The Las Cruces, NM Metro Area has a long and vibrant history of political action and engagement. As a border town and the second-largest city in New Mexico, politics here are often influenced by larger state and federal issues. The local political landscape is largely shaped by two major parties: the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. These two major parties have been competing for power in the area since its establishment, which has led to some heated debates over policy topics like healthcare, immigration, gun control, taxes, and more. Local elections also feature a wide array of candidates from different backgrounds with diverse viewpoints on these issues. In addition to their presence in government offices, many organizations throughout the region are dedicated to engaging citizens in political dialogue as well as advocating for their interests. By encouraging thoughtful discourse between all sides of an issue, the people of Las Cruces can ensure that their voices are heard and that their needs are met.
The political climate in Las Cruces Metro Area is moderately liberal.
In Las Cruces Metro Area 58.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 39.7% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.3% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, the Las Cruces metro area remained very strongly Democratic, 58.0% to 39.7%.
The Las Cruces metro area voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Las Cruces Metro Area is moderately liberal.
New Mexico is somewhat liberal.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index is based on recent voting in national elections, federal campaign contributions by local residents, and consumer personality profiles.
VoteWord™
Displaying 20 years of Presidential voting, visualized in one word.
Las Cruces, New Mexico: d d D D D D
How It Works:
Here at BestPlaces, we were looking at the voting patterns since the 2000 election and realized that we could express the results of each election as one letter. R if the Republican Party candidate won, D for the Democrat and I for the Independent. The six elections (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) would be expressed as six-letter word (R R D R R).
Then we went a little further and added the dimension of magnitude. If the difference of victory was greater than 10 percent, the letter is upper case, and lower case if the difference was less than 10 percent. This allows us to see interesting voting patterns at just a glance.
Here's the VoteWord for Iowa d r d d r. In the last six elections the state has been closely contested, voting narrowly for the Republican Party candidate in 2016 and 2020 after voting for the Democratic Party in 2008 and 2012. Virginia (r r d d d D) has voted for the Democratic Party in the last four elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Las Cruces Metro Area
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 13,081 contributions totaling $948,762 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $73 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 1,924 contributions totaling $500,079 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $260 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)