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2000 United States presidential election in New Mexico

← 1996 November 7, 2000 2004 →
 
Nominee Al Gore George W. Bush
Party Democratic Republican
Home state Tennessee Texas
Running mate Joe Lieberman Dick Cheney
Electoral vote 5 0
Popular vote 286,783 286,417
Percentage 47.91% 47.85%

County Results

President before election

Bill Clinton
Democratic

Elected President

George W. Bush
Republican

The 2000 United States presidential election in New Mexico took place on November 7, 2000, and was part of the 2000 United States presidential election. Voters chose five electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. New Mexico was won by Vice President Al Gore by a 0.06 percent margin. It was the closest state in the entire presidential election by raw vote margin (366 votes), closer than Florida. News outlets called New Mexico for Gore at approximately 10:21 p.m. (EST),[1] but later retracted the call when it was determined to be too close to call.[2]

Gore was not declared the winner of the state until November 17.[3] Gore carried the northern part of the state, home of the 3rd district. Bush carried the southern part of the state, which is home of the 2nd district. The central part of the state, home of the 1st district, was won by Gore narrowly by 47.91% as opposed to Bush's 47.85% (a margin of 0.06%), identical to the statewide results.[4][5]

In the days following the election, when the disputes and recounts began, New Mexico, despite having a razor-thin margin, went largely ignored. Its five electoral votes alone would not have changed the overall outcome in the Electoral College if it were switched from Gore to Bush.[6][7] The respective campaigns ended up paying little attention to recount efforts in New Mexico, and focused their efforts solely on Florida. Likewise, the media focused very little on the New Mexico recount. After the final count was certified for Gore on November 30,[7] the Bush campaign did not challenge the results.[7] This would be the first election in which New Mexico failed to vote for the winning candidate since 1976 and the only time since its statehood in 1912 that it voted for a different candidate than Nevada. As of 2020, this is the last time that New Mexico voted more Republican than the nation as a whole.

Bush became the first Republican to win the White House without carrying the state of New Mexico since its statehood, as well the first to win without Bernalillo County.

Results[edit]

2000 United States presidential election in New Mexico
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic 286,783 47.91% −1.27
Republican 286,417 47.85% +5.99
Green 21,251 3.55% +1.17
Libertarian 2,058 0.34% −0.20
Reform 1,392 0.23% −5.57
Natural Law 361 0.06% −0.06
Constitution
343 0.06% −0.07
Total votes 598,605 100.00%
Democratic win

Results by county[edit]

