New Mexico gubernatorial election, 2010

New Mexico gubernatorial election, 2010

2006 ← November 2, 2010 → 2014

Nominee Susana Martinez Diane Denish Party Republican Democratic Running mate John Sanchez Brian Colon Popular vote 319,120 276,750 Percentage 53.4% 46.3%

County results

Governor before election Bill Richardson Democratic Elected Governor Susana Martinez Republican

The 2010 New Mexico gubernatorial election took place on November 2, 2010. Democratic Governor Bill Richardson was term-limited and unable to seek re-election.

On June 1, 2010, the Republicans nominated Susana Martinez, the district attorney for Doña Ana County, New Mexico, and the Democrats nominated Lieutenant Governor Diane Denish.

While it was initially thought that Richardson would resign early to become Secretary of Commerce in the Obama administration, Richardson withdrew from the position due to allegations of corruption that were later cleared and he has remained Governor.^[1]

Susana Martinez won on November 2, 2010 and is New Mexico's first elected female governor.

Democratic nomination

The Democratic primary election was held on June 1, 2010.^[2]

Candidate

• Diane Denish, Lieutenant Governor^[3]

Results

Democratic primary results[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage
	Democratic	Diane Denish	108,302	99.1%
	Democratic	Billy J. Driggs (write-in)	1,106	0.9%
Totals			109,318	100%

Republican nomination

The Republican primary was held on June 1, 2010.^[2] Susana Martinez won the Republican nomination by getting over 50 percent of the vote in the primary. A pre-primary convention was held on March 13 and Martinez received 47 percent of the pre-primary Republican vote.^[5]

Nominee

• Susana Martinez, Doña Ana County district attorney^[6]

Other Candidates

• Janice Arnold-Jones, State Representative^[7]
• Pete Domenici, Jr., lawyer and son of former U.S. Senator Pete Domenici^[8]
• Doug Turner, public relations firm owner and political consultant^[6]
• Allen Weh, former chairman of the state Republican Party^[6]

Declined to run

• Steve Pearce, former U.S. Representative from the 2nd district and 2008 Senate nominee; opted to run for his former congressional seat^[9]
• Heather Wilson, former U.S. Representative from the 1st district and 2008 Senate candidate^[10]
• Greg Zanetti, former Bernalillo County Republican Party Chair and New Mexico National Guard brigadier general^[11]

Convention

A pre-primary nominating convention was held on March 13, 2010. Susana Martinez was victorious, winning the support of 46.65 percent of delegates, while Allen Weh received 26.32%, Janice Arnold-Jones received 13.16%, Doug Turner won 9.43%, and Pete Domenici, Jr. won 4.61%. Candidates who receive less than 20% of the convention vote are required to collect twice as many signatures as those who received 20% in order to appear on the primary ballot. Nonetheless, Arnold-Jones, Turner and Domenici have all signaled their intention to remain in the race.^[5]

Polling

Poll source	Dates administered	Janice Arnold-Jones	Pete Domenici, Jr.	Susana Martinez	Doug Turner	Allen Weh	Undecided/no answer
Survey USA	May 23–25, 2010	3%	8%	43%	8%	33%	5%
NMSU	February 9–13, 2010	2.5%	29.3%	11.5%	6.8%	7.4%	42.6%

Results

Republican primary results[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage
	Republican	Susana Martinez	62,006	50.7%
	Republican	Allen Weh	33,727	27.6%
	Republican	Doug Turner	14,166	11.6%
	Republican	Pete Domenici, Jr.	8,630	7.0%
	Republican	Janice Arnold-Jones	3,740	3.1%
Totals			122,269	100%

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Cook Political Report	Toss up[12]	October 25, 2010
Rothenberg	Lean R[13]	October 22, 2010
Swing State Project	Leans R[citation needed]
RealClearPolitics	Leans R[14]	October 25, 2010
Sabato's Crystal Ball	Leans R[15]	October 21, 2010
CQ Politics	Likely D[16]	October 25, 2010
Rasmussen Reports	Leans R[17]	October 24, 2010
FiveThirtyEight	R[18]	October 25, 2010

Polling

Poll source	Dates administered	Diane Denish (D)	Susana Martinez (R)
Rasmussen Reports	October 24, 2010	42%	52%
Survey USA	October 15, 2010	42%	54%
Rasmussen Reports	October 10, 2010	43%	52%
Rasmussen Reports	September 29, 2010	41%	51%
Albuquerque Journal	September 27–30, 2010	41%	47%
Public Policy Polling	September 25–26, 2010	42%	50%
Public Opinion Strategies	September 11–13, 2010	40%	50%
Albuquerque Journal	August 23–27, 2010	39%	45%
Rasmussen Reports	August 24, 2010	43%	48%
Magellan Strategies	June 21, 2010	43%	44%
Rasmussen Reports	June 3, 2010	42%	44%
Rasmussen Reports	May 25, 2010	43%	42%
Survey USA	May 23–25, 2010	43%	49%
Rasmussen Reports	March 24, 2010	51%	32%
Public Policy Polling	February 18–20, 2010	46%	32%

