1978Final results
1978 election for New Mexico Governor
Governor · New Mexico
Bruce King (D) won with 50.5% of the vote, defeating Joseph Skeen (R) by 1.1 points.
Bruce KingDemocrat · winner
50.5%174,631
Joseph SkeenRepublican
49.5%170,848
345,479 votes
Source: Algara, Carlos; Amlani, Sharif (Harvard Dataverse)Updated Oct 5, 2026, 12:23 AM ET
The seat over time
D − R margin in this seat's races around 1978
Races before and after
Source: Algara, Carlos; Amlani, Sharif (Harvard Dataverse)Updated Oct 5, 2026, 12:23 AM ET