Otero County, New Mexico is situated in the southern part of the state and is known for its stunning mountain views and vast plains. With a total area of just over 6,000 square miles, it is one of the larger counties in the state. The county seat of Otero is Alamogordo and the population as of 2019 was approximately 63,797 people.
Politically, Otero County has long been a stronghold of conservative politics in New Mexico. It is represented by two Republican members of the New Mexico House of Representatives - Yvette Herrell from District 51 and Candy Spence Ezzell from District 52. The local government also reflects this conservative bent with Republicans holding most major offices. In recent years, there have been some signs that progressive politics might be gaining some traction in Otero County but for now it remains a predominantly conservative county politically.
The political climate in Otero County, NM is strongly conservative.
In Otero County, NM 36.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 61.6% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.4% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Otero county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 61.6% to 36.0%.
Otero county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Otero County, NM is strongly conservative.
Alamogordo Metro Area is strongly conservative.
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.
Otero, New Mexico: R R R R R R
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 three elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Otero County, NM
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 3,488 contributions totaling $114,439 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $33 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 837 contributions totaling $229,584 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $274 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)