A Texas House committee is scheduled on Wednesday to discuss the implications “of adding to Texas one or more contiguous counties of New Mexico.” The move follows calls in some of New Mexico’s most Republican counties for them to potentially leave the state and join Texas instead. In January, two GOP New Mexico state representatives introduced a constitutional amendment that would have allowed three or more contiguous counties to secede from the state, though it didn’t make it past the committee stage. Secessionist movements, either aiming to form a new state or join an existing one, exist in a number of states including Oregon and Illinois.
However, there is currently no legal mechanism for counties to leave a state without its consent. If Republican voting counties such as Lea, Roosevelt and Eddy were to leave New Mexico and join Texas, the implications would be dramatic. Money currently flowing from the counties to Santa Fe would be rerouted to Austin while New Mexico, currently a key swing state, would likely become more Democratic.
Newsweek contacted Texas Governor Greg Abbott and New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham for comment via email on Wednesday outside of regular office hours. The Texas House Select Committee on Government Oversight is due to meet at 9 a.m. CDT to discuss the “Texas New Mexico Boundary,” according to its official schedule.
The schedule says it will “study the constitutional, statutory, fiscal, and economic implications of adding to Texas one or more contiguous counties of New Mexico.” This will “identify and outline all procedural steps required at both the state and federal level necessary to admit territory currently part of New Mexico into Texas” including considering the United States Constitution, Texas Constitution, New Mexico Constitution and federal statutes. The committee consists of 13 members, eight Republicans and five Democrats, and is chaired by Republican Cody Vasut. The debate over counties seceding from New Mexico to Texas intensified in January when two New Mexico House Representatives, Randall Pettigrew of Lovington and Jimmy Mason of Artesia, sponsored a constitutional amendment.
The amendment would trigger a secession referendum if at least 15 percent of voters in three or more contiguous counties demanded it. To be successful, the referendum would require a two-thirds majority in each county, along with unanimous approval from the county commission. Congress would be required to pass a law allowing the secession and any departing county would have to settle any outstanding debts with New Mexico.
This amendment was referred to the New Mexico House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee but was not adopted for a hearing or vote, effectively killing it. Senate Joint Resolution 15, a similar proposal, was introduced to the New Mexico Senate in 2021 by Republican Cliff Pirtle but it failed to progress past the Senate Rules Committee. Speaking to The Albuquerque Journal, Pettigrew argued Democrats in Santa Fe were exploiting natural resources held in Republican leaning New Mexican counties.
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