Results

Election Results
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Susana Martinez	321,219	53.29%	+22.10%
	Democratic	Diane Denish	280,614	46.55%	-22.27%
	Write-ins		994	0.16%
Majority			40,605	6.74%	-30.90%
Turnout			602,827
	Republican gain from Democratic

See also

• United States gubernatorial elections, 2010

References

1. ^ "Richardson withdrawal leaves cabinet gap". MSNBC. January 6, 2009. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28493919/. Retrieved January 4, 2009. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Rudin, Ken (January 25, 2010). "Your 2010 Election Calendar". National Public Radio. http://www.npr.org/blogs/politicaljunkie/2010/01/your_2010_election_calendar.html. Retrieved February 14, 2010. 
3. ^ Jennings, Trip (November 5, 2009). "Denish, running for governor, steps into budgetary fray". The New Mexico Independent. http://newmexicoindependent.com/41109/denish-running-for-governor-steps-into-budgetary-fray. Retrieved February 14, 2010. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "New Mexico Governor Primary Results". New Mexico Secretary of State. June 1, 2010. http://204.12.117.77/county0.htm. Retrieved June 2, 2010. 
5. ^ ^{a b} Haussamen, Heath (March 13, 2010). "Martinez takes impressive 47 percent of votes at GOP convention". The New Mexico Independent. http://newmexicoindependent.com/49681/martinez-takes-impressive-46-percent-of-votes-at-gop-convention. Retrieved March 13, 2010. 
6. ^ ^{a b c} "Susana Martinez officially declares candidacy for NM governor". Las Cruces Sun-News. February 9, 2010. http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_14366368. Retrieved February 14, 2010. 
7. ^ "New Mexico Gov Field at Two With More Likely". CQ Politics. August 1, 2009. http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/eyeon2010/2009/08/new-mexico-gov-field-at-two-wi.html. Retrieved February 14, 2010. 
8. ^ "Pete Domenici Jr. to run for governor". KRQE. January 16, 2010. http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/politics/pete-domenici-jr.-to-run-for-governor. Retrieved February 14, 2010. 
9. ^ "Pearce Switches Races". Political Wire. July 6, 2009. http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/07/06/pearce_switches_races.html. Retrieved February 14, 2010. 
10. ^ "Wilson: I won't run for governor". KRQE. October 29, 2009. http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/politics/politics_krqe_albuquerque_wilson_says_she_wont_run_for_governor_200910291151. Retrieved February 14, 2010. 
11. ^ Ornelas, Chris (July 17, 2009). "GOP gubernatorial candidate drops out". KOB. http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S1035422.shtml?cat=504. Retrieved February 14, 2010. 
12. ^ "2010 Governors Race Ratings". Cook Political Report. http://cookpolitical.com/governors. Retrieved October 25, 2010. 
13. ^ "Governor Ratings". Rothenberg Political Report. http://rothenbergpoliticalreport.com/ratings/governor. Retrieved October 25, 2010. 
14. ^ "2010 Governor Races". RealClearPolitics. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2010/governor/2010_elections_governor_map.html. Retrieved October 25, 2010. 
15. ^ "2010 Governor Ratings". Sabato's Crystal Ball. http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/category/2010-governor/. Retrieved October 25, 2010. 
16. ^ "Races for Governor in 2010". CQ Politics. http://innovation.cq.com/atlas/gov2010. Retrieved October 25, 2010. 
17. ^ "Election 2010: Gubernatorial Scorecard". Rasmussen Reports. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/election_2010/election_2010_governor_elections/election_2010_gubernatorial_scorecard. Retrieved October 25, 2010. 
18. ^ "Governor Race Ratings". New York Times. http://elections.nytimes.com/2010/forecasts/governor. Retrieved October 25, 2010. 

External links

• New Mexico Secretary of State - Elections
• New Mexico Governor Candidates at Project Vote Smart
• Campaign contributions for 2010 New Mexico Governor from Follow the Money
• New Mexico Governor 2010 from OurCampaigns.com
• 2010 New Mexico Governor General Election: Susana Martinez (R) vs Diane Denish (D) graph of multiple polls from Pollster.com
• Election 2010: New Mexico Governor from Rasmussen Reports
• 2010 New Mexico Governor - Martinez vs. Denish from Real Clear Politics
• 2010 New Mexico Governor's Race from CQ Politics
• Race Profile in The New York Times

Official campaign websites

• Diane Denish for Governor
• Susana Martinez for Governor