for 31 percent of the voting age population in the district. It's currently represented by Theresa Becenti-Aguilar, the commission's only woman and Native American.

District 5 in south-central and southwestern New Mexico will continue to be a swing district that can be won by either a Democrat or Republican. Currently, Republican Ben Hall holds the seat.

Doña Ana County, including the city of Las Cruces, will be unified in the southern district. A portion of the county has been in a district with southeastern New Mexico.




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