1916 United States presidential election in New Mexico

The 1916 United States presidential election in New Mexico took place on November 7, 1916. All contemporary forty-eight states were part of 1916 United States presidential election. Voters chose three electors to represent them in the Electoral College, which voted for President and Vice President.

1916 United States presidential election in New Mexico

November 7, 1916

Nominee Woodrow Wilson Charles E. Hughes Party Democratic Republican Home state New Jersey New York Running mate Thomas R. Marshall Charles W. Fairbanks Electoral vote 3 0 Popular vote 33,527 31,152 Percentage 50.2% 46.6%

County Results Wilson   50-60%   60-70%   70-80% Hughes   40-50%   50-60%   70-80%

President before election Woodrow Wilson Democratic Elected President Woodrow Wilson Democratic

Background

During the period between New Mexico's annexation by the United States and statehood, the area was divided between largely Republican machine-run highland regions and its firmly Southern Democrat and Baptist "Little Texas" region to the southeast.[1] A split in the "Old Guard" of highland Republicanism meant that in the state's inaugural presidential election in 1912 Woodrow Wilson carried the state through overwhelming "Little Texas" and southern desert support over Progressive Theodore Roosevelt and incumbent Republican William Howard Taft.[2] Nonetheless, New Mexico was still Taft's fourth-strongest state by vote percentage reflecting the strong Hispanic machine loyalties to him in the northern highlands.[3]

In the East, supporters of Theodore Roosevelt's "Bull Moose" Party rapidly returned to the Republicans, in the Mountain States many if not most of these supporters turned to the Democratic Party not only in presidential elections, but also in state and federal legislative ones.[4] Wilson was also helped by a powerful "peace vote" in the Western states[5] due to opposition to participation in World War I.

Vote

New Mexico was won by incumbent President Woodrow Wilson, who secured a tumultuous reelection against Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes, and Socialist Party icon Allan L. Benson.[6] Wilson's reluctance to bid armed forces in World War I improved his image for this election, as a "peace candidate".[4] However, whilst many Progressive business leaders believed the Republican Old Guard stood for fraud and dishonesty, they nonetheless supported Hughes even whilst opposing GOP candidates for other statewide positions.[2] Consequently, despite its strong Democratic base at a local level that was completely absent in most parts of the West during the "System of 1896",[7] New Mexico was Wilson's third-weakest state in the West.

Results

Electoral results

Presidential candidate	Party	Home state	Popular vote		Electoral vote	Running mate
			Count	Percentage		Vice-presidential candidate	Home state	Electoral vote
Woodrow Wilson	Democratic	New Jersey	33,527	50.20%	3	Thomas R. Marshall	Indiana	3
Charles Evans Hughes	Republican	New York	31,152	46.64%	0	Charles W. Fairbanks	Indiana	0
Allan L. Benson	Socialist	New York	1,996	2.99%	0	George Ross Kirkpatrick	New Jersey	0
Frank Hanly	Prohibition	Indiana	112	0.17%	0	Ira Landrith	Tennessee	0
Total			66,787	100%	3			3
Needed to win					266			266

Results by county

County	Thomas Woodrow Wilson[8] Democratic		Charles Evans Hughes[8] Republican		Allan Louis Benson[8] Socialist		James Franklin Hanly[8] Prohibition		Margin
	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#
Roosevelt	73.56%	1,088	15.55%	230	10.14%	150	0.74%	11	58.01%	858
Eddy	72.57%	1,402	22.00%	425	5.12%	99	0.31%	6	50.57%	977
Curry	63.34%	1,175	19.14%	355	17.41%	323	0.11%	2	44.20%	820
Chaves	68.36%	2,275	25.90%	862	5.59%	186	0.15%	5	42.46%	1,413
Quay	64.21%	1,539	24.95%	598	9.76%	234	1.08%	26	39.26%	941
Luna	63.02%	796	33.10%	418	3.56%	45	0.32%	4	29.93%	378
San Juan	59.64%	637	36.05%	385	4.31%	46	0.00%	0	23.60%	252
Otero	54.39%	824	37.03%	561	8.45%	128	0.13%	2	17.36%	263
Union	53.24%	1,996	39.88%	1,495	6.56%	246	0.32%	12	13.36%	501
Grant	53.93%	2,305	43.73%	1,869	2.25%	96	0.09%	4	10.20%	436
Sandoval	54.57%	734	45.43%	611	0.00%	0	0.00%	0	9.14%	123
Guadalupe	51.52%	1,172	46.90%	1,067	1.58%	36	0.00%	0	4.62%	105
Colfax	51.70%	2,006	47.29%	1,835	0.98%	38	0.03%	1	4.41%	171
Sierra	50.51%	493	47.13%	460	2.36%	23	0.00%	0	3.38%	33
Lincoln	48.05%	863	49.50%	889	2.39%	43	0.06%	1	-1.45%	-26
Mora	48.42%	1,505	51.16%	1,590	0.42%	13	0.00%	0	-2.73%	-85
Bernalillo	46.14%	2,394	52.26%	2,711	1.48%	77	0.12%	6	-6.11%	-317
McKinley	44.86%	550	54.57%	669	0.16%	2	0.41%	5	-9.71%	-119
Socorro	44.09%	1,558	55.29%	1,954	0.45%	16	0.17%	6	-11.21%	-396
Santa Fe	43.16%	1,406	56.17%	1,830	0.46%	15	0.21%	7	-13.01%	-424
Rio Arriba	43.40%	1,528	56.57%	1,992	0.03%	1	0.00%	0	-13.18%	-464
San Miguel	42.90%	2,231	56.37%	2,932	0.56%	29	0.17%	9	-13.48%	-701
Torrance	39.99%	679	55.83%	948	4.00%	68	0.18%	3	-15.84%	-269
Taos	39.95%	910	57.95%	1,320	2.02%	46	0.09%	2	-18.00%	-410
Doña Ana	39.84%	1,078	59.35%	1,606	0.81%	22	0.00%	0	-19.51%	-528
Valencia	19.77%	383	79.50%	1,540	0.72%	14	0.00%	0	-59.73%	-1,157

References

1. Chilton, Lance; New Mexico: A Guide to the Colorful State, p. 95 ISBN 0826307329
2. Hodgson, Illa D. and Garthwaite, Eloyse M.; 'New Mexico's Early Elections: Statehood to New Deal'; New Mexico Historical Review, January 1, 1995; vol. 70, issue 1, pp. 29-46
3. Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, p. 42 ISBN 0786422173
4. Sarasohn, David; 'The Election of 1916: Realigning the Rockies', Western Historical Quarterly, Vol. 11, No. 3 (July 1980), pp. 285-305
5. Menendez; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, p. 47
6. "1916 Presidential General Election Results - New Mexico". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2018-02-16.
7. Burnham, Walter Dean; 'The System of 1896: An Analysis'; in The Evolution of American Electoral Systems, pp. 178-179 ISBN 0313213798
8. New Mexico Office of the Secretary of State Bureau of Elections; 'Election Results Compilation of Election, November 7, 1916'; The New Mexico Blue Book, 1917 pp. 100-102