1960 United States presidential election in New Mexico

The 1960 United States presidential election in New Mexico took place on November 8, 1960. This was the first year where all 50 current states were part of the 1960 United States presidential election. State voters chose four electors to represent them in the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Main article: 1960 United States presidential election
1960 United States presidential election in New Mexico
November 8, 1960
 
Nominee John F. Kennedy Richard Nixon
Party Democratic Republican
Home state Massachusetts California
Running mate Lyndon B. Johnson Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
Electoral vote 4 0
Popular vote 156,027 153,733
Percentage 50.2% 49.4%
County Results
President before election

Dwight D. Eisenhower
Republican

 Elected President

John F. Kennedy
Democratic

Elections in New Mexico
General elections
Federal elections
Presidential elections
Presidential primaries
Senate elections
House of Representatives elections
State elections
Gubernatorial elections
State Senate elections
State House elections
City of Albuquerque
Mayoral elections

Background

In its early days New Mexico had been divided between largely Republican machine-run highland regions and its firmly Southern Democrat "Little Texas" region in its east.[1] However, with a shift of these machine-run regions to the Democratic Party, the state became very largely a one-party Democratic state in the years following the New Deal,[2] although Republicans – despite being severely faction-ridden[3] – retained strength in many highland counties. Despite the GOP recapturing the governorship under Edwin L. Mechem in 1950 and retaining it for all but one term up to this point,[4] the state's electorate was overwhelmingly aligned with the Democratic Party.

The nomination by the Democratic Party of a Roman Catholic in Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy introduced major complications into likely voting behaviour. In 1928, Al Smith had lost most of his party's traditional support in the Baptist "Little Texas" region due to his Catholic faith and Tammany Hall links.[5] However, increasing Mexican-American voting and the power of older Hispanic Catholic voting meant that there was a potential counterweight to this trend,[6] whose power was seen in a wave of anti-Catholic pamphlets in the southeast.[7]

Vote

New Mexico was won by Kennedy by a narrow 1 point margin. His narrow win reflected a balancing of Catholic and anti-Catholic forces. In heavily Baptist Roosevelt County, Kennedy declined 15 percent from Adlai Stevenson II's share of the vote in 1956. In contrast, in traditionally Republican Socorro County – the solitary county won by Alf Landon in 1936 – Kennedy won 57 percent of the vote and became the first Democrat to win the county since 1932.[6] Kennedy was also the first Democrat since 1936 to carry Mora County and the first since 1940 to win Santa Fe County. Both counties would become among the most Democratic in the state from the 1970s onwards. It is believed indeed that as many as 98 percent of Hispanic voters may have supported fellow Catholic Kennedy.[8]

In his first bid for the presidency, Republican nominee incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon was defeated in an electorally sound nationwide Democratic victory.[9] Nixon would later win New Mexico in both 1968 and 1972.

Results
Electoral results
Presidential candidate Party Home state Popular vote Electoral
vote		 Running mate
Count Percentage Vice-presidential candidate Home state Electoral vote
John F. Kennedy Democratic Massachusetts 156,027 50.15% 4 Lyndon B. Johnson Texas 4
Richard Nixon Republican California 153,733 49.41% 0 Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. Massachusetts 0
Rutherford Decker Prohibition Missouri 777 0.25% 0 E. Harold Munn Michigan 0
Eric Hass Socialist Labor New York 570 0.18% 0 Georgia Cozzini Wisconsin 0
Total 311,107 100% 4 4
Needed to win 269 269

