2012 United States presidential election in New Mexico

The 2012 United States presidential election in New Mexico took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. This was the 25th U.S. presidential election in which New Mexico participated. New Mexico voters chose five electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan.

2012 United States presidential election in New Mexico

← 2008 November 6, 2012 2016 →
 
Nominee Barack Obama Mitt Romney
Party Democratic Republican
Home state Illinois Massachusetts
Running mate Joe Biden Paul Ryan
Electoral vote 5 0
Popular vote 415,335 335,788
Percentage 52.99% 42.84%

County Results

President before election

Barack Obama
Democratic

Elected President

Barack Obama
Democratic

Prior to the election, 17 news organizations considered this a state Obama would win, or otherwise considered as a safe blue state. President Obama and Vice President Biden carried New Mexico with 52.99% of the vote to Mitt Romney's 42.84%, a victory margin of 10.15%. Libertarian Gary Johnson, a former Republican who served two terms as Governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003, garnered 3.55% of the vote, his strongest statewide performance in the nation, and the strongest 3rd party showing in the state since 2000 (although that was easily surpassed by Johnson in 2016, when he received nearly 10% of the vote in New Mexico).

As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time where Colfax County, Hidalgo County, and Valencia County voted for the Democratic candidate. (Valencia County picked Donald Trump, Obama's successor, in both his 2016 win and 2020 loss, thus ending its reputation as a pivotal bellwether in presidential elections.) Since its statehood in 1912, no incumbent president of either party has ever won another term in office without carrying New Mexico. This is the last time that the presidential candidate who carried New Mexico won a majority of New Mexico's counties.

Caucuses and primaries

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Democratic caucuses

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The Democratic caucus in New Mexico was uncontested as no one challenged incumbent President Barack Obama for the nomination. As a result, all of the state's 50 delegates were allocated to Obama.

Republican primary

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2012 New Mexico Republican primary
 
← 2008 June 5, 2012 (2012-06-05) 2016 →
     
Candidate Mitt Romney Rick Santorum
Home state Massachusetts Pennsylvania
Delegate count 20 0
Popular vote 65,935 9,517
Percentage 73.17% 10.56%

     
Candidate Ron Paul Newt Gingrich
Home state Texas Georgia
Delegate count 0 0
Popular vote 9,363 5,928
Percentage 10.39% 5.88%

 
New Mexico results by county
  Mitt Romney

The 2012 New Mexico Republican presidential primary was proclaimed under state law on January 30, 2012[1] to take place on June 5, 2012.[1][2] Under New Mexico law it is a closed primary, with only registered members of the New Mexico Republican Party being eligible to vote in the Republican primary.[3] 20 delegates were chosen, for a total of 23 delegates to go to the national convention.

Federal offices

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Statewide offices

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Results

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New Mexico Republican primary, 2012[6]
Candidate Votes Percentage Delegates
  Mitt Romney 65,935 73.2% 20
Rick Santorum 9,517 10.56% 0
Ron Paul 9,363 10.39% 0
Newt Gingrich 5,298 5.88% 0
Unpledged delegates: 3
Total: 90,113 100.0% 23
Key: Withdrew prior to contest

General election

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Predictions

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Source Ranking As of
Huffington Post[7] Lean D November 6, 2012
CNN[8] Lean D November 6, 2012
New York Times[9] Lean D November 6, 2012
Washington Post[10] Tossup November 6, 2012
RealClearPolitics[11] Lean D November 6, 2012
Sabato's Crystal Ball[12] Likely D November 5, 2012
FiveThirtyEight[13] Solid D November 6, 2012

Candidate ballot access

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Results

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2012 United States presidential election in New Mexico[14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic
415,335 52.99% −3.92
Republican 335,788 42.84% +1.06
Libertarian 27,788 3.55% +3.26
Green 2,691 0.34% +0.15
Justice 1,177 0.15% N/A
Constitution
983 0.13% −0.06
Total votes 783,756 100.00%
Democratic win