County Al Gore
Democratic
George W. Bush
Republican
Ralph Nader
Pacific Green
Various candidates
Other parties
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # % # %
Bernalillo 99,461 48.68% 95,249 46.62% 8,274 4.05% 1,335 0.65% 4,212 2.06% 204,319
Catron 353 20.63% 1,273 74.40% 57 3.33% 28 1.64% -920 -53.77% 1,711
Chaves 6,340 34.93% 11,378 62.69% 307 1.69% 124 0.68% -5,038 -27.76% 18,149
Cibola 4,127 58.23% 2,752 38.83% 164 2.31% 45 0.64% 1,375 19.40% 7,088
Colfax 2,653 48.58% 2,600 47.61% 163 2.98% 1,335 0.65% 53 0.97% 5,461
Curry 3,471 29.00% 8,301 69.35% 147 1.23% 50 0.42% -4,830 -40.35% 11,969
De Baca 349 35.54% 612 62.32% 12 1.22% 9 0.91% -263 -26.78% 982
Doña Ana 23,912 51.26% 21,263 45.58% 1,158 2.48% 320 0.69% 2,649 5.68% 46,653
Eddy 7,108 39.96% 10,335 58.10% 256 1.44% 88 0.49% -3,227 -18.14% 17,787
Grant 5,673 50.47% 4,961 44.13% 530 4.71% 77 0.68% 712 6.34% 11,241
Guadalupe 1,076 65.17% 548 33.19% 24 1.45% 3 0.18% 528 31.98% 1,651
Harding 214 36.09% 366 61.72% 9 1.52% 4 0.67% -152 -25.63% 593
Hidalgo 839 45.75% 954 52.02% 28 1.53% 13 0.71% -115 -6.27% 1,834
Lea 3,855 27.04% 10,157 71.25% 169 1.19% 75 0.53% -6,302 -44.21% 14,256
Lincoln 2,027 29.93% 4,458 65.83% 168 2.48% 119 1.76% -2,431 -35.90% 6,772
Los Alamos 4,149 40.60% 5,623 55.03% 329 3.22% 117 1.15% -1,474 -14.43% 10,218
Luna 2,975 44.99% 3,395 51.35% 186 2.81% 56 0.85% -420 -6.34% 6,612
McKinley 10,281 64.75% 5,070 31.93% 392 2.47% 136 0.86% 5,211 32.82% 15,879
Mora 1,456 66.45% 668 30.49% 49 2.24% 18 0.82% 788 35.96% 2,191
Otero 5,465 33.73% 10,258 63.31% 338 2.09% 143 0.88% -4,793 -29.58% 16,204
Quay 1,471 38.27% 2,292 59.63% 51 1.33% 30 0.78% -821 -21.36% 3,844
Rio Arriba 8,169 67.53% 3,495 28.89% 377 3.12% 56 0.46% 4,674 38.64% 12,097
Roosevelt 1,762 31.18% 3,762 66.57% 98 1.73% 29 0.51% -2,000 -35.39% 5,651
San Juan 11,980 34.57% 21,434 61.85% 923 2.66% 320 0.92% -9,454 -27.28% 34,657
San Miguel 6,540 71.39% 2,215 24.18% 344 3.76% 62 0.68% 4,325 47.21% 9,161
Sandoval 14,899 46.92% 15,423 48.57% 1,211 3.81% 222 0.70% -524 -1.65% 31,755
Santa Fe 32,017 64.72% 13,974 28.25% 3,215 6.50% 265 0.54% 18,043 36.47% 49,471
Sierra 1,689 36.83% 2,721 59.33% 132 2.88% 44 0.96% -1,032 -22.50% 4,586
Socorro 3,294 48.26% 3,173 46.48% 279 4.09% 80 1.17% 121 1.78% 6,826
Taos 7,039 64.61% 2,744 25.19% 1,064 9.77% 48 0.44% 4,295 39.42% 10,895
Torrance 1,868 37.66% 2,891 58.29% 163 3.29% 38 0.77% -1,023 -20.63% 4,960
Union 452 25.75% 1,269 72.31% 19 1.08% 15 0.85% -817 -46.56% 1,755
Valencia 9,819 45.93% 10,803 50.54% 615 2.88% 140 0.65% -984 -4.61% 21,377
Totals 286,783 47.91% 286,417 47.85% 21,251 3.55% 4,154 0.69% 366 0.06% 598,605

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican[edit]

Results by congressional district[edit]

Gore won 2 of 3 congressional districts, including one held by a Republican.[8]

District Bush Gore Representative
1st 47.8% 47.9% Heather Wilson
2nd 54% 43% Joe Skeen
3rd 40% 57% Tom Udall

Electors[edit]

Technically the voters of New Mexico cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. New Mexico is allocated 5 electors because it has 3 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 5 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the most votes in the state is awarded all 5 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for president and vice president. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them. An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector.

The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 18, 2000[9] to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All were pledged to and voted for Gore and Lieberman:[10]

  1. Tom Atcitty
  2. Rick Blea
  3. Diane D. Denish
  4. Jeep Gilliland
  5. Mary Gail Gwaltney

References[edit]

  1. ^ "2000 Events Timeline - Election Night". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
  2. ^ "2000 Events Timeline - Post-Election". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
  3. ^ Ferguson, Chaka (November 18, 2000). "Gore Finally Wins in New Mexico". AP. Yahoo.com. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
  4. ^ "Presidential Results by Congressional District, 2000-2008". Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
  5. ^ "2000 Presidential General Election Results - New Mexico". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
  6. ^ "Recounts might spread to New Mexico, Oregon". USA Today. November 13, 2000. Archived from the original on August 8, 2012. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
  7. ^ a b c "Bush decides against recount in New Mexico". CNN. December 9, 2000. Archived from the original on October 28, 2014. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
  8. ^ 2000 Presidential General Election Results - New Mexico US Election Atlas
  9. ^ "2000 Post-Election Timeline of Events".
  10. ^ "President Elect - 2000". Archived from the original on February 12, 2012. Retrieved November 1, 2009.