New Mexico school board elections, 2026

New Mexico 2026 elections

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Elections

State profile

Additional elections

No New Mexico school districts that overlap with the nation's 100 largest cities or that are among the nation's 200 largest school districts and for which Ballotpedia provides comprehensive coverage are holding school board elections in 2026.

Election rules

View election rules

Election dates and frequency

See also: Rules governing school board election dates and timing

School board general elections in New Mexico are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, every two years in odd-numbered years.

See law: New Mexico Statute Section 1-22-3

Recent or upcoming election dates for all public school districts in the state

Below are the recent/upcoming dates for all public school districts in the state. There may be exceptions to these dates for specific districts because of local charters and district-specific exceptions and carve-outs.

Filing deadline date: August 26, 2025
General election date: November 4, 2025

Election system

School board members in New Mexico are elected through nonpartisan general elections without primaries.

See law: New Mexico Statute Section 1-22-3

Party labels on the ballot

See also: Rules governing party labels in school board elections

School board elections in New Mexico are nonpartisan, which means party labels do not appear on the ballot for school board candidates. New Mexico Statute Section 1-22-3(B) states, "A regular local election shall be a nonpartisan election, and the names of all candidates shall be listed on the ballot with no party or slate designation."

See law: New Mexico Statute Section 1-22-3

Winning an election

The school board candidate that receives the largest number of votes in the general election is elected to office.

See law: New Mexico Constitution Article VII Section 5

Term length and staggering

School board members have four-year terms.

See law: New Mexico Statute 22-5-8

School districts elect as close as to half of their school board members as possible at one general election, and the other half at a general election two years later. Upon the formation of a newly created, three school board members will be elected for two-year terms and the other two school board members will be elected for four-year terms to ensure staggered elections. Albuquerque School District is the only district with seven board members, and elects four school board members at one general election and the other three school board members two years later.

See law: New Mexico Statute 22-4-13

Representation: at large vs. by sub-district

School board members are elected either at large or from single-member election subdistricts, depending on the size of the school district. As of 2022, 28 districts (31%) had board members elected by single-member district and 61 districts (69%) had board members elected by at-large.

School board members in districts having a population in excess of 16,000 must be elected from single-member subdistricts.

School boards in districts with less than 16,000 population have the option of establishing single-member board subdistricts or continuing to elect members at large.

See law: New Mexico Statute 22-5-1.1 & New Mexico School Boards Association Handbook Chapter II Section A

Filing deadlines and swearing-in dates

School board candidates must file declarations of candidacy by 5:00 PM on the 70th day prior to the election.

See law: New Mexico Statute 1-22-7

School board candidates can file between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM on the 70th day prior to the election.

See law: New Mexico Statute 1-22-7

Newly elected school board members officially take office on the first day of January following their election.

See law: New Mexico Statute 1-2-18

Recalls

See also: Recall campaigns in New Mexico and School board recalls

State	Specific grounds required?	Signature requirement	Petition circulation time	When recalls can start
New Mexico	Yes: "malfeasance or misfeasance in office or violation of the oath of office during the official’s current term"^[1]	33.3% of voters in the last election for the office	No time limit	Recall elections cannot be held after May 1 in a calendar year in which a regular election for the office will be held

State profile

Demographic data for New Mexico
	New Mexico	U.S.
Total population:	2,080,328	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	121,298	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	73.2%	73.6%
Black/African American:	2.1%	12.6%
Asian:	1.4%	5.1%
Native American:	9.1%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more:	3.3%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	47.4%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	84.2%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	26.3%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$44,963	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	24.7%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in New Mexico. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in New Mexico

New Mexico voted for the Democratic candidate in six out of the seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, three are located in New Mexico, accounting for 1.46 percent of the total pivot counties.^[2]

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. New Mexico had three Retained Pivot Counties, 1.66 percent of all Retained Pivot Counties.

More New Mexico coverage on Ballotpedia

Footnotes

↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "Recall of Local Officials," accessed July 27, 2021
↑ The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.

[ncsl-1] National Conference of State Legislatures, "Recall of Local Officials," accessed July 27, 2021

[2] The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.

[1]

[2]

New Mexico	School Boards	News and Analysis

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New Mexico school board elections, 2026

Contents

Election rules

Election dates and frequency

Election system

Party labels on the ballot

Winning an election

Term length and staggering

Representation: at large vs. by sub-district

Filing deadlines and swearing-in dates

Recalls

State profile

Presidential voting pattern

Pivot Counties (2016)

Pivot Counties (2020)

See also

Footnotes

Information about voting

2026 Elections

2025 Elections

Election analysis

Trending

Public Policy

Information for candidates

Get Engaged

Services

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