Welcome to the Thursday, Sept. 26, Brew.
By: Mercedes Yanora
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- Previewing one of the 73 major party U.S. House rematches
- Help Desk: who can request a recount?
- Split Ticket’s Lakshya Jain and Ballotpedia’s Glorie Martinez join On the Ballot to discuss presidential battleground states
Previewing one of the 73 major party U.S. House rematches
With 40 days to go until the Fall election, we’ll be bringing you coverage of the most compelling elections—the battlegrounds we expect to have a meaningful effect on the balance of power in governments or to be particularly competitive. You can catch our previous coverage of other battleground races here.
Today, we’re looking at the election for New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District on Nov. 5.
Incumbent Gabriel Vasquez (D) and Yvette Herrell (R) are running in a rematch of the 2022 election, which Vasquez won by a 1,350-vote margin out of more than 192,000 votes cast. At the time of her defeat, Herrell was the incumbent and had represented the district since 2021.
The 1,350-vote margin was the seventh closest U.S. House race of 2022. It was also one of 19 districts where Democrats won election by a margin of 5% or less.
The district has changed partisan control five times since 2000: three from Republicans to Democrats and two from Democrats to Republicans.
As of Sept. 18, four major election forecasters differed in their ratings for the general election, with one rating it Likely Democratic, one rating it Lean Democratic, and two rating it a Toss-up. Vasquez has raised $3,991,488 to Herrell’s $2,415,944.
Vasquez is a former city councilor of Las Cruces and editor for Las Cruces Bulletin and The Round Up. Vasquez says he is running “to be a champion for working families and to build an economy that benefits everyone.” Vasquez says Herrell is among the “extremist politicians who take orders from party leaders instead of us … I’ll stand up to any party leader.”
Herrell is a business owner and former state legislator. She represented New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District from 2021 to 2023. Herrell says she is running to be “a champion for hardworking New Mexicans, protecting our freedoms, and always putting New Mexico first.” Herrell says Vasquez is “a radical in our Capitol. … Gabe is bankrolled by the same people who are funding the anti-Israel protests.”
NPR’s Claudia Grisales writes, “two of the biggest issues in this election — immigration and abortion rights — are at the heart of a tightly-contested U.S. House race.” Both candidates are focusing on crime and the southern border, with Vasquez also addressing access to abortion.
New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District is one of 37 congressional districts with a Democratic incumbent or an open seat that the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is targeting in 2024. To read about NRCC targeting initiatives, click here. For a complete list of NRCC targeted districts, click here.
All 435 U.S. House seats are up for election in 2024. Republicans have a 220 to 212 majority with three vacancies. To read more about the U.S. House elections taking place this year, click here.
Help Desk: who can request a recount?
Ballotpedia’s 2024 Election Help Desk, a major component of our Voter Toolkit, provides reliable, nonpartisan answers to more than 50 election-related questions on topics ranging from voter registration, to casting a ballot, to the certification of final results. We started the project in 2020 and are excited to bring it back for this election cycle.
Today, let’s look at a topic covered in the Help Desk: who can request a recount?
A recount is a process by which votes cast in an election are re-tabulated to verify the accuracy of the original results. As of September 2024, 42 states allow a candidate to request a recount. In 27 states, automatic recounts are possible. Recounts typically occur when the final results are close, there are accusations of election fraud, or there may have been administrative errors. To learn about who pays for these recounts, click here.
Voters may request a recount in 35 states. State law defines the elections in which voters have standing to request a recount.
- In four states, the law allows voters to request recounts in any election.
- In 28 states, voters can only request recounts for ballot measures.
- In Delaware, voters may only request a recount in local school board elections.
- In South Dakota, voters can request recounts in specific precincts for any election. Otherwise, voters can only request recounts for ballot measures.
- In Texas, voters can request recounts in presidential primaries. Otherwise, voters can only request recounts for ballot measures.
No specific margin of victory is required for candidates and/or voters to request recounts in 27 states. In four states, some types of elections require a specific margin of victory to be met before requesting a recount. Click here to read about specific margin requirements for states that require them.
Click below to learn more about the Help Desk.
Split Ticket’s Lakshya Jain and Ballotpedia’s Glorie Martinez join On the Ballot to discuss presidential battleground states
On Tuesday’s two-part episode of On the Ballot, Ballotpedia’s weekly podcast, Podcast Producer Frank Festa interviews Lakshya Jain from Split Ticket—a polling and election modeling outlet—and Ballotpedia Staff Writer Glorie Martinez about presidential battleground states.
Festa and Jain discuss Split Ticket’s Sept. 20 battleground projections. They also explore the process of revising ratings, the differences between Sun Belt and Rust Belt battleground states, and what could influence ratings from now until Election Day.
Festa then joins Martinez to learn about recent battleground state history and how these states have changed over the last 20 years.
Subscribe to On the Ballot on YouTube or your preferred podcast app to learn more about presidential battleground states! This episode is available now.