Rep. Andrea Reeb to Return to New Mexico House After Re-election

Andrea Reeb Back in Santa Fe After Unopposed Win

Andrea Reeb is heading back to the New Mexico House of Representatives, voters in District 64 sent her back to Santa Fe on Tuesday, three weeks after she resigned her seat, New Mexico Political Report reported. The Clovis Republican, who was unopposed in the fall election, announced Thursday she will take her seat for the upcoming term.

The swift reversal comes down to a simple, powerful message from the voters. “The people of District 64 asked me to serve, and I’m going to,” Reeb said in a news release. She resigned on Oct. 15, the day after a federal judge ruled in Baldwin v. Morrissey that her dual role as a legislator and special assistant district attorney violated the separation of powers clause in the New Mexico Constitution, New Mexico Political Report reported.

This is a story about a constitutional clash, a high-profile legal case, and the will of the electorate. Reeb’s resignation wasn’t just a political exit; it was a move to protect dozens of criminal cases from being thrown into legal limbo. Her name remained on the ballot because she was already running without an opponent, setting the stage for this unusual comeback. Now, the question for the rest of the current term is whether her seat will remain vacant or be filled by a gubernatorial appointment.

The Baldwin Case That Sparked the Resignation

To understand why Reeb resigned, you have to go back to the Rust shooting case and a complex legal fight. In August 2022, First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies appointed Reeb as a special prosecutor in the manslaughter case against actor Alec Baldwin. Reeb won her House seat that November and took office on Jan. 1, 2023. The dual roles, however, were immediately challenged.

In February 2023, Baldwin’s attorneys moved to disqualify Reeb, arguing that serving in both the legislative and executive branches violated the state Constitution. Reeb eventually withdrew from the case in March 2023. The criminal case against Baldwin was later dismissed.

The legal battle, however, continued. The turning point came when U.S. District Judge Kea Riggs issued a ruling. Judge Riggs found that a special prosecutor is a public officer who exercises the state’s sovereign power. Therefore, Reeb’s holding two offices in different branches violated Article III, Section 1 of the New Mexico Constitution. reported that the judge also rejected the reasoning in a 2024 opinion from Attorney General Raúl Torrez’s office, which had concluded a legislator could serve as a special prosecutor in isolated matters. The judge did, however, grant Reeb and Carmack-Altwies absolute prosecutorial immunity for most of their conduct in the case.

In a news release from House Republicans, Reeb said she respectfully disagreed with the ruling but believed resignation was the appropriate course.

In her resignation letter, Reeb said she had relied on guidance from the State Ethics Commission and the Attorney General’s 2024 opinion before taking on the prosecutor role. She chose to resign quickly, she said, to ensure that her legal situation didn’t jeopardize dozens of other criminal cases.

A Legislative Record on Public Safety

Reeb’s time in the House was defined by her focus on public safety and juvenile justice. Long before the legal troubles, she was a persistent advocate for stricter penalties against crimes against peace officers. Her most consistent effort was a bill to raise the penalty for aggravated battery on a peace officer causing great bodily harm or involving a deadly weapon from a third-degree to a second-degree felony. She introduced versions of the bill in 2023 (HB 155), 2024 (HB 61), and 2025 (HB 103). Earlier versions cleared the House but stalled in the Senate. The 2026 version, however, finally succeeded, passing the Senate 37-0 and being signed into law.

Her legislative efforts weren’t limited to one issue. In 2025, she sponsored a major juvenile justice overhaul, HB 134, which the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee ultimately tabled along party lines after it was significantly scaled back from its original 52-page version. She also sponsored bills to limit good-time credit for people convicted of homicide by vehicle (HB 102) and to extend Victims of Crime Act rights to officers who are crime victims (HB 104), both of which cleared the House Judiciary Committee.

Reeb Plans to Hand off Cases

Reeb’s path forward has a clear timeline. She plans to continue her special prosecutor work through the end of the year, carefully handing off her pending cases to other attorneys. In January, she will join the law firm of Payne, Powell, Truitt and Chandler as a partner, a move she says resolves the constitutional conflict before the next legislative session begins.

For the current term, which is now winding down, the seat will remain vacant unless the governor chooses to fill it. The process for that is laid out in state law: county commissions in all three counties of District 64—Chaves, Curry, and Roosevelt—will nominate a replacement. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham will then choose one of those nominees to fill the seat. It is not yet certain if the governor will make an appointment before the term concludes.