Hispanic Vote will decide next Governor of New Mexico

By Gabriel Sanchez, Jillian Medeiros and Vickie Ybarra, University of New Mexico
With less than three weeks to go before the mid-term elections the outcome of several important races will be highly influenced by the Hispanic vote. Reports released by Latino Decisions indicate that the Latino vote will be highly influential in as many of 30 House seats, and that Latino voters will have a major say in who becomes the next Governor of the state of California. Latino voters in the state of New Mexico may also help elect the first Latina Governor in United States history, as Susana Martinez is vying to be the sixth Latino Governor of New Mexico. Unlike the current Latino Governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson, Martinez has a Spanish surname (and first name), and more importantly is a Republican. While the neighboring state of Arizona has seen the Republican Party demonize immigrants and drive away Latinos, New Mexico is a different story. Along with Marco Rubio who is projected to win a US Senate seat in Florida and Brian Sandoval who currently has a lead in the Nevada Governor’s race, Martinez may symbolize a new and seemingly successful strategy for the Republican Party: nominate and support Latino candidates with Spanish surnames in states with heavy Latino populations.

But regardless of the outcome, the Hispanic vote will be the key once again. For the last several elections, New Mexico’s Hispanic population has constituted between 33% to 38% of the electorate, much more than in any other state, and by 2008 they accounted for an even greater segment of the voting age citizen population at 40 percent according to the U.S. Census….