The New Mexico gubernatorial campaign got noisy last week when Democratic challenger and state Attorney General Gary King’s comments about Republican Governor Susana Martinez were captured on video. In the speech King paraphrases remarks made by prominent labor activist and co-founder of the of the United Farm Workers Dolores Huerta.
King said, “She (Huerta) said you can’t go out there and just vote for somebody for governor because they have a Latino surname, she said you have to look at them and find out if they have a Latino heart.” King then stated, “And we know that Susana Martinez does not have a Latino heart”.
The context added fuel to the fire: a non-Hispanic, white man assumed the role of arbiter of Hispanic authenticity, and asserted that the only Hispanic female governor in American history is insufficiently Hispanic at heart.
Rather than offer an apology, King told the Albuquerque Journal he was pointing out a disconnection between the Governor’s political values and those held by most New Mexico Hispanics, saying, “Governor Martinez does not share the same value system as most New Mexico Hispanic families do, such as increasing the wage and supporting our professional educators in the teaching of our children.”
If King had said that Martinez does not share political preferences with most Latino voters in New Mexico, he would not have made headlines. Academics and journalists alike have written quite a bit about the extent to which women and racial/ethnic minorities in office represent and appeal to voters with shared identity traits. There are a number of ways to empirically evaluate whether Governor Martinez represents the political positions espoused by most Hispanic New Mexicans. Here are a few:
Partisanship: Party identification and vote choices are straightforward measures of shared political preferences. Governor Martinez is a Republican and most Hispanics in the state are not. The 2012 Latino Decisions New Mexico Election Eve Poll surveyed a representative sample of Hispanic voters in the state and found many more Democrats than Republicans: 59% of Hispanic New Mexican voters identify as Democrats, 20% as independents, and a mere 12% as Republicans. Further, an overwhelming 77% voted to re-elect President Obama.
Latino Vote Share: Martinez captured 38% of the Latino vote in her 2010 campaign that propelled her to the Governor’s mansion. She was far from reaching a majority of co-ethnic support. That said, 38% is actually a strong figure for a Republican candidate in the current era where GOP candidates across the country have lost ground with this electorate.
Polling conducted by the Albuquerque Journal shows Martinez has expanded her lead since King’s “Latino heart” comment emerged, and she is poised to pick up a larger share of Hispanic votes this election cycle.
Education: Education is a critical issue in New Mexico. The Annie E. Casey Foundation recently issued a report that ranked New Mexico in last place (among all fifty states) on overall child well-being. Nearly 60 percent of all children in New Mexico are Latino, making education policy particularly important to this electorate.
On this issue, the Albuquerque Journal finds the vast majority (66%) of New Mexicans support tapping into the state’s land grant permanent fund to support early childhood programs such as preschool, child-care and in-home visiting for first-time parents. Among Hispanic voters, support spikes to 80%. Governor Martinez opposes using the permanent fund for this purpose, putting her at odds with practically the entire Latino electorate in the state on an issue of tremendous consequence.
Immigration: Relative to other states, New Mexico’s Latino immigrant population is small, 83% of Hispanics in the state were born in the United States. Yet, immigration ranked among the most important issues for Hispanic voters in the state in 2012, and remained a dominant issue throughout Governor Martinez’ term in office.
On her first day in office, Martinez issued an executive order requiring state police to check the immigration status of everyone arrested. She also championed several failed attempts to repeal a law allowing undocumented immigrants to acquire driver’s licenses in the state. A 2012 America’s Voice/Latino Decisions survey of Hispanic voters in New Mexico revealed that 70% prefer a policy that allows undocumented immigrants to apply for a driver’s license with some added restrictions; only 21% agreed with the Governor’s position on this issue.
Contrary to her punitive immigration policy agenda at the state level, Governor Martinez expressed a preference for federal comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship, and pushed back against her party for alienating Latino voters specifically on immigration issues.
Those views are aligned with her co-ethnic constituents; one-out-five New Mexico Latino voters would be more likely to support Republicans in the future if the party would help pass comprehensive reform with a path to citizenship. Another 52% said Mitt Romney’s immigration policy positions and self-deportation views made them less enthused about him, and a stunning 70% of Latino voters in New Mexico thought Romney did not care or was hostile toward Latinos.
Governor Martinez views on federal immigration policy and party outreach are in accord with most Latino voters in the state. In terms of substantive action, however, she has been a strong advocate for state immigration policies that are contrary to Latino voter preferences.
Hispanics are not a monolithic population; they hold nuanced positions on a range of issues. When it comes to immigration and early childhood education though, opinions are strong and cohesive. With the highest ratio of Hispanic voters to the overall electorate in the nation, New Mexico will continue to provide unique opportunities to explore the nuances of Latino politics.
Gabriel R. Sanchez is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of New Mexico and Research Director for Latino Decisions. He has published several articles focused on Hispanic political attitudes in New Mexico
