The 1950 Elections in New Mexico

• Date: 01 March 1951
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295100400112
• Published date: 01 March 1951
• Author: Charles Judah
• Subject Matter: Articles

92
THE 1950 ELECTIONS IN NEVADA
C. C. SMITH
University of Nevada
The 1950 Republican trend in Nevada was more conspicuous than
would ordinarily be expected in an off-year election. For the first time in
twenty years a Republican governor was elected. The Democrats also
lost the office of controller, and in other state-wide contests won in most
cases by uncomfortable majorities. For the next two years the state Senate
will be controlled by the Republicans; the Assembly will be in the hands
of the Democrats, but with a working majority of no more than three.
Certain inferences can be drawn from the statistics of the 1950
Nevada elections. First, the electors had no scruples in the matter of
crossing party lines. There were 83,928 registered voters in the state, with
the Democrats having a numerical majority (on paper at least) of 52,980
to 26,659. The Republican candidate for governor received almost 10,000
votes in excess of his party’s registration, and won by about the same
majority as did the Democratic candidate for the United States Senate,
McCarron.
Secondly, a heavy vote does not necessarily mean a Democratic ad,
vantage. In the gubernatorial race, the popular vote was about 73 per cent
of the total registration.
Third, labor unions as a political force are not as potent as many
labor leaders had surmised, and as many politicians had feared. Candidates
endorsed by labor on both the state and local levels suffered a high mor-
tality, and the few who were successful would have been elected without
union sponsorship.
Fourth, national issues, rather than those of a local character, were
the chief determinants in the Republican upsurge. The defeat of the
Democratic incumbent for governor may be attributed in large part to the
ground swell of dissatisfaction whetted by charges of blunders in foreign
policy, the dissipation of national resources, the infiltration of communists
in strategic government positions, and the creeping paralysis of socialism.
THE 1950...