The 2010 New Mexico gubernatorial election took place on November 2, 2010. Democratic

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Bill Richardson William Blaine Richardson III (born November 15, 1947) is an American politician, author, and diplomat who served as the 30th governor of New Mexico from 2003 to 2011. He was also the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Energy Secretary ...

was

term limited A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potent ...

and could not seek re-election to a third consecutive term. On June 1, 2010, the Republicans nominated Susana Martínez, the district attorney for

Doña Ana County, New Mexico Doña Ana County is located in the southern part of the State of New Mexico, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 219,561, which makes it the second-most populated county in New Mexico. Its county seat is Las Cruces, th ...

, and the Democrats nominated

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

Diane Denish Diane Daniels Denish ( ; born March 7, 1949) is an American politician, who was the 28th Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico, lieutenant governor of New Mexico. She was elected in 2002, running on the same ticket as Governor Bill Richardson, and wa ...

. While it was initially thought that Richardson would resign early to become

Secretary of Commerce The United States secretary of commerce (SecCom) is the head of the United States Department of Commerce. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to commerce. The secretary rep ...

in the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...

, Richardson withdrew from the position due to allegations of corruption that were later cleared and he remained governor until the conclusion of his term. Susana Martínez won the election on November 2, 2010, and became New Mexico's first elected female governor, as well as the first Latina governor of any state.

Democratic nomination

The Democratic

primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

was held on June 1, 2010.

Candidate

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

Results

Republican nomination

The Republican primary was held on June 1, 2010.

Susana Martinez Susana Martinez (born July 14, 1959) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 31st governor of New Mexico from 2011 to 2019. A Republican, she served as chair of the Republican Governors Association (RGA) from 2015 to 2016. She ...

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.

Candidates

Declared

Janice Arnold-Jones Janice E. Arnold-Jones (born March 20, 1952) is an American politician who served as the New Mexico State Representative for the 24th district from 2003 to 2011. She is a member of the Republican Party. Early life, education, and business care ...

state representative A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...

* Pete Domenici, Jr., attorney and son of former U.S. Senator

Pete Domenici Pietro Vichi "Pete" Domenici (May 7, 1932 – September 13, 2017) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States Senator from New Mexico from 1973 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, he served six terms in the ...

* Susana Martínez,

Doña Ana County Don (; ; pt, Dom, links=no ; all from Latin ', roughly 'Lord'), abbreviated as D., is an honorific prefix primarily used in Spain and Hispanic America, and with different connotations also in Italy, Portugal and its former colonies, and Croatia ...

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

Doug Turner Douglas William Turner (born January 3, 1969) is the founding partner of the global communications firm Agenda. He also was a Republican candidate for the New Mexico gubernatorial election in 2010, where he was defeated in the primary election ...

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

firm owner and

political consultant Political consulting is a form of consulting that consists primarily of advising and assisting political campaigns. Although the most important role of political consultants is arguably the development and production of mass media (largely tel ...

Allen Weh Allen Edward Weh (born November 17, 1942) is an American business executive, politician, and retired colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. He was a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor of New Mexico in the 2010 election, and t ...

, former chairman of the

Republican Party of New Mexico The Republican Party of New Mexico is the affiliate of the United States Republican Party in New Mexico. It is headquartered in Albuquerque and led by Chair Steve Pearce, Vice Chair Frank Trambley, Secretary Mari Trujillo Spinelli, and Treasure ...

Declined

* Steve Pearce, former

U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

and nominee for the U.S. Senate in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

(ran for Congress) *

Heather Wilson Heather Ann Wilson (born December 30, 1960) is the 11th President of the University of Texas at El Paso. She previously served as the 24th Secretary of the United States Air Force from 2017 through 2019. Wilson was the 12th president of the Sou ...

, former

and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2008 *

Gregory Zanetti Gregory J. "Greg" Zanetti is an American retired officer of the United States Army National Guard, financial advisor, and political candidate. Early life and education Zanetti was raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico and graduated from Val ...

, former

Bernalillo County Bernalillo County () is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Mexico.Bernalillo Co ...

Republican Party chair and

New Mexico National Guard The New Mexico National Guard is the militia of the U.S. state of New Mexico. Comprising the New Mexico Army National Guard and the New Mexico Air National Guard, it is part of the National Guard of the United States, a reserve force under both ...

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

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 all signaled their intention to remain in the race.

Polling

Results

General election

Predictions

Polling

;With Arnold-Jones ;With Domenici, Jr. ;With Turner ;With Weh

Results

References

External links

New Mexico Secretary of State – Elections

New Mexico Governor Candidates
at

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in si ...

Campaign contributions for 2010 New Mexico Governor
from ''Follow the Money''

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 Rasmussen Reports is an American polling company founded in 2003. The company engages in political commentary and the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information. Rasmussen Reports conducts nightly tracking, ...

''
2010 New Mexico Governor - Martinez vs. Denish
from ''

Real Clear Politics RealClearPolitics (RCP) is an American political news website and polling data aggregator formed in 2000 by former options trader John McIntyre and former advertising agency account executive Tom Bevan. The site features selected political ...

''
2010 New Mexico Governor's Race
from ''

CQ Politics Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is part of a privately owned publishing company called CQ Roll Call that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress. CQ was acquired by the Economist Group and combined ...

''
Race Profile
in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' ;Official campaign websites (Archived)
Diane Denish

Susana Martínez

Janice Arnold-Jones

Peter Domenici, Jr.

Doug Turner

Allen Weh
{{New Mexico gubernatorial elections

Gubernatorial A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

Democratic nomination

Candidate

Results

Republican nomination

Candidates

Declared

Declined

Convention

Polling

Results

General election

Predictions

Polling

Results

See also

References

External links