Governor of New Mexico

New Mexico Governor of New Mexico
General information
Office Type:	Partisan
Office website:	Official Link
2012 FY Budget:	$3,391,600
Term limits:	Two consecutive terms
Structure
Length of term:	4 years
Authority:	New Mexico Constitution, Article V, Section 4
Selection Method:	Elected
Current Officeholder
Name:	Susana Martinez
Officeholder Party:	Republican
Assumed office:	2011
Compensation:	$110,000
Elections
Next election:	November 4, 2014
Last election:	November 2, 2010
Other New Mexico Executive Offices
Governor • Lieutenant Governor • Secretary of State • Attorney General • Treasurer • Auditor • Secretary of Education • Agriculture Secretary • Insurance Superintendent • Secretary of Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources • Secretary of Workforce Solutions • Public Regulation Commission • Public Education Commission

The Governor of the State of New Mexico is an elected Constitutional officer, the head of the Executive branch, and the highest state office in New Mexico. The Governor is popularly elected every four years by a plurality and is limited to two consecutive terms.

Current officer

The 31st and current governor is Susana Martinez, a Republican elected in 2010.

Authority

The state Constitution addresses the office of the governor in Article V, the Executive Department.

Under Article V, Section 4:

The supreme executive power of the state shall be vested in the governor...

Qualifications

Governors
Current Governors
Gubernatorial Elections
2013 • 2012 • 2011 • 2010 Lists of candidates
Current Lt. Governors
Lt. Governor Elections
2013 • 2012 • 2011 • 2010
Breaking news

Under Article V, Section 3, a candidate for the governorship must be:

• at least 30 years old

• a citizen of the United States

• a resident of New Mexico continuously for five years on the day of the election

Elections

New Mexico elects governors in the midterm elections, that is, even years that are not Presidential election years. For New Mexico, 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018 are all gubernatorial election years. Legally, the gubernatorial inauguration is always set for the first day in the January following an election. Thus, January 1, 2011 and January 1, 2015 are inaugural days.

In the event of a tie vote, the legislature shall convene and case ballots to choose among the two top vote getters.

Term limits

See also: States with gubernatorial term limits

New Mexico governors are restricted to two consecutive terms in office, after which they must wait one term before being eligible to run again.

New Mexico Constitution, Article V, Section 1

[The Governor] shall, after having served two terms in a state office, be ineligible to hold that state office until one full term has intervened.

Partisan composition

The chart below shows the partisan breakdown of New Mexico State Governors from 1992-2013.

Vacancies

See also: How gubernatorial vacancies are filled

Details of vacancy appointments are addressed under Article V, Section 7.

If a Governor-elect dies, the Lieutenant Governor-elect shall take office as the Governor. However, if a Governor-elect fails to qualify, or, for some reason, no one has been elected by Inauguration Day, the Lieutenant Governor-elect shall take office as Acting Governor only until a Governor does qualify.

The Constitution also allows the legislature to set the procedure for a special election if a Governor-elect cannot qualify.

Any temporary or permanent vacancy during a term is filed by the Lieutenant Governor, who has the full powers, duties, and emoluments of the Governor. If the Lieutenant Governor's office is also vacant, the line of succession is the Secretary of State, the President Pro Tem of the Senate, and then the Speaker of the House.

Duties

As governor he/she has the duty to see see that the New Mexico Constitution and the laws of the state are faithfully executed. The governor has the power to appoint and supervise the directors of each executive department. The governor has the responsibility to carry out the duties of commander-in-chief of the militia forces of the state. (§ 4)

Other duties and privileges of the office include:

• Nominating and, with Senate consent, appointing all offices not otherwise provided for by law, including appointing vacancies in all offices except members of the legislature and the Lieutenant Governor (§ 5)

• Removing any appointees for any reason, unless specifically precluded by law (§ 5)

• Granting pardons and reprieves, except in cases of treason and impeachment (§ 6)

• Taking an annual report, given under oath, from the head of each executive department, concerning the spending of public money. If that report is the only made made in a year, it must be given no later than 30 days prior to start of the legislature's regular session (§ 9)

• Issuing and signing all commissions granted in the name of the state of New Mexico

• Submitting all cabinet heads and cabinet levels appointees for confirmation or reconfirmation by the Senate at the beginning of each gubernatorial term (§ 15)

State budget

The budget for the Governor's office in Fiscal Year 2012 was $3,332,400.

Compensation

See also: Comparison of gubernatorial salaries

The governor's salary is legally fixed and may not be raised or decreased effective during the current term. The Governor may receive no other compensation aside from the salary.

As of 2010, the Governor of New Mexico is paid $110,000 a year, the 34th highest gubernatorial salary in America.

History

Partisan balance 1992-2013

See also: Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States and Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, New Mexico’’

Partisan breakdown of the New Mexico governorship from 1992-2013

From 1992-2013, in New Mexico there were Democratic governors in office for 11 years while there were Republican governors in office for 11 years, including the last three.

Across the country, there were 493 years of Democratic governors (44.82%) and 586 years of Republican governors (53.27%) from 1992-2013.

Over the course of the 22-year study, state governments became increasingly more partisan. At the outset of the study period (1992), 18 of the 49 states with partisan legislatures had single-party trifectas and 31 states had divided governments. In 2013, only 13 states have divided governments, while single-party trifectas held sway in 36 states, the most in the 22 years studied.

The chart below shows the partisan composition of the Office of the Governor of New Mexico, the New Mexico State Senate and the New Mexico House of Representatives from 1992-2013.

Contact information

Office of the Governor
490 Old Santa Fe Trail
Room 400
Santa Fe, NM 87501
Phone:505-476-2200

See also

• Governor Susana Martinez
• Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico
• Lieutenant Governor John A. Sanchez
• New Mexico Attorney General
• New Mexico Secretary of State

External links

Suggest a link

• Office of the New Mexico Governor