Democrats would love to re-draw the lines of New Mexico’s Albuquerque-based first Congressional District to make it more reliable for their party. They hold commanding majorities in both houses of the state legislature, so they should be able to do that.

Unless, that is, Republicans seize the open governorship in this year’s election. If New Mexico has a Republican governor during redistricting — as they did in 2001 — the governor can veto a partisan plan. Here is the Barone-Cohen summary of what happened in 2001:

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