1968 United States presidential election in New Mexico

The 1968 United States presidential election in New Mexico took place on November 5, 1968. All fifty states and The District of Columbia, were part of the 1968 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: 1968 United States presidential election
1968 United States presidential election in New Mexico
November 5, 1968
 
Nominee Richard Nixon Hubert Humphrey George Wallace
Party Republican Democratic American Independent
Home state New York[lower-alpha 1] Minnesota Alabama
Running mate Spiro Agnew Edmund Muskie S. Marvin Griffin
Electoral vote 4 0 0
Popular vote 169,692 130,081 25,737
Percentage 51.85% 39.75% 7.86%
County Results
President before election

Lyndon B. Johnson
Democratic

 Elected President

Richard Nixon
Republican

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

New Mexico had been a long-time political bellwether, having supported the winning candidate in every presidential election since statehood in 1912. However, a definite Republican trend was detectable in 1964, when Goldwater was able to win a vote share two percent above his national mean and Johnson feared losing traditionally Southern Democratic "Little Texas".[1]

The 1966 midterm elections saw the state join with larger "Sunbelt" dynamics and Democratic candidates for statewide offices would lose twelve percent or more of their previous vote share,[2] in the process showing that Hispanic candidates were becoming a liability in Albuquerque and the east due to considerable in-migration,[3] and legislative GOP percentages reached levels not observed for over four decades.[4]

Local issues of public school finance and land-grant claims for the Hispanic and Native American populations of the state proved a further liability for the incumbent Democratic Party.[5] The issue of the stalemated Vietnam War was another problem for the Democratic Party in a state severely affected by poverty, and anti-war Eugene McCarthy gained substantial support among New Mexico Democrats before the assassination of Bobby Kennedy largely turned them toward eventual nominee Hubert Humphrey.

Vote

Incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey and segregationist American Independent Party candidate and former Governor of Alabama George Wallace campaigned in New Mexico during the autumn, whilst running mate Spiro Agnew did all the campaigning for Republican Richard Nixon in the state.[5] Despite his failure to visit, New Mexico was won by former Vice President Nixon by a 12-point margin against Humphrey.[6] Wallace, far from his base in the Deep South, did well among lower-middle class unionized workers[7] and farmers in the "Little Texas" region, but received some of his poorest national percentages in the north-central highland regions – Mora County gave Wallace his eleventh-smallest vote share of any county in the country.

Results
Electoral results
Presidential candidate Party Home state Popular vote Electoral
vote		 Running mate
Count Percentage Vice-presidential candidate Home state Electoral vote
Richard Nixon Republican New York 169,692 51.85% 4 Spiro Agnew Maryland 4
Hubert Humphrey Democratic Minnesota 130,081 39.75% 0 Edmund Muskie Maine 0
George Wallace American Independent Alabama 25,737 7.86% 0 S. Marvin Griffin Georgia 0
Ventura Chavez People's Constitution New Mexico 1,519 0.46% 0 Adelico Moya — 0
Fred Halstead Socialist Workers California 252 0.08% 0 Paul Boutelle New York 0
Total 327,281 100% 4 4
Needed to win 270 270

