1920 United States presidential election in New Mexico

1920 United States presidential election in New Mexico
Harding 50-60% 60-70% 70-80%	Cox 50-60% 60-70% 70-80%
President before election; Woodrow Wilson ; Democratic	Elected President; Warren G. Harding ; Republican

Last updated July 26, 2024

The 1920 United States presidential election in New Mexico took place on November 2, 1920. All contemporary forty-eight States were part of the 1920 United States presidential election. Voters chose three electors to represent them in the Electoral College, which voted for President and Vice President.

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 (which were a mix of Hispanos and Anglo migrants from the Midwest and Northeast) and its firmly Southern Democrat and Baptist "Little Texas" region to the southeast.^[1] A split in the "Old Guard" of highland Republicanism meant that in the state's inaugural presidential election in 1912 Woodrow Wilson carried the state through overwhelming "Little Texas" and southern desert support over Progressive Theodore Roosevelt and incumbent Republican William Howard Taft.^[2] Four years later in 1916, Wilson gained sufficient Progressive support to narrowly hold the state against Charles Evans Hughes and the reunited Republican Party; however, in 1918, despite extremely low turnout due to the Spanish flu epidemic ^[3] the reunited GOP regained considerable strength.^[2]

The following two years saw the Democratic Party's prospects decline still further due to skyrocketing inflation helping make President Wilson very unpopular^[4] – besides which the President also had major health problems that had left First Lady Edith effectively running the nation. Political unrest observed in the Palmer Raids and the "Red Scare" further added to the unpopularity of the Democratic Party, since this global political turmoil produced considerable fear of alien revolutionaries invading the country.^[5] However, owing to its Anglo population's ties to the Southern United States, New Mexico was not nearly so isolationist as Appalachia or the Midwest,^[6] but the state's farmers did come to believe that the old Confederacy was gaining preferential treatment – to its disadvantage – from the Democratic administration.^[7]

Neither Harding nor Cox campaigned in this electoral-vote-poor state; however, a powerful group of corporate Republicans campaigned extensively for Harding,^[8] as did Senator Albert Fall, who was a very close associate of the President-to-be. The corporate and "Old Guard" Republicans^[2] campaigned on a "Return to Normalcy" following World War I and the tumult of the Bolshevik Revolution and attempts to spread it across Europe.^[9]

New Mexico was won by Ohio Senator Warren G. Harding, in a strong 10-percentage-point sweep against Ohio Governor James M. Cox.^[10] Despite this victory, New Mexico was still sixteen percentage points more Democratic than the nation at-large, because the internationalist and traditionally Democratic Plains regions remained extremely loyal to Cox, and Fall's campaign in urban Bernalillo County was so ineffective that that county actually swung 4 percentage points towards the Democrats amidst a national 29-percentage-point swing.

Results

General Election Results^[11]^[12]
Party		Pledged to	Elector	Votes
	Republican Party	Warren G. Harding	E. A. Cahoon	57,634
	Republican Party	Warren G. Harding	S. B. Davis Jr.	57,495
	Republican Party	Warren G. Harding	Antonio Gomez	57,442
	Democratic Party	James M. Cox	R. L. Young	46,668
	Democratic Party	James M. Cox	James B. Priddy	46,590
	Democratic Party	James M. Cox	Severino Martinez	46,584
	Farmer-Labor Party	Parley P. Christensen	J. D. Hume	1,104
	Farmer-Labor Party	Parley P. Christensen	Louis Ve Verka	1,097
	Farmer-Labor Party	Parley P. Christensen	Donald McRae	1,089
	Write-in		Allen Busen	4
	Write-in		Helquist Norris	4
	Write-in		Upton Sinclair	4
	Write-in		E. V. Debs	2
	Write-in		James W. Cox	1
Votes cast^{[lower-alpha 1]}				105,421

