List of governors of New Mexico

The following is a list of the Governors of the state of New Mexico (Spanish: Gobernadores de Nuevo México) and New Mexico Territory.

Twenty-seven individuals have held the office of governor of New Mexico since the state's admission to the Union in 1912, two of whom—Edwin L. Mechem and Bruce King—served three non-consecutive terms. King holds the record as New Mexico's longest-serving governor, with 12 years of service. William C. McDonald, the first governor, took office on January 6, 1912. The current officeholder is Michelle Lujan Grisham, who took office on January 1, 2019, as the first elected female Democratic governor of the state. Governors are limited to two consecutive terms, but a former governor is eligible for re-election after an intervening governor's term expires.

Governors

Governors under U.S. military rule

For the governors of Nuevo México under Mexican and Spanish rule prior to the U.S. territorial phase, see List of Spanish governors of New Mexico and List of Mexican governors of New Mexico.

In 1846 the U.S. Army under Stephen W. Kearny invaded and occupied New Mexico. Military governors at times were assisted by civilian governors.

Military governors were:

Governor			Took office	Left office	Notes
1		General Stephen W. Kearny	August 1846	September 1847	Military
2		Colonel Sterling Price	September 1847	October 10, 1848	Military
3		Lieutenant Colonel John M. Washington	October 10, 1848	October 23, 1849	Military and civilian[1]
4		Colonel John Munroe	October 23, 1849	March 3, 1851	Military and civilian[2]

Civilian governors were:

Governor			Took office	Left office	Notes
1		Charles Bent	September 1846	January 19, 1847	Assassinated in Taos on January 19, 1847.[3]
2		Donaciano Vigil	January 19, 1847	October 11, 1848	Acting to December 1847.[4]
3		Henry Connelly	June 1850	September 1850	Elected under the "State" constitution, which was nullified by the Compromise of 1850. Prevented from assuming power by Colonel John Munroe.

Governors of the Territory of New Mexico

In 1850 New Mexico was organized as a Territory.

Whig (2)     Democratic     Republican (10)
Governor				Took office	Left office	Party	Appointing President		Notes
1			James S. Calhoun	March 3, 1851	May 6, 1852	Whig		Millard Fillmore	[note 1]
2			William Carr Lane	May 6, 1852	1853	Whig
3			David Meriwether	1853	1855	Democratic		Franklin Pierce
4			Abraham Rencher	1857	1861	Democratic		James Buchanan
5			Henry Connelly	September 4, 1861	July 6, 1866	Democratic		Abraham Lincoln	[note 2]
6			Robert Byington Mitchell	July 6, 1866	1869	Democratic		Andrew Johnson
7			William Anderson Pile	1869	August 1871	Republican		Ulysses S. Grant
8			Marsh Giddings	August 1871	June 3, 1875	Republican
—			William G. Ritch	June 3, 1875	July 30, 1875	Republican	Vacant		Acting
9			Samuel Beach Axtell	July 30, 1875	September 29, 1878	Republican		Ulysses S. Grant	[note 3]
10			Lewis Wallace	September 29, 1878	March 9, 1881	Republican		Rutherford B. Hayes
11			Lionel Allen Sheldon	March 9, 1881	1885	Republican		James A. Garfield
12			Edmund G. Ross	1885	1889	Democratic		Grover Cleveland
13			L. Bradford Prince	1889	1893	Republican		Benjamin Harrison
14			William Taylor Thornton	1893	1897	Democratic		Grover Cleveland
15			Miguel A. Otero	1897	1906	Republican		William McKinley
16			Herbert James Hagerman	1906	1907	Republican		Theodore Roosevelt
17			George Curry	1907	March 1, 1910	Republican			[note 4]
18			William J. Mills	March 1, 1910	January 15, 1912	Republican		William H. Taft
Source[5]