Results by county
County Richard Milhous Nixon
Republican		 Hubert Horatio Humphrey
Democratic		 George Corley Wallace
American Independent		 Various candidates
Other parties		 Margin
% # % # % # % # % #
Lincoln 64.52% 2,004 25.82% 802 9.24% 287 0.42% 13 38.70% 1,202
Chaves 63.61% 8,866 25.91% 3,612 10.22% 1,425 0.25% 35 37.70% 5,254
Catron 62.29% 674 25.69% 278 11.83% 128 0.18% 2 36.60% 396
Roosevelt 58.11% 3,256 27.61% 1,547 13.80% 773 0.48% 27 30.50% 1,709
De Baca 57.67% 658 30.24% 345 11.39% 130 0.70% 8 27.43% 313
Curry 53.99% 5,562 28.30% 2,915 17.03% 1,754 0.69% 71 25.69% 2,647
San Juan 54.03% 7,664 28.45% 4,036 16.24% 2,304 1.28% 181 25.58% 3,628
Union 55.42% 1,217 30.87% 678 12.70% 279 1.00% 22 24.54% 539
Sierra 57.06% 1,624 32.68% 930 9.91% 282 0.35% 10 24.39% 694
Harding 57.69% 450 36.41% 284 5.64% 44 0.26% 2 21.28% 166
Quay 51.38% 2,123 33.86% 1,399 13.72% 567 1.04% 43 17.52% 724
Lea 48.21% 7,415 30.89% 4,751 19.67% 3,025 1.24% 191 17.32% 2,664
Doña Ana 54.15% 10,824 38.31% 7,658 7.27% 1,453 0.28% 55 15.84% 3,166
Bernalillo 54.96% 56,234 39.91% 40,835 4.81% 4,920 0.32% 332 15.05% 15,399
Los Alamos 54.92% 3,447 40.66% 2,552 4.27% 268 0.14% 9 14.26% 895
Torrance 52.98% 1,316 39.21% 974 7.57% 188 0.24% 6 13.77% 342
Luna 50.10% 1,952 36.91% 1,438 12.58% 490 0.41% 16 13.19% 514
Socorro 52.07% 2,230 43.68% 1,871 4.04% 173 0.21% 9 8.38% 359
Eddy 47.74% 7,193 40.44% 6,093 11.09% 1,671 0.72% 109 7.30% 1,100
Guadalupe 51.42% 1,176 44.91% 1,027 3.37% 77 0.31% 7 6.52% 149
Otero 43.77% 4,475 38.91% 3,978 16.51% 1,688 0.81% 83 4.86% 497
Mora 50.97% 1,155 47.18% 1,069 1.54% 35 0.31% 7 3.80% 86
Taos 49.89% 3,119 47.87% 2,993 1.98% 124 0.26% 16 2.02% 126
Valencia 47.51% 5,676 46.15% 5,513 5.92% 707 0.43% 51 1.36% 163
San Miguel 48.12% 4,027 48.85% 4,088 2.33% 195 0.69% 58 -0.73% -61
Santa Fe 48.12% 9,359 49.07% 9,544 2.53% 492 0.28% 54 -0.95% -185
McKinley 45.71% 4,376 46.91% 4,491 5.71% 547 1.66% 159 -1.20% -115
Hidalgo 39.25% 606 43.91% 678 16.65% 257 0.19% 3 -4.66% -72
Colfax 44.39% 2,212 49.71% 2,477 5.28% 263 0.62% 31 -5.32% -265
Rio Arriba 43.23% 3,935 52.72% 4,799 2.96% 269 1.09% 99 -9.49% -864
Grant 38.52% 2,908 50.56% 3,817 10.50% 793 0.41% 31 -12.04% -909
Sandoval 41.43% 1,959 55.18% 2,609 2.73% 129 0.66% 31 -13.75% -650

Notes
  1. Although he was born in California and he served as a U.S. Senator from California, in 1968 Richard Nixon's official state of residence was New York, because he moved there to practice law after his defeat in the 1962 California gubernatorial election. During his first term as president, Nixon re-established his residency in California. Consequently, most reliable reference books list Nixon's home state as New York in the 1968 election and his home state as California in the 1972 (and 1960) election.

References
  1. Johnson, Robert David; All the Way with LBJ: The 1964 Presidential Election, p. 168 ISBN 0521737524
  2. Wolf, T. Phillip; 'The 1966 Election in New Mexico'; The Western Political Quarterly, vol. 20, No. 2, Part 2 (June 1967), pp. 586-592
  3. Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 463 ISBN 978-0-691-16324-6
  4. Phillips; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 467
  5. Wolf, T. Phillip; 'The 1968 Elections in New Mexico', The Western Political Quarterly, vol. 22, no. 3 (September 1969), pp. 510-516
  6. "1968 Presidential General Election Results – New Mexico". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2018-02-12.
  7. Converse, Philip E.; Miller, Warren E.; Rusk, Jerrold G. and Wolfe, Arthur C.; 'Continuity and Change in American Politics: Parties and Issues in the 1968 Election'; The American Political Science Review, vol. 63, no. 4 (December 1969), pp. 1083-1105
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