Results by county

County	Warren G. Harding Republican		James M. Cox Democratic		Parley P. Christensen Farmer-Labor		Scattering Write-in		Margin		Total votes cast^{[lower-alpha 2]}
County	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	Total votes cast^{[lower-alpha 2]}
Bernalillo	4,969	50.53%	4,808	48.90%	56	0.57%	0	0.00%	161	1.64%	9,833
Chaves	1,765	45.54%	2,080	53.66%	31	0.80%	0	0.00%	-315	-8.13%	3,876
Colfax	3,351	54.87%	2,709	44.36%	47	0.77%	0	0.00%	642	10.51%	6,107
Curry	884	27.81%	2,143	67.41%	152	4.78%	0	0.00%	-1,259	-39.60%	3,179
De Baca	412	36.75%	693	61.82%	16	1.43%	0	0.00%	-281	-25.07%	1,121
Doña Ana	2,627	66.27%	1,318	33.25%	19	0.48%	0	0.00%	1,309	33.02%	3,964
Eddy	982	37.42%	1,611	61.39%	31	1.18%	0	0.00%	-629	-23.97%	2,624
Grant	2,230	53.76%	1,879	45.30%	38	0.92%	1	0.02%	351	8.46%	4,148
Guadalupe	1,599	56.30%	1,224	43.10%	17	0.60%	0	0.00%	375	13.20%	2,840
Hidalgo	443	43.82%	551	54.50%	4	0.40%	13	1.29%	-108	-10.68%	1,011
Lea	255	25.22%	733	72.50%	23	2.27%	0	0.00%	-478	-47.28%	1,011
Lincoln	1,456	57.32%	1,047	41.22%	37	1.46%	0	0.00%	409	16.10%	2,540
Luna	834	44.65%	1,000	53.33%	34	1.82%	0	0.00%	-166	-8.89%	1,868
McKinley	1,525	60.02%	989	38.92%	27	1.06%	0	0.00%	536	21.09%	2,541
Mora	2,478	52.89%	2,179	46.51%	28	0.60%	0	0.00%	299	6.38%	4,685
Otero	1,229	51.36%	1,095	45.76%	69	2.88%	0	0.00%	134	5.60%	2,393
Quay	1,213	39.15%	1,813	58.52%	72	2.32%	0	0.00%	-600	-19.37%	3,098
Rio Arriba	3,986	65.97%	2,056	34.03%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	1,930	31.94%	6,042
Roosevelt	571	31.43%	1,178	64.83%	68	3.74%	0	0.00%	-607	-33.41%	1,817
San Juan	985	53.39%	831	45.04%	28	1.52%	1	0.05%	154	8.35%	1,845
San Miguel	5,535	58.11%	3,990	41.89%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	1,545	16.22%	9,525
Sandoval	1,194	57.46%	884	42.54%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	310	14.92%	2,078
Santa Fe	3,060	63.92%	1,700	35.51%	27	0.56%	0	0.00%	1,360	28.41%	4,787
Sierra	862	56.79%	642	42.29%	14	0.92%	0	0.00%	220	14.49%	1,518
Socorro	3,150	63.16%	1,807	36.23%	30	0.60%	0	0.00%	1,343	26.93%	4,987
Taos	2,519	64.86%	1,359	34.99%	6	0.15%	0	0.00%	1,160	29.87%	3,884
Torrance	1,751	60.28%	1,125	38.73%	29	1.00%	0	0.00%	626	21.55%	2,905
Union	2,930	54.38%	2,273	42.19%	185	3.43%	0	0.00%	657	12.19%	5,388
Valencia	2,839	74.59%	951	24.99%	16	0.42%	0	0.00%	1,888	49.61%	3,806
Total	57,634	54.67%	46,668	44.27%	1,104	1.05%	15	0.01%	10,966	10.40%	105,421

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Notes

↑ Based on totals for highest elector on each ticket
↑ Based on the highest elector on each ticket

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References

↑ Chilton, Lance; New Mexico: A Guide to the Colorful State, p. 95 ISBN 0826307329
1 2 3 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
↑ Melzer, Richard; 'A Dark and Terrible Moment: The Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918 in New Mexico', New Mexico Historical Review, 57 (1982), pp. 213-232
↑ Goldberg, David Joseph; Discontented America: The United States in the 1920s, p. 44 ISBN 0801860059
↑ Leuchtenburg, William E.; The Perils of Prosperity, 1914-1932, p. 75 ISBN 0226473724
↑ Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 461 ISBN 978-0-691-16324-6
↑ Morello, John A.; Albert D. Lasker, Advertising, and the Election of Warren G. Harding, p. 64 ISBN 0275970302
↑ Sanchez, Joseph P.; Spude, Robert L. and Gomez, Arthur R.; New Mexico: A History, p. 200 ISBN 0806151137
↑ Brown, Courtney; Ballots of Tumult: A Portrait of Volatility in American Voting, p. 130 ISBN 0472102508
↑ "1920 Presidential General Election Results – New Mexico". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
↑ New Mexico Secretary of State. The New Mexico Blue Book, or State Official Register 1921. Santa Fe, New Mexico. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
↑ Tabular Statement of the aggregate cast in the State of New Mexico, for Presidential Electors, Representative to Congress and State Officers at a general election held on Tuesday, next after the first Monday in November, A.D. 1920

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[13] Based on totals for highest elector on each ticket

[14] Based on the highest elector on each ticket

[1] Chilton, Lance; New Mexico: A Guide to the Colorful State, p. 95 ISBN 0826307329

[Early-2] 1 2 3 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] Melzer, Richard; 'A Dark and Terrible Moment: The Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918 in New Mexico', New Mexico Historical Review, 57 (1982), pp. 213-232

[4] Goldberg, David Joseph; Discontented America: The United States in the 1920s, p. 44 ISBN 0801860059

[5] Leuchtenburg, William E.; The Perils of Prosperity, 1914-1932, p. 75 ISBN 0226473724

[Emerging-6] Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 461 ISBN 978-0-691-16324-6

[7] Morello, John A.; Albert D. Lasker, Advertising, and the Election of Warren G. Harding, p. 64 ISBN 0275970302

[8] Sanchez, Joseph P.; Spude, Robert L. and Gomez, Arthur R.; New Mexico: A History, p. 200 ISBN 0806151137

[9] Brown, Courtney; Ballots of Tumult: A Portrait of Volatility in American Voting, p. 130 ISBN 0472102508

[10] "1920 Presidential General Election Results – New Mexico". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved February 17, 2018.

[results-11] New Mexico Secretary of State. The New Mexico Blue Book, or State Official Register 1921. Santa Fe, New Mexico. Retrieved July 25, 2024.

[returns-12] Tabular Statement of the aggregate cast in the State of New Mexico, for Presidential Electors, Representative to Congress and State Officers at a general election held on Tuesday, next after the first Monday in November, A.D. 1920

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