Results by county
County John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Democratic		 Richard Milhous Nixon
Republican		 Various candidates
Other parties		 Margin
% # % # % # % #
Sandoval 64.87% 2,672 35.13% 1,447 0.00% 0 29.74% 1,225
Grant 63.74% 4,378 35.93% 2,468 0.32% 22 27.81% 1,910
Rio Arriba 62.69% 6,250 37.28% 3,716 0.03% 3 25.42% 2,534
Valencia 58.81% 7,043 41.16% 4,929 0.03% 4 17.65% 2,114
Santa Fe 58.05% 10,385 41.43% 7,411 0.53% 94 16.62% 2,974
Taos 58.03% 3,631 41.87% 2,620 0.10% 6 16.16% 1,011
San Miguel 58.02% 5,520 41.92% 3,988 0.06% 6 16.10% 1,532
Colfax 57.65% 3,187 41.90% 2,316 0.45% 25 15.76% 871
McKinley 56.60% 5,599 43.08% 4,262 0.32% 32 13.51% 1,337
Socorro 56.37% 2,327 43.51% 1,796 0.12% 5 12.86% 531
Guadalupe 56.07% 1,589 43.82% 1,242 0.11% 3 12.24% 347
Hidalgo 54.11% 889 45.65% 750 0.24% 4 8.46% 139
Doña Ana 53.15% 8,905 46.49% 7,789 0.36% 61 6.66% 1,116
Otero 52.15% 4,916 47.81% 4,507 0.03% 3 4.34% 409
Eddy 51.89% 8,707 47.59% 7,986 0.52% 87 4.30% 721
Mora 51.94% 1,458 48.06% 1,349 0.00% 0 3.88% 109
Luna 51.66% 1,708 47.88% 1,583 0.45% 15 3.78% 125
Los Alamos 50.96% 2,692 48.72% 2,574 0.32% 17 2.23% 118
Lea 50.45% 7,806 48.78% 7,548 0.78% 120 1.67% 258
Bernalillo 47.53% 40,908 52.06% 44,805 0.40% 348 -4.53% -3,897
Catron 46.02% 573 53.90% 671 0.08% 1 -7.87% -98
De Baca 45.68% 619 54.17% 734 0.15% 2 -8.49% -115
Torrance 45.35% 1,308 53.88% 1,554 0.76% 22 -8.53% -246
Quay 43.58% 2,050 56.38% 2,652 0.04% 2 -12.80% -602
San Juan 40.73% 5,370 57.04% 7,521 2.23% 294 -16.31% -2,151
Lincoln 41.65% 1,459 58.29% 2,042 0.06% 2 -16.64% -583
Chaves 40.36% 6,212 59.05% 9,089 0.59% 91 -18.69% -2,877
Sierra 39.14% 1,220 60.64% 1,890 0.22% 7 -21.50% -670
Harding 39.13% 396 60.87% 616 0.00% 0 -21.74% -220
Union 38.75% 1,068 61.18% 1,686 0.07% 2 -22.42% -618
Curry 35.49% 3,421 63.83% 6,153 0.67% 65 -28.34% -2,732
Roosevelt 30.34% 1,761 69.59% 4,039 0.07% 4 -39.25% -2,278

References
  1. Chilton, Lance; New Mexico: A Guide to the Colorful State, p. 95 ISBN 0826307329
  2. Burnham, Walter Dean; 'The System of 1896: An Analysis'; in The Evolution of American Electoral Systems, pp. 178-179 ISBN 0313213798
  3. Judah, Charles B. (1949); The Republican Party in New Mexico: A Challenge to Constructive Leadership
  4. Irion, Frederick C.; 'The 1960 Election in New Mexico', The Western Political Quarterly, vol. 14, no. 1, part 2 (March 1961), pp. 350-354
  5. Phillips, Kevin P; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 461 ISBN 978-0-691-16324-6
  6. Menendez, Albert J.; The Religious Factor in the 1960 Presidential Election: An Analysis of the Kennedy Victory over Anti-Catholic Prejudice, p. 178 ISBN 0786484934
  7. Deming Headlight, October 13 and 20, 1960
  8. Roybal, David; Taking on Giants: Fabián Chávez, Jr. and New Mexico Politics, p. 152 ISBN 0826344364
  9. "1960 Presidential General Election Results – New Mexico". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2018-02-12.
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