Las Cruces, New Mexico is a city of over 100,000 people located in the southern portion of the state. It is known for its vibrant culture and strong sense of community. Politically, Las Cruces leans slightly to the left and tends to be more progressive than other parts of the state. The local government features a mayor-council system, with six council members who are elected from specific districts within the city. The current mayor is Ken Miyagishima, who was re-elected in 2019. In terms of political issues affecting Las Cruces, many residents are concerned with water conservation and environmental protection due to its location in the desert. Additionally, education reform and economic development are high on many people's agendas as they seek to improve their quality of life.
The political climate in Las Cruces, NM is somewhat liberal.
Dona Ana County, NM is moderately liberal. In Dona Ana County, NM 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, Dona Ana county remained very strongly Democratic, 58.0% to 39.7%.
Dona Ana county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Las Cruces, NM is somewhat liberal.
Dona Ana County, New Mexico is moderately liberal.
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 if the Democratic Party candidate won and I if the Independent Party candidate won. 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 three elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Las Cruces, NM
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 21,635 contributions totaling $1,220,675 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $56 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2,479 contributions totaling $596,679 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $241 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)