2008 United States presidential election in New Mexico

The 2008 United States presidential election in New Mexico took place on November 4, 2008. Voters chose five representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Main article: 2008 United States presidential election

2008 United States presidential election in New Mexico
November 4, 2008
 
Nominee Barack Obama John McCain
Party Democratic Republican
Home state Illinois Arizona
Running mate Joe Biden Sarah Palin
Electoral vote 5 0
Popular vote 472,422 346,832
Percentage 56.91% 41.78%
County Results
President before election

George W. Bush
Republican

 Elected President

Barack Obama
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

New Mexico was won by the Democratic nominee, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, by a 15.13% margin of victory; Obama took 56.91% of the vote while his Republican opponent, Senator John McCain of Arizona, took 41.78%. Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state Obama would win, or otherwise considered it as a safe blue state. Due to the extremely narrow margins of victory in the previous two presidential elections (less than 1% in 2004 and less than 0.1% in 2000), it started out as a swing state, but hypothetical general election match-up polls taken in the state continued to show a big lead for Obama. Obama's leads in the polls in New Mexico increased so much that McCain did not campaign nearly as much there as he did elsewhere, despite it neighboring his home state of Arizona. A large Hispanic and Native American as well as a trending Democratic population put Obama over the top.[1]

Primaries

Campaign

Predictions

There were 16 news organizations that made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day:

Polling

Obama won a majority of the pre-election polls taken in the state, including sweeping all of them taken after September 14. The final three polls averaged the Democrat leading 55% to 43%.[15]

Fundraising

John McCain raised a total of $1,016,376 in the state. Barack Obama raised $3,987,438.[16]

Advertising and visits

Obama and his interest groups spent $4,535,378. McCain and his interest groups spent $3,606,796.[17] The Democrat ticket visited the state five times to the Republicans' eight times.[18]

Analysis

The key voting bloc in this state is Hispanics, which make up a plurality of the state's total population with 45%. George W. Bush received over 40% of the Hispanic vote nationally in 2004. This support was enough for Bush to nip John Kerry by approximately 6,000 votes in New Mexico in 2004. In the previous two elections, New Mexico had been a very close swing state. Al Gore won the state by 300 votes in 2000, which was even narrower than the controversial results in Florida. However, after the 2004 presidential election, support for Republicans in the Hispanic community collapsed. During the 2008 election, New Mexico was regarded as an Obama-leaning state although John McCain was from neighboring Arizona and held similar views on illegal immigration to those of Bush. Ultimately, McCain obtained 30% of the Hispanic vote.

Native Americans also represent a key voting demographic in New Mexico.[19] Obama won the Native American vote, 78–21%, and carried most of the counties within the confines of the Navajo Nation.[20]

The Republican base in New Mexico consists of the more rural southeastern part of the state which, while thinly populated, votes heavily Republican. Democrats are strongest in the state capital, Santa Fe, and its close-in suburbs. The city of Albuquerque and the southwestern part of the state both lean Democratic, but not as overwhelmingly as does Santa Fe. On a larger context, Southern New Mexico is typically more Republican while Northern New Mexico is traditionally more Democratic, while Albuquerque and other areas in the center tend to swing both ways.

In 2008, Obama carried the state by a 15-point margin, largely by dominating the Albuquerque area. He won Bernalillo County, home to Albuquerque itself, by 21 points; Kerry had won it by four points in 2004. While McCain dominated the southeastern part of the state, it was not nearly enough to overcome Obama's edge in the Albuquerque area.[21]

During the same election, former Democratic U.S. Representative Tom Udall, who had represented New Mexico's 3rd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, defeated former Republican U.S. Representative Steve Pearce, who had represented New Mexico's 2nd congressional district, for an open U.S. Senate seat that was vacated by Republican Pete Domenici once it was discovered that he had brain cancer. Former Republican U.S. Representative Heather Wilson, who represented New Mexico's 1st Congressional District, vacated her seat to challenge Pearce in the GOP senatorial primary only to lose the nomination to him. As a result, all three of New Mexico's U.S. House seats were up for grabs, and Democrats captured all three of them. At the state level, Democrats increased their majorities in both houses of the New Mexico Legislature, picking up three seats in both the New Mexico House of Representatives and New Mexico Senate.

As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Luna County voted for the Democratic candidate.

Results
2008 United States presidential election in New Mexico
Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Democratic Barack Obama Joe Biden 472,422 56.91% 5
Republican John McCain Sarah Palin 346,832 41.78% 0
Independent Ralph Nader Matt Gonzalez 5,327 0.64% 0
Libertarian Bob Barr Wayne Allyn Root 2,428 0.29% 0
Constitution Chuck Baldwin Darrell Castle 1,597 0.19% 0
Green Cynthia McKinney Rosa Clemente 1,552 0.19% 0
Totals 830,158 100.00% 5
Voter turnout (voting age population) 56.4%

