4 Investigates: Can some New Mexico counties seriously join Texas?

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-15

[00:00:00]So, we've had with our neighbors to the east have defined the land of enchantment. I mean, Texas and New Mexico could not be more different. Yet, we share a lot.

[00:00:09]>> Well, now the border that we share is getting some extra attention as a group of lawmakers look at what it would take to make New Mexico counties Texas. Our investigator Ryan Laughlin is with us now. So, Ryan, real talk, is this ever going to happen like really? Guys, there's no precedent for this. It is a Texas-sized long shot, but that's not stopping the Lone Star State. They have a group quietly working to see what it would take to turn whole counties, should they choose, to switch teams. Obviously, they're looking at the oil-rich counties of Eddy and Lea, but they also say they're looking at Roosevelt and Curry, and even floated the idea of Lincoln County. You know, Texans love Ruidoso.

[00:00:50]But, the people taking this seriously are quick to say they're responding to New Mexicans who started this conversation. So, we went straight to the source to Lovington, New Mexico to ask why.

[00:01:03]If it's not biblical, and it's not constitutional, it's not good for Lea County, I vote no.

[00:01:09]>> [music] >> State Representative Randy Petigrew proclaims the title I think I'm going to go hard on this one. of the most conservative vote in the Roundhouse.

[00:01:17]One of his recent ideas, though, put him on an island. When I dropped the legislation, nobody wanted anything to do about it. They all had alligator arms at the dinner table.

[00:01:26]He proposed a path forward for New Mexico counties, [music] none named specifically, to secede to Texas. The path would be narrow, needing approval from voters, both state governments, and Congress. Still, he was not happy about how Santa Fe received his idea.

[00:01:44]>> [music] >> There was nothing that sat there and said, "Oh my gosh, Ryan, we've got a problem with our communities, and they're it's so bad in their mind that they want to leave the state. We need to engage our rural communities. None of them said that. The idea of redrawing the Texas-New Mexico state line isn't new. In fact, it's really, really old. But right now, the Texas State Legislature is taking a hard look at what it would take to change [music] things.

[00:02:13]Um we're not looking for trouble. Texas State Representative Karl Tepper is taking Pedigree's proposal seriously. TV station WFAA asked about the plan.

[00:02:24]Tepper's answer? You know, they're poor and we're rich.

[00:02:28]Um they're poor and >> these counties? You know, you never know what situation they might be in. And um you know, everything seems to have a price in this world. States buying or selling counties has never happened before, but the conversation about moving state lines has.

[00:02:47]In 2008, Delaware and New Jersey went [music] all the way to the Supreme Court after disagreements over building a natural gas pipeline in the river.

[00:02:56]When a different river border moved in 1961, Minnesota gave up all of 20 acres to North Dakota.

[00:03:04]In Oregon, over a dozen counties voted to join more conservative Idaho. It hasn't happened, and Texas understands the value of this part of New Mexico. We make the majority of the change happen in New Mexico, and we fund that change.

[00:03:23]New Mexico's slice of the Permian Basin, [music] the most oil-rich part of the world, in Lea and Eddy County, props up our state spending.

[00:03:32]Depending on how you count, anywhere from a third to almost half of the state's budget comes from oil and gas money in these two counties, and people here know it. You hear it a lot around here because there's some [music] frustration. The Lovington city manager says he hears plenty of secession talk.

[00:03:48]Maybe more money stays up there than comes back down here.

[00:03:51]>> [music] >> A New Mexico State study shows people from Lea and Eddy Counties easily contribute the most state taxes per person in the state while getting back some of the least. Law enforcement treated a little differently in Texas.

[00:04:04]The Lovington Police Chief is ready to be a Texan.

[00:04:08]>> [laughter] >> We're a little bitty town.

[00:04:10]So you dilute us with Albuquerque or uh Las Cruces.

[00:04:15]It just dilutes our vote.

[00:04:18]So we don't get it representation like the bigger cities would.

[00:04:23]Would that change if you were in Texas?

[00:04:25]I believe so.

[00:04:27]Why? It's pretty red over there.

[00:04:29]While it is pretty red in Lovington.

[00:04:32]Lovington, Texas doesn't [music] sound normal to me.

[00:04:35]>> [laughter] >> It wasn't party politics on the minds of people. It was the problems they feel would be improved if this became Texas.

[00:04:45]I would be for it because of the schooling. One of the reasons is we wouldn't have so many um dispensaries. Because it's illegal in Texas. It would help us with our economy but due to the oil industry here. We have a lot of oil field traffic but the roads >> [music] >> we begged and begged for them to be maintained better. Did anyone say "Heck no, we don't want to be Texas"?

[00:05:07]>> In fact, even Pedicure. We don't want to go to Texas either.

[00:05:12]But we do want the respect down here.

[00:05:14]Why draft that legislation?

[00:05:17]It brings up the conversation.

[00:05:19]The conversation is the part that's important, right?

[00:05:24]So guys, I had two main takeaways from my time in Lovington. One was I was surprised to hear how the COVID shutdowns are still that memory is really fresh and that pain that that caused them is still very deep there.

[00:05:35]The city manager said that he thinks there needs to be some some bridge building that happens there. And secondly, uh he said that well, regular people there, they just care about the problems, you know? And the problems sound really similar. I mean, it's chewed up roads, it's underperforming schools, it's the things that most New Mexicans want. And so, it's hopefully those solutions that people are are getting. And we have some ways that people can make their voices heard under this story on kob.com if they want to have their voices heard by their government. Well, being that close to Texas, kind of identifying more with them.

[00:06:07]Yeah, it makes sense.

[00:06:08]>> up in West Texas. I grew up in Odessa and we crossed the border all the time.

[00:06:13]But we have you now and and that's probably why there's this rift.

[00:06:17]>> I crossed and I never went back. So, I came [laughter] here. You did spend some time in Ruidoso when you were a Texan.

[00:06:22]>> I did. I did. Yes, I did.

[00:06:25]But I did not litter, nor did I cause problems while I was there.

[00:06:30]>> [laughter] >> That was when I moved here.