years. Term limits state that a governor can serve two consecutive terms but then must skip a term before rerunning.
Only two governors, Edwin L. Mecham and Bruce King served more than two terms. Each served three terms. Bruce King was the longest serving governor with 12 years in office.
Thirty one individuals have served as governor, 19 Democrats and 12 Republicans. There was only one foreign-born Governor; Octaviano Larrazolo, who was born in Valle de Allende, Chihuahua. Women were given the right to vote in 1920, New Mexico was the last state to ratify the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote. Indians living on reservations were given the right to vote in federal elections in 1948 as a result of a lawsuit by a World War II veteran from Iseleta Pueblo. Indians in the state were given full voting rights in 1962 (?). There was one Native American governor; John E. Miles who served from 1939 to 1943. He was from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, of Cherokee descent and his ethnicity was kept secret at the time. His wife was Choctaw.
From 1917 to 1975 there were no Spanish surnamed governors. In one hundred and sixty two years, from the formation of the territory to present, there have only been six Hispanic governors.
Of the thirty one individuals serving as governor from 1912 to present, only seven were born in New Mexico. Between statehood and 1951 there were only two native-born governors, Esquivel C. de Baca, who only served two months as the second state governor before dying in office and Arthur Seligman (my grandfather) who served one term and half of a second term before dying of a heart attack while in office. These are the only two governors to die while in office and both were New Mexico natives.
Concerning Governor Seligman the State Historian states “He was the first native-born, non-Hispanic, governor of Jewish ancestry.” To my knowledge, he was the only Jewish governor to date. However, from what I was told he was not a religious man. My grandmother was an Episcopalian and at his death the official state funeral service was led by an Episcopalian minister. And the Masonic service for the dead was read at his graveside causing some controversy in the local Jewish community at the time. .
