Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows has directed a state legislative committee to study the feasibility, legality, and economic implications of annexing contiguous, conservative-leaning counties in southeastern New Mexico.
This past January, New Mexico Representatives Randall Pettigrew and Jimmy Mason, both Republicans representing parts of Chaves, Eddy and Lea Counties on the Texas border with New Mexico, introduced a draft of a state Constitutional amendment allowing “three or more contiguous counties” to secede from New Mexico, though it quickly stalled in the Democratic-led New Mexico legislature.
Inspired by the push, Burrows issued interim charges for the Texas House Select Committee on Governmental Oversight to examine the idea ahead of the 2027 legislative session.
He instructed the governmental oversight committee to study the implications of adding to Texas “one or more contiguous counties of New Mexico” and the process to do so, after welcoming a proposal out of New Mexico to allow its counties to band together and secede.
While the Texas-New Mexico boundary is unlikely to shift next year, the proposal will likely appeal to pro-secessionists in Texas, some of whom are among Burrows’ conservative skeptics.
Discussions center on oil-rich, conservative eastern and southeastern New Mexico border counties, such as Lea, Eddy, and Roosevelt counties, which reportedly feel politically alienated from Santa Fe.
Chaired by Rep. Cody Vasut (R-Angleton), the Select Committee on Governmental Oversight scheduled a public hearing at the Texas Capitol to take testimony.
Lawmakers are analyzing constitutional provisions across state and federal levels, required procedural steps, and the fiscal and economic impacts of altering state borders, which requires consent from both state legislatures and from from the U.S. Congress.
Critics and local New Mexico officials note that while frustration with state policy is real, an actual annexation remains a long-shot political maneuver facing fierce opposition from New Mexico’s leadership and residents who want to keep state-level regulated industries like legal cannabis and gaming. Meanwhile, Governor Jared Polis announced a proposal for Colorado to intervene and annex northern New Mexico. This would include Santa Fe.