Results breakdown

By county
County Obama% Obama# McCain% McCain# Others% Others# Total
Bernalillo60.03%168,40638.82%109,2121.32%3,701281,319
Catron31.31%65966.32%1,3962.38%502,105
Chaves37.00%8,16061.80%13,6301.20%26422,054
Cibola63.12%3,17634.12%1,7172.76%1395,032
Colfax54.53%3,46544.07%2,8001.40%896,354
Curry32.31%4,65566.52%9,5851.17%16914,409
De Baca34.32%35864.81%6760.86%91,043
Doña Ana57.82%38,57440.79%27,2111.39%93066,715
Eddy36.45%7,28962.34%12,4681.21%24219,999
Grant59.15%8,09239.33%5,3811.51%20713,680
Guadalupe70.85%1,54128.28%6150.87%192,175
Harding41.22%25657.49%3571.29%8621
Hidalgo50.87%99048.00%9341.13%221,946
Lea27.37%5,08471.61%13,3011.02%19018,575
Lincoln36.47%3,48261.86%5,9061.68%1609,548
Los Alamos52.49%5,70945.84%4,9861.66%18110,876
Luna51.64%4,28946.44%3,8571.91%1598,305
McKinley71.31%15,99327.57%6,1831.13%25322,429
Mora78.57%2,15620.59%5650.84%232,744
Otero39.56%8,60258.83%12,7911.61%35021,743
Quay38.83%1,54659.36%2,3631.81%723,981
Rio Arriba74.75%11,24524.25%3,6481.00%15115,044
Roosevelt34.08%2,27064.33%4,2851.59%1066,661
Sandoval38.50%17,64559.82%27,4181.68%76845,831
San Juan38.76%18,02859.92%27,8691.32%61446,511
San Miguel79.75%10,32019.15%2,4781,11%14312,941
Santa Fe76.76%53,80222.03%15,4431.21%84970,094
Sierra42.92%2,35154.97%3,0112.12%1165,478
Socorro59.37%4,64338.50%3,0112.14%1677,821
Taos81.54%13,38417.22%2,8271.24%20416,415
Torrance44.41%3,06853.87%3,7211.72%1196,908
Union28.39%49270.28%1,2181.33%231,733
Valencia53.00%15,14245.61%13,0331.39%39728,572

By congressional district

Barack Obama carried two of the state's three congressional districts, while John McCain just narrowly carried the other congressional district that simultaneously elected a Democrat to the U.S. House of Representatives.

District McCain Obama Representative
1st 39.64% 60.07% Heather Wilson (110th Congress)
Martin Heinrich (111th Congress)
2nd 49.97% 48.64% Steve Pearce (110th Congress)
Harry Teague (111th Congress)
3rd 37.79% 61.01% Tom Udall (110th Congress)
Ben R. Luján (111th Congress)

Electors
Main article: List of 2008 United States presidential electors

Officially the voters of New Mexico cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. New Mexico is allocated five electors because it has three congressional districts and two senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of five electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all five electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for president and vice president. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them.[22] An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector.

The electors of each state and of the District of Columbia met on December 15, 2008, to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body; instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia meet in their respective capitols.

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All five were pledged to Barack Obama and Joe Biden:[23]

  1. Brian Colon
  2. Annadelle Sanchez
  3. Tom Buckner
  4. Christy French
  5. Alvin Warren

References
  1. Cost, Jay; Sean Trende (January 18, 2009). "Election Review, Part 3: The West". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved May 11, 2009.
  2. "D.C.'s Political Report: The complete source for campaign summaries". dcpoliticalreport.com. Archived from the original on January 1, 2009. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
  3. Presidential | The Cook Political Report Archived May 5, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  4. Adnaan (September 20, 2008). "Track the Electoral College vote predictions". The Takeaway. Archived from the original on April 22, 2009. Retrieved November 14, 2009.
  5. "Electoral-vote.com: President, Senate, House Updated Daily". electoral-vote.com. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
  6. Based on Takeaway
  7. "POLITICO's 2008 Swing State Map - POLITICO.com". politico.com. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
  8. RealClearPolitics - Electoral Map
  9. CQ Politics | CQ Presidential Election Maps, 2008 Archived October 29, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  10. "Electoral College Map". The New York Times. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  11. "October – 2008 – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  12. "Winning the Electoral College". Fox News. April 27, 2010.
  13. "roadto270". ap.org. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
  14. Reports, Rasmussen. "Election 2008: Electoral College Update - Rasmussen Reports™". rasmussenreports.com. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
  15. Election 2008 Polls - Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections
  16. "Page Not Found". fec.gov. Archived from the original on March 24, 2009. Retrieved December 19, 2016. Cite uses generic title (help)
  17. "Map: Campaign Ad Spending - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  18. "Map: Campaign Candidate Visits - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  19. "Paying Attention to the Native American Vote".
  20. "New Mexico - Election Results 2008 - The New York Times". elections.nytimes.com. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  21. "Election Results 2008". New York Times. Archived from the original on November 3, 2004. Retrieved May 11, 2009.
  22. "Electoral College". California Secretary of State. Archived from the original on October 30, 2008. Retrieved November 1, 2008.
  23. New Mexico Secretary of State's office Archived November 29, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
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