1994 New Mexico gubernatorial election explained

Election Name:1994 New Mexico gubernatorial election
Country:New Mexico
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:1990 New Mexico gubernatorial election
Previous Year:1990
Next Election:1998 New Mexico gubernatorial election
Next Year:1998
Election Date:November 8, 1994
Image1:Garyjohnsonphoto.JPG
Nominee1:Gary Johnson
Party1:Republican Party (United States)
Running Mate1:Walter Bradley
Popular Vote1:232,945
Percentage1:49.81%
Nominee2:Bruce King
Party2:Democratic Party (United States)
Running Mate2:Patricia A. Madrid
Popular Vote2:186,686
Percentage2:39.92%
Image3:Roberto Mondragon2 (cropped).jpg
Nominee3:Roberto Mondragón
Party3:Green Party (United States)
Running Mate3:Steven Schmidt
Popular Vote3:47,990
Percentage3:10.3%
Map Size:230px
Governor
Before Election:Bruce King
Before Party:Democratic Party (United States)
After Election:Gary Johnson
After Party:Republican Party (United States)

The 1994 New Mexico gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1994, for the four-year term beginning on January 1, 1995. Candidates for governor and lieutenant governor ran on a ticket as running mates.

Incumbent Democrat Bruce King ran for a fourth term with Patricia Madrid as a running mate, losing to Republican nominees Gary Johnson, a businessman, and Walter Bradley, a former state senator. Former Lieutenant Governor Roberto Mondragón ran with Steven Schmidt as the nominees of the Green Party, receiving 10.4 percent of the vote.

The election was marked by the surprising rise of Republican Gary Johnson, the 41-year-old owner of one of the state's largest construction companies. Johnson, who had never before held elected office, upset a crowded Republican primary field by a margin of fewer than 1,300 votes. With the state's non-Republicans split between the centrist King and progressive Mondragón, King failed to gain a majority and Johnson won the election with 49.8% of the vote.[1]

This is the last time a governor of New Mexico lost re-election. This was one of four gubernatorial elections where the incumbent was defeated in 1994.

Primary election

Democratic Party

King faced a tough renomination campaign, being challenged by incumbent Lieutenant Governor Casey Luna, who had a falling out with King in 1993 over King's refusal to give Luna a larger role in King's administration.[2] Former New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands Jim Baca also challenged King.

Candidates

Results

Republican Party

Candidates

Declined

Campaign

Cheney ran on a platform highlighting cracking down on violent crime, repealing the gasoline tax, and lowering public spending.[3] During the campaign, he controversially changed his legal name from Richard to "Dick". Opponents including John Dendahl stated that people voting in the polls would confuse Cheney with the former Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney from Wyoming, improving his chances of winning the primary. Public polling after the change showed that his numbers increased significantly.[4]

At the state convention, Cheney received 49% of the vote against 29% for Dendahl and 22% for Johnson.[5]

Results

General election

Candidates

Campaign

Bruce King, the Democratic three-term incumbent, began the general election with the most funding and name recognition. King was a career politician who had first been elected to the Santa Fe County Commission in 1954, when Gary Johnson was just one year old.[6] King also had the support of the Gold Boot Club, a business-backed political coalition that channeled thousands of dollars to his campaign.[7]

King's quest for an unprecedented fourth term faced obstacles from the left and the right. From the left, King was challenged by Green Party nominee Roberto Mondragón. Mondragón was a populist former Democrat, who had served as Lieutenant Governor from 1971 to 1975 and in the state House from 1979 to 1983. Mondragón had a knack for appealing to both progressive whites and working-class Hispanics, and attacked King for his cushy relationships with big business.

Gary Johnson was the nominee of New Mexico's Republican Party, a statewide party that had won just one gubernatorial election since 1970. Johnson faced the challenge of keeping together his Republican base while appealing to independents and Democrats frustrated with King. Johnson campaigned as a political outsider and self-made entrepreneur. In college, Johnson had worked as a door-to-door handyman, a business that gradually expanded into Big J Enterprises. By 1999, the company employed over 1,000 people and was worth several million dollars.[8] Johnson avoided then-divisive social issues like abortion and gay rights, and focused his campaign on pocketbook issues like taxes and the state budget. Johnson touted his experience in the business world of balancing budgets while growing his company, and promised to bring that experience to state government.[9]

In November, Gary Johnson won the election with just under 50% of the vote, while King got almost 40% and Mondragón pulled in just over 10%.

Polling

Poll sourceDate(s)
administered
class=small Sample
size
Margin of
error
Bruce
King (D)
Gary
Johnson (R)
OtherUndecided
Santa Fe New MexicanNovember 3, 199434% align=center46%
Albuquerque JournalOctober 23, 199435% align=center40%

Results by county

Johnson was the first Republican since Edwin L. Mechem in 1956 to carry Sandoval County. As of 2022, only Sandoval County and Bernalillo County have backed the winner in each gubernatorial election going back to 1990. Johnson was also the first Republican since David Cargo in 1966 to win Valencia County.

