2012 United States presidential election in New Mexico

2012 New Mexico Republican primary
	June 5, 2012
	June 5, 2012
	New Mexico results by county Mitt Romney

2012 United States presidential election in New Mexico
	November 6, 2012
	November 6, 2012
Obama 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% 70-80%	Romney 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% 70-80%
President before election; Barack Obama; Democratic	Elected President ; Barack Obama; Democratic

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.

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 2020, this is the most recent election 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.)

Democratic caucuses

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

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

President of the United States: This is a "proportional primary". The twenty delegates to the National Republican Convention are bound proportionally, according to the percentage of votes received, to presidential contenders who receive 15% or more of the primary vote statewide.[4]
United States Senate: A single candidate to run for the seat formerly held by Jeff Bingaman.
United States House of Representatives: One candidate from each of the three congressional districts.

Statewide offices

Court of Appeals: One candidate to run for the unexpired term[1] of Judge Robert E. Robles, currently held by appointee Judge J. Miles Hanisee.[5]
Public Regulation Commission: One candidate for each of District 1 and District 3 for four year terms.[1]

Results of the presidential voting

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

Candidate ballot access

Barack Obama / Joe Biden, Democratic
Mitt Romney / Paul Ryan, Republican
Gary Johnson / James P. Gray, Libertarian
Jill Stein / Cheri Honkala, Green
Virgil Goode / Jim Clymer, Constitution
Rocky Anderson / Luis J. Rodriguez, Justice

Results

2012 United States presidential election in New Mexico[7]
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Barack Obama	Joe Biden	415,335	52.99%	5
	Republican	Mitt Romney	Paul Ryan	335,788	42.84%	0
	Libertarian	Gary Johnson	Jim Gray	27,788	3.55%	0
	Green	Jill Stein	Cheri Honkala	2,691	0.34%	0
	Justice	Rocky Anderson	Luis J. Rodriguez	1,177	0.15%	0
	Constitution	Virgil Goode	Jim Clymer	983	0.13%	0
Totals				783,756	100.00%	5

By county

County	Obama	Votes	Romney	Votes	Others	Votes	Total
Bernalillo	55.63%	150,739	39.27%	106,408	5.10%	13,822	270,969
Catron	26.38%	560	70.37%	1,494	3.25%	69	2,123
Chaves	32.54%	6,604	64.50%	13,088	2.96%	600	20,292
Cibola	60.18%	4,961	36.37%	2,998	3.45%	284	8,243
Colfax	49.06%	2,828	46.83%	2,699	4.11%	237	5,764
Curry	29.52%	4,022	67.90%	9,251	2.58%	352	13,625
DeBaca	31.82%	287	64.97%	586	3.22%	29	902
Doña Ana	55.91%	37,139	41.13%	27,322	2.95%	1,962	66,423
Eddy	31.88%	6,142	65.30%	12,583	2.82%	544	19,269
Grant	54.95%	7,090	41.53%	5,358	3.52%	454	12,902
Guadalupe	69.70%	1,488	26.09%	557	4.22%	90	2,135
Harding	43.26%	260	54.41%	327	2.33%	14	601
Hidalgo	51.42%	995	46.46%	899	2.12%	41	1,935
Lea	23.98%	4,080	73.75%	12,548	2.27%	387	17,015
Lincoln	31.83%	2,942	64.50%	5,961	3.67%	339	9,242
Los Alamos	48.72%	5,191	45.02%	4,796	6.26%	667	10,654
Luna	47.77%	3,583	48.93%	3,670	3.29%	247	7,500
McKinley	72.24%	15,841	25.29%	5,546	2.47%	542	21,929
Mora	74.88%	1,955	22.79%	595	2.34%	61	2,611
Otero	34.12%	6,829	62.22%	12,451	3.66%	732	20,012
Quay	37.31%	1,383	59.40%	2,202	3.29%	122	3,707
Rio Arriba	74.72%	11,465	22.14%	3,397	3.13%	481	15,343
Roosevelt	28.93%	1,727	67.73%	4,043	3.33%	199	5,969
San Juan	34.29%	15,855	62.39%	28,849	3.31%	1,533	46,237
San Miguel	76.90%	8,850	20.01%	2,303	3.09%	356	11,509
Sandoval	50.36%	27,236	45.10%	24,387	4.54%	2,455	54,078
Santa Fe	73.47%	50,872	22.38%	15,500	4.15%	2,873	69,245
Sierra	38.49%	1,964	57.39%	2,928	4.12%	210	5,102
Socorro	56.42%	4,058	37.84%	2,722	5.74%	413	7,193
Taos	78.09%	11,978	17.80%	2,730	4.11%	631	15,339
Torrance	37.93%	2,428	55.12%	3,529	6.95%	445	6,402
Union	26.83%	472	70.27%	1,236	2.90%	51	1,759
Valencia	48.73%	13,511	46.25%	12,825	5.02%	1,392	27,728

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Luna (largest city: Deming)

Notes

Martinez, Susana (30 January 2012) "Primary Election Proclamation", archived at Archived 2012-02-06 at WebCite by Webcite on 6 February 2012
"Primary and Caucus Printable Calendar". CNN. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
"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 2012-02-06 at WebCite on 6 February 2012
"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 2012-02-06 at WebCite on 6 February 2012
Barbati, Duane (1 February 2012) "Appeals judge wants to retain seat" Alamogordo Daily News, archive at Archived 2012-02-06 at WebCite by Webcite on 6 February 2012
Secretary of State official election results Archived July 10, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. June 26, 2012. Retrieved June 27, 2012.
"New Mexico Secretary of State". Retrieved 2012-11-11.

External links

The Green Papers: for New Mexico
The Green Papers: Major state elections in chronological order

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[Proclamation-1] Martinez, Susana (30 January 2012) "Primary Election Proclamation", archived at Archived 2012-02-06 at WebCite 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 2012-02-06 at WebCite 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 2012-02-06 at WebCite on 6 February 2012

[5] Barbati, Duane (1 February 2012) "Appeals judge wants to retain seat" Alamogordo Daily News, archive at Archived 2012-02-06 at WebCite 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] "New Mexico Secretary of State". Retrieved 2012-11-11.