Courtesy photo
Yvette Herrell
A day after acknowledging that she lost last year’s race to replace Steve Pearce in the U.S. House, Republican Yvette Herrell announced that she’s running for the seat again in 2020.
Her announcement sets up a possible rematch with Democrat Xochitl Torres Small, who took office last week.
In a news release, and then moments later a fundraising email, Herrell touted recent wage growth, record low Hispanic and black unemployment, and the strength of the energy and manufacturing sectors.
“Yet liberal politicians like Xochitl Torres Small are doing nothing but ‘resisting’ efforts to make our country a better place for all Americans,” Herrell said. “Torres Small’s very first votes — for Nancy Pelosi and against protecting our country with common sense border security — proved that her campaign promise to ‘work with anyone’ was just a cynical attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of the voters.”
Herrell said she’s running again “because I believe New Mexicans deserve a representative who will work hard every day to keep growing our economy, safeguard our way of life from government overreach, and push for solutions and funding to protect our borders.”
The quick move by Herrell is likely an attempt to clear the field of any potential GOP primary challengers. Herrell won a contested primary in 2018, then went on to lose to a seat that’s usually safe for Republicans in a year in which many red-leaning seats flipped blue. Pearce himself has not publicly ruled out another attempt to win back the congressional seat, which he gave up last year to run unsuccessfully for governor.
It’s possible several Republicans will take a close look at running for the seat. Torres Small is likely to be considered one of the most vulnerable U.S. House incumbents in 2020. The last Democrat to hold the seat, Harry Teague, lost it in 2010 after only one term in office.
Herrell erroneously declared victory last year on Election Night, joining many news organizations in falsely assuming the race was over. But thousands of outstanding ballots in Doña Ana and Cibola counties that were tallied the next day gave Torres Small a narrow victory.
After that, Herrell had the Doña Ana County ballots impounded so she could review them. On Monday, the last day to challenge the election results, she acknowledged for the first time that she’d lost the 2018 race.
Meanwhile, Torres Small led a delegation from Washington to her district this week. She and other members of Congress visited the Alamogordo Border Patrol station following the recent deaths of two immigrant children in her district while in federal custody.
“Today provided valuable insight into the circumstances surrounding Felipe Gomez-Alonzo’s tragic death. We learned of the improvements that CPB has made over the past month to help improve the medical care of those in their custody,” she tweeted. “…but more importantly, we learned what issues still need to be addressed to prevent tragedies like these from happening again. At this critical juncture for our border security and immigration systems, it is crucial that we come together to develop solutions to these challenges.”
“This will help to make our border strong, smart, and fair, as well as keep families and children, agents, and communities safe,” Torres Small tweeted.
This article has been updated to include Torres Small’s tweets.