CountyGary Johnson
Republican
Bruce King
Democratic
Roberto Mondragón
Green
MarginTotal votes cast
%%%%
Bernalillo81,73252.82%57,13136.92%15,86110.25%24,60115.90%154,724
Catron99266.71%40827.44%875.85%58439.27%1,487
Chaves9,60660.45%5,44934.29%8355.25%4,15726.16%15,890
Cibola2,38741.39%2,73147.36%64911.25%-344-5.96%5,767
Colfax1,98241.69%2,24247.16%53011.15%-260-5.47%4,754
Curry6,72164.39%3,37732.35%3403.26%3,34432.04%10,438
De Baca48244.55%49846.03%1029.43%-16-1.48%1,082
Doña Ana17,56053.79%12,14237.19%2,9459.02%5,41816.60%32,647
Eddy8,54955.46%6,12939.76%7374.78%2,42015.70%15,415
Grant4,05943.50%4,48448.05%7898.45%-425-4.55%9,332
Guadalupe36616.34%1,25355.94%62127.72%-632-28.22%2,240
Harding28043.55%30747.74%568.71%-27-4.20%643
Hidalgo94049.09%84644.18%1296.74%944.91%1,915
Lea8,61666.68%3,93430.44%3722.88%4,68236.23%12,922
Lincoln2,85054.11%2,08039.49%3376.40%77014.62%5,267
Los Alamos5,37959.61%3,04333.72%6026.67%2,33625.89%9,024
Luna2,95654.40%2,08738.41%3917.20%86915.99%5,434
McKinley4,75035.77%7,74858.35%7815.88%-2,998-22.58%13,279
Mora58123.63%1,37756.00%50120.37%-796-32.37%2,459
Otero7,92159.89%4,57934.62%7255.48%-3,342-25.27%13,225
Quay1,88650.12%1,57441.83%3038.05%3128.29%3,763
Rio Arriba2,38123.95%5,77058.03%1,79218.02%-3,389-34.08%9,943
Roosevelt2,92560.12%1,74535.87%1954.01%1,18024.25%4,865
San Juan16,34361.53%8,49131.97%1,7296.51%7,85229.56%26,563
San Miguel1,78921.44%4,93559.14%1,62019.42%-3,146-37.70%8,344
Sandoval11,22853.95%7,67036.85%1,9159.20%3,55817.10%20,813
Santa Fe10,70129.44%18,00649.54%7,63821.02%-7,305-20.10%36,345
Sierra2,39061.31%1,27332.66%2356.03%1,11728.66%3,898
Socorro2,44142.01%2,73747.11%63210.88%-296-5.09%5,810
Taos2,22127.64%3,66845.64%2,14726.72%-1,447-18.01%8,036
Torrance1,78643.56%1,96447.90%3508.54%-178-4.34%4,100
Union90354.46%67840.89%774.64%22513.57%1,658
Valencia7,24246.61%6,33040.74%1,96712.66%9125.87%15,539
Total232,94549.81%186,68639.92%47,99010.26%46,2599.89%467,621

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Notes and References

  1. Birnbaum. Ben. 2016-08-12. Gary Johnson Has a Plan. Politico Magazine. en. 2381-1595.
  2. Web site: Luna Won't Take Sides in the Race . Santa Fe New Mexican . 25 October 1994. 18 September 2019.
  3. Web site: Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico · Page 7 .
  4. Web site: The Santa Fe New Mexican from Santa Fe, New Mexico · Page 7 .
  5. Book: Morehouse, Sarah McCally . The Governor as Party Leader: Campaigning and Governing . University of Michigan Press . 1998 . 0472108484 . Google Books.
  6. News: Terrell . Steve . 2020-01-14 . After big loss, experts doubt King will run for office again . 2021-05-10 . . Bruce King began his political career in 1954 when he won a seat on the Santa Fe County Commission..
  7. News: Kurtz . Josh . 1994-10-26 . The Liberals' Dilemma: Choose Your Poison . limited . . 33 . Newspapers.com.
  8. News: Marciello . Alex . 2011-02-25 . Former NM governor talks politics . 2021-05-10 . The Daily News of Newburyport . Prior to that, he was the CEO and founder of Big J Enterprises, a business that grew out of his door-to-door work as a handyman during college. By the time he sold the company in 1999, it had more than 1,000 employees and was a multimillion-dollar enterprise..
  9. News: Lyman . Andy . 2016-04-20 . How Gary Johnson went from 'Governor No' to third party icon . New Mexico Political Report.