By county

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County Barack Obama
Democratic
Mitt Romney
Republican
Various candidates
Other parties
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # %
Bernalillo 150,739 55.63% 106,408 39.27% 13,822 5.10% 44,331 16.36% 270,969
Catron 560 26.38% 1,494 70.37% 69 3.25% -934 -43.99% 2,123
Chaves 6,604 32.54% 13,088 64.50% 600 2.96% -6,484 -31.96% 20,292
Cibola 4,961 60.18% 2,998 36.37% 284 3.45% 1,963 23.81% 8,243
Colfax 2,828 49.06% 2,699 46.83% 237 4.11% 129 2.23% 5,764
Curry 4,022 29.52% 9,251 67.90% 352 2.58% -5,229 -38.38% 13,625
De Baca 287 31.82% 586 64.97% 29 3.21% -299 -33.15% 902
Dona Ana 37,139 55.91% 27,322 41.13% 1,962 2.96% 9,817 14.78% 66,423
Eddy 6,142 31.88% 12,583 65.30% 544 2.82% -6,441 -33.42% 19,269
Grant 7,090 54.95% 5,358 41.53% 454 3.52% 1,732 13.42% 12,902
Guadalupe 1,488 69.70% 557 26.09% 90 4.21% 931 43.61% 2,135
Harding 260 43.26% 327 54.41% 14 2.33% -67 -11.15% 601
Hidalgo 995 51.42% 899 46.46% 41 2.12% 96 4.96% 1,935
Lea 4,080 23.98% 12,548 73.75% 387 2.27% -8,468 -49.77% 17,015
Lincoln 2,942 31.83% 5,961 64.50% 339 3.67% -3,019 -32.67% 9,242
Los Alamos 5,191 48.72% 4,796 45.02% 667 6.26% 395 3.70% 10,654
Luna 3,583 47.77% 3,670 48.93% 247 3.30% -87 -1.16% 7,500
McKinley 15,841 72.24% 5,546 25.29% 542 2.47% 10,295 46.95% 21,929
Mora 1,955 74.88% 595 22.79% 61 2.33% 1,360 52.09% 2,611
Otero 6,829 34.12% 12,451 62.22% 732 3.66% -5,622 -28.10% 20,012
Quay 1,383 37.31% 2,202 59.40% 122 3.29% -819 -22.09% 3,707
Rio Arriba 11,465 74.72% 3,397 22.14% 481 3.14% 8,068 52.58% 15,343
Roosevelt 1,727 28.93% 4,043 67.73% 199 3.34% -2,316 -38.80% 5,969
San Juan 15,855 34.29% 28,849 62.39% 1,533 3.32% -12,994 -28.10% 46,237
San Miguel 8,850 76.90% 2,303 20.01% 356 3.09% 6,547 56.89% 11,509
Sandoval 27,236 50.36% 24,387 45.10% 2,455 4.54% 2,849 5.26% 54,078
Santa Fe 50,872 73.47% 15,500 22.38% 2,873 4.15% 35,372 51.09% 69,245
Sierra 1,964 38.49% 2,928 57.39% 210 4.12% -964 -18.90% 5,102
Socorro 4,058 56.42% 2,722 37.84% 413 5.74% 1,336 18.58% 7,193
Taos 11,978 78.09% 2,730 17.80% 631 4.11% 9,248 60.29% 15,339
Torrance 2,428 37.93% 3,529 55.12% 445 6.95% -1,101 -17.19% 6,402
Union 472 26.83% 1,236 70.27% 51 2.90% -764 -43.44% 1,759
Valencia 13,511 48.73% 12,825 46.25% 1,392 5.02% 686 2.48% 27,728
Total 415,335 52.99% 335,788 42.84% 32,634 4.16% 79,547 10.15% 783,757
 
County Flips:
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

By congressional district

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Obama won 2 of 3 congressional districts.[15]

District Obama Romney Representative
1st 55.25% 39.6% Michelle Lujan Grisham
2nd 44.9% 51.72% Steve Pearce
3rd 57.52% 38.67% Ben Ray Luján

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d Martinez, Susana (30 January 2012) "Primary Election Proclamation", archived at Archived 2012-04-13 at the Wayback Machine by Webcite on 6 February 2012
  2. ^ "Primary and Caucus Printable Calendar". CNN. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
  3. ^ "In a primary election, a voter shall not be permitted to vote for a candidate of a party different from the party designation shown on the voter's certificate of registration." New Mexico Statutes Annotated §1-12-7.2(D) (2011), archived by Webcite at Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine on 6 February 2012
  4. ^ "each candidate and the uncommitted category shall be entitled to a share of the total vote allotted to the delegation that is equal to the proportion that the vote he received in the presidential primary bears to the total combined vote received by all qualified candidates; provided that no candidate shall be excluded who has received at least fifteen percent of the total vote cast for candidates for president of that party, and no candidate shall be excluded in violation of any political party rule" New Mexico Statutes Annotated §1-15A-9(C)(1) (2011), archived by Webcite at Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine on 6 February 2012
  5. ^ Barbati, Duane (1 February 2012) "Appeals judge wants to retain seat" Alamogordo Daily News, archive at Archived 2012-02-04 at the Wayback Machine by Webcite on 6 February 2012
  6. ^ Secretary of State official election results Archived July 10, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. June 26, 2012. Retrieved June 27, 2012.
  7. ^ "Huffington Post Election Dashboard". HuffPost. Archived from the original on August 13, 2013.
  8. ^ "America's Choice 2012 Election Center: CNN Electoral Map". CNN. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013.
  9. ^ "Election 2012 - The Electoral Map: Building a Path to Victory". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 8, 2012.
  10. ^ "2012 Presidential Election Results". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 26, 2012.
  11. ^ "RealClearPolitics - 2012 Election Maps - Battle for White House". Archived from the original on June 8, 2011.
  12. ^ "PROJECTION: OBAMA WILL LIKELY WIN SECOND TERM".
  13. ^ "Nate Silver's political calculations predict 2012 election outcome".
  14. ^ "New Mexico Secretary of State". Retrieved November 11, 2012.
  15. ^ "Daily Kos Elections' statewide election results by congressional and legislative districts". Daily Kos. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
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