Governors of the State of New Mexico

Democratic (20)     Republican (12)
Governor				Term in office	Time served	Party	Term [note 5]	Previous office	Lieutenant Governor
1			William C. McDonald July 25, 1858 – April 11, 1918 (aged 59)	January 14, 1912     –     January 1, 1917	4 years, 354 days	Democratic	1	New Mexico Cattle Sanitary Board (1905-1911)		Ezequiel Cabeza De Baca
							2
							3
2			Ezequiel Cabeza De Baca November 1, 1864 – February 18, 1917 (aged 52)	January 1, 1917     –     February 18, 1917	48 days	Democratic	4	1st Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico (1912-1917)		Washington Lindsey
3			Washington Lindsey December 20, 1862 – April 5, 1926 (aged 63)	February 18, 1917     –     January 1, 1919	1 year, 317 days	Republican		2nd Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico (1917)	Vacant
4			Octaviano Larrazolo December 7, 1859 – April 7, 1930 (aged 70)	January 1, 1919     –     January 1, 1921	2 years	Republican	5	District Attorney for the Western District of Texas (1890-1894)		Benjamin F. Pankey
5			Merritt C. Mechem October 10, 1870 – May 24, 1946 (aged 75)	January 1, 1921     –     January 1, 1923	2 years	Republican	6	Judge of the Seventh Judicial District (1911-1920)		William H. Duckworth
6			James F. Hinkle October 20, 1862 – March 26, 1951 (aged 86)	January 1, 1923     –     January 1, 1925	732 days	Democratic	7	New Mexico State Senator (1912-1917)		José A. Baca January 1, 1923 - May 1924
									Vacant
7			Arthur T. Hannett February 17, 1884 – March 18, 1966 (aged 82)	January 1, 1925     –     January 1, 1927	731 days	Democratic	8	State Highway Commission (1923-1924)		Edward G. Sargent January 1, 1925 - January 1, 1929
8			Richard C. Dillon June 24, 1877 – January 5, 1966 (aged 88)	January 1, 1927     –     January 1, 1931	1462 days	Republican	9	New Mexico State Senator (1924-1926)
										Hugh B. Woodward January 1, 1929 - July 1929
									Vacant
9			Arthur Seligman June 14, 1871 – September 25, 1933 (aged 62)	January 1, 1931     –     September 25, 1933	999 days	Democratic	10	Mayor of Santa Fe		Andrew W. Hockenhull
							11
10			Andrew W. Hockenhull January 16, 1877 – June 20, 1974 (aged 97)	September 25, 1933     –     January 1, 1935	464 days	Democratic		8th Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico (1931-1933)	Vacant
11			Clyde Tingley January 5, 1881 – December 24, 1960 (aged 79)	January 1, 1935     –     January 1, 1939	1462 days	Democratic	12	Superintendent of the State Highway Department for the Albuquerque district (1925–1926)		Louis Cabeza de Baca 1935-1937
							13			Hiram M. Dow 1937-1939
12			John E. Miles July 28, 1884 – October 7, 1971 (aged 87)	January 1, 1939     –     January 1, 1943	1462 days	Democratic	14	Secretary of the New Mexico State Tax Commission (1925)		James Murray, Sr. 1939-1941
							15			Ceferino Quintana 1941-1943
13			John J. Dempsey June 22, 1879 – March 11, 1958 (aged 78)	January 1, 1943     –     January 1, 1947	1462 days	Democratic	16	U.S. Representative for New Mexico's At-large (1935-1941)		James B. Jones
							17
14			Thomas J. Mabry October 17, 1884 – December 23, 1962 (aged 78)	January 1, 1947     –     January 1, 1951	1462 days	Democratic	18	Chief Justice New Mexico Supreme Court (1939-1946)		Joseph Montoya
							19
15			Edwin L. Mechem July 2, 1912 – November 27, 2002 (aged 90)	January 1, 1951     –     January 1, 1955	1462 days	Republican	20	New Mexico Representative (1947-1948)		Tibo J. Chávez
							21
16			John F. Simms December 18, 1916 – April 11, 1975 (aged 58)	January 1, 1955     –     January 1, 1957	732 days	Democratic	22	New Mexico Representative (1947-1949)		Joseph Montoya January 1, 1957 - April 1957
17			Edwin L. Mechem July 2, 1912 – November 27, 2002 (aged 90)	January 1, 1957     –     January 1, 1959	731 days	Republican	23	15th Governor of New Mexico (1951-1955)
									Vacant
18			John Burroughs April 7, 1907 – May 21, 1978 (aged 71)	January 1, 1959     –     January 1, 1961	732 days	Democratic	24	New Mexico Representative (1957-1959)		Ed V. Mead
19			Edwin L. Mechem July 2, 1912 – November 27, 2002 (aged 90)	January 1, 1961     –     November 30, 1962	699 days	Republican	25	17th Governor of New Mexico (1957-1959)		Tom Bolack
20			Tom Bolack May 18, 1918 – May 20, 1998 (aged 80)	November 30, 1962     –     January 1, 1963	33 days	Republican		18th Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico (1961-1962)	Vacant
21			Jack M. Campbell September 10, 1916 – June 14, 1999 (aged 82)	January 1, 1963     –     January 1, 1967	1462 days	Democratic	26	Speaker of the New Mexico House of Representatives (1960-1962)		Mack Easley
							27
22			David Cargo January 13, 1929 – July 5, 2013 (aged 84)	January 1, 1967     –     January 1, 1971	1462 days	Republican	28	New Mexico Representative (1963-1967)		Lee Francis
							29
23			Bruce King April 6, 1924 – November 13, 2009 (aged 85)	January 1, 1971     –     January 1, 1975	1462 days	Democratic	30	Speaker of the New Mexico House of Representatives		Roberto Mondragón
24			Jerry Apodaca (1934-10-03) October 3, 1934	January 1, 1975     –     January 1, 1979	1462 days	Democratic	31	New Mexico Senator (1966-1974)		Robert E. Ferguson
25			Bruce King April 6, 1924 – November 13, 2009 (aged 85)	January 1, 1979     –     January 1, 1983	1462 days	Democratic	32	23rd Governor of New Mexico (1971-1975)		Roberto Mondragón
26			Toney Anaya (1941-04-29) April 29, 1941	January 1, 1983     –     January 1, 1987	1462 days	Democratic	33	24th Attorney General of New Mexico (1975-1978)		Mike Runnels
27			Garrey Carruthers (1939-08-29) August 29, 1939	January 1, 1987     –     January 1, 1991	1462 days	Republican	34	Asst. Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior (1981-1984)		Jack L. Stahl
28			Bruce King April 6, 1924 – November 13, 2009 (aged 85)	January 1, 1991     –     January 1, 1995	1462 days	Democratic	35	25th Governor of New Mexico (1979-1983)		Casey Luna
29			Gary Johnson (1953-01-01) January 1, 1953	January 1, 1995     –     January 1, 2003	2923 days	Republican	36	None		Walter Dwight Bradley
							37
30			Bill Richardson (1947-11-15) November 15, 1947	January 1, 2003     –     January 1, 2011	2923 days	Democratic	38	9th United States Secretary of Energy (1998-2001)		Diane Denish
							39
31			Susana Martinez (1959-07-14) July 14, 1959	January 1, 2011     –     January 1, 2019	8 years	Republican	40	District Attorney for The 3rd Judicial District of New Mexico (1997-2011)		John Sanchez
							41
32			Michelle Lujan Grisham (1959-10-24) October 24, 1959	January 1, 2019     –     Incumbent	1 year, 229 days	Democratic	42	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Mexico's 1st district (2013-2018)		Howie Morales

