1912 United States presidential election in New Mexico

The 1912 United States presidential election in New Mexico took place on November 5, 1912, and all contemporary forty-eight states participated as part of the 1912 United States presidential election. Voters chose three electors to represent them in the Electoral College, which voted for President and Vice President.

1912 United States presidential election in New Mexico

November 5, 1912

Nominee Woodrow Wilson William H. Taft Party Democratic Republican Home state New Jersey Ohio Running mate Thomas R. Marshall Nicholas M. Butler Electoral vote 3 0 Popular vote 20,437 17,733 Percentage 41.39% 35.91%   Nominee Theodore Roosevelt Eugene V. Debs Party Progressive Socialist Home state New York Indiana Running mate Hiram Johnson Emil Seidel Electoral vote 0 0 Popular vote 8,347 2,859 Percentage 16.9% 5.79%

County Results Wilson   40-50%   50-60% Taft   30-40%   40-50%   50-60%   70-80% Roosevelt   30-40%   60-70%

President before election William Howard Taft Republican Elected President Woodrow Wilson Democratic

This was the first Federal Presidential Election in which New Mexico participated, as it had been admitted as the 47th state on January 6 of the same year.

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] Running for reelection against the reformist policies of Wilson was William H. Taft, who secured the Republican nomination over Theodore Roosevelt. To counter not receiving the Republican nomination, Roosevelt then ran for president under his own Bull-Moose Party.

Vote

New Mexico is indicative of this critical split in the industrialist Republican Party, because Wilson was able to attain victory, both in the State and nationally, with about 40% of the vote, due to a split in the "Old Guard" of highland Republicanism.[2]

New Mexico was won by New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson, in what was perhaps the most politically diverse election in United States history.[3] Nonetheless, New Mexico was still Taft's fourth-strongest state by vote percentage after Utah, New Hampshire and Vermont,[4] reflecting the strong Hispanic machine loyalties to him in the northern highlands.[5] The Socialist Party of America had its best year on record under Socialist Party star Eugene V. Debs, who garnered almost six percent of the electorate in New Mexico, and nationally.

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	20,437	41.39%	3	Thomas R. Marshall	Indiana	3
William Howard Taft	Republican	Ohio	17,733	35.91%	0	Nicholas M. Butler	New York	0
Theodore Roosevelt	Progressive	New York	8,347	16.90%	0	Hiram Johnson	California	0
Eugene V. Debs	Socialist	Indiana	2,859	5.79%	0	Emil Seidel	Wisconsin	0
Total			49,376	100%	3			3
Needed to win					266			266

Results by county

County	Thomas Woodrow Wilson[6] Democratic		William Howard Taft[6] Republican		Theodore Roosevelt[7] Progressive		Eugene Victor Debs[8] Socialist		Margin
	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#
Eddy	57.85%	936	8.96%	145	22.93%	371	10.26%	166	34.92%[lower-alpha 1]	565
Luna	56.29%	461	9.89%	81	23.69%	194	10.13%	83	32.60%[lower-alpha 1]	267
Curry	52.66%	634	10.22%	123	21.01%	253	16.11%	194	31.64%[lower-alpha 1]	381
Roosevelt	49.34%	599	8.81%	107	21.33%	259	20.51%	249	28.01%[lower-alpha 1]	340
Chaves	52.53%	1,339	18.24%	465	15.61%	398	13.61%	347	34.29%	874
Grant	53.33%	1,130	20.72%	439	19.63%	416	6.32%	134	32.61%	691
Quay	47.07%	884	18.69%	351	19.06%	358	15.18%	285	28.01%[lower-alpha 1]	526
Sierra	56.32%	352	28.16%	176	13.76%	86	1.76%	11	28.16%	176
San Juan	46.25%	493	19.04%	203	21.48%	229	13.23%	141	24.77%[lower-alpha 1]	264
Otero	41.75%	420	21.87%	220	19.98%	201	16.40%	165	19.88%	200
Union	42.86%	1,119	31.21%	815	17.20%	449	8.73%	228	11.64%	304
Guadalupe	45.79%	761	39.17%	651	9.27%	154	5.78%	96	6.62%	110
Bernalillo	31.85%	1,199	26.61%	1,002	37.03%	1,394	4.52%	170	-5.18%[lower-alpha 1]	-195
Colfax	41.34%	1,182	36.24%	1,036	19.73%	564	2.69%	77	5.11%	146
Socorro	46.33%	1,078	41.25%	960	11.56%	269	0.86%	20	5.07%	118
Lincoln	40.91%	461	40.11%	452	9.67%	109	9.32%	105	0.80%	9
Doña Ana	43.36%	895	44.19%	912	11.68%	241	0.78%	16	-0.82%	-17
Mora	42.97%	1,002	43.83%	1,022	11.32%	264	1.89%	44	-0.86%	-20
Taos	39.89%	765	44.58%	855	14.44%	277	1.09%	21	-4.69%	-90
McKinley	30.60%	224	36.07%	264	32.38%	237	0.96%	7	3.69%[lower-alpha 2]	27
Sandoval	13.70%	126	22.93%	211	63.37%	583	0.00%	0	-40.43%[lower-alpha 2]	-372
Torrance	29.66%	390	39.54%	520	17.57%	231	13.23%	174	-9.89%	-130
Santa Fe	34.92%	1,012	49.41%	1,432	13.46%	390	2.21%	64	-14.49%	-420
San Miguel	39.07%	1,740	55.67%	2,479	4.65%	207	0.61%	27	-16.60%	-739
Rio Arriba	37.76%	1,004	58.25%	1,549	3.80%	101	0.19%	5	-20.50%	-545
Valencia	14.13%	231	77.25%	1,263	6.79%	111	1.83%	30	-63.12%	-1,032

Notes

1. In this county where Taft ran third behind Roosevelt, margin given is Wilson vote minus Roosevelt vote, and percentage margin is Wilson percentage minus Roosevelt percentage.
2. In this county where Wilson ran third behind Roosevelt, margin given is Taft vote minus Roosevelt vote and percentage margin Taft percentage minus Roosevelt percentage.

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. "1912 Presidential General Election Results – New Mexico". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2018-03-05.
4. "1912 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2018-03-05.
5. Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, p. 42 ISBN 0786422173
6. Robinson, Edgar Eugene; The Presidential Vote; 1896-1932 (second edition); pp. 272-275 Published 1947 by Stanford University Press
7. Géoelections; 1912 Presidential Election Popular Vote Archived 2018-06-13 at the Wayback Machine (.xlsx file for €15)
8. Géoelections; 1912 Presidential Election Popular Vote for Eugene Debs (.xlsx file for €15)