Notes

1. James Calhoun resigned in 1852 to return to his native state of Georgia.
2. The territory broke into two, and then three during Connelly's tenure due to the Civil War and administrative problems (see: Arizona Territory and Arizona Territory (CSA)).
3. Samuel Axtell was suspended by the Secretary of the Interior for misconduct in 1878.
4. George Curry resigned in 1910 to be a framer in the New Mexico Constitutional Convention.
5. Each term for which a governor is elected is listed here; if multiple governors served in a single term, due to resignations, deaths, and the like, then that term will be shared among those governors. If a governor was elected multiple times, then there will be multiple terms listed for that governor.

Other high offices held

This is a table of the higher federal offices and other governorships held by governors. All representatives and senators represented New Mexico. * denotes offices that the governor resigned to take.

Governor	Gubernatorial term	Higher offices held
Octaviano Ambrosio Larrazolo	1919–1921	U.S. Senator
John E. Miles	1939–1943	U.S. Representative
John J. Dempsey	1943–1947	U.S. Representative
Edwin L. Mechem	1951–1955 1957–1959 1961–1962	U.S. Senator*
Bill Richardson	2003–2011	U.S. Representative, U.S. Secretary of Energy, Ambassador to the United Nations
Michelle Lujan Grisham	2019–Present	U.S. Representative, Secretary of Health of New Mexico

References

1. Simmons, Marc (November 25, 2011). "Colonel left little mark as governor: Trail Dust". The New Mexican. Archived from the original on January 4, 2013. Retrieved July 10, 2012.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
2. Clay, Henry; Hay, Melba Porter (March 14, 1991). The Papers of Henry Clay. Volume 10: Candidate, Compromiser, Elder Statesman, January 1, 1844-June 29, 1852. University Press of Kentucky. p. 730. ISBN 978-0-8131-0060-9. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
3. Wroth, Wiliam H. (2012). "Bent, Charles". New Mexico State Record Center and Archives. Archived from the original on March 9, 2012. Retrieved July 10, 2012.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
4. Weber, David J. (2012). "Vigil, Donaciano". New Mexico State Record Center and Archives. Archived from the original on April 15, 2013. Retrieved July 10, 2012.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
5. State of New Mexico (July 2012). Kathryn A. Flynn (ed.). 2012 Centennial Blue Book (PDF). Diana J. Duran. Office of the New Mexico Secretary of State. p. 210. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 24, 2015. Retrieved April 6, 2013.