The rise of New Mexico’s purple voters

New Mexico voters are not shifting left or right — they are walking away from the two major parties, giving rise to “purple voters.” These residents, who are not affiliated with either party, now make up more than a quarter of the state’s electorate a new analysis by New Mexico Political Report found.

City Desk reviewed New Mexico Secretary of State voter registration data from January 2025 to January 2026 to track party shifts during President Donald Trump’s first year back in office.

In the year since Trump returned to the White House, New Mexico voters choosing one of the two major parties has declined by more than 33,000 registered voters, according to Secretary of State data. Meanwhile, unaffiliated and minor-party voters grew by more than 41,000 and now account for 27.5% of all registered voters — their highest share in at least two years.

Voters registered outside the two major parties — including no-party, independent, Libertarian and other-party voters — grew to 386,599, up from 344,867 a year earlier. Strictly unaffiliated voters, those who declined to select any party, account for 25.6% on their own, up from 23.5% a year ago.

As of Jan. 30, 2026, the state had 1,403,961 registered voters, down 7,409 from a year earlier. 

Democrats remain the largest bloc, but their edge is shrinking. 

Democrats now have 22,655 fewer voters than they had a year ago, leaving the party with 574,129 voters and 40% of the state’s registered voters. Republican registration decreased by 10,966 voters between January 2025 and January 2026, falling from 32.2% to 31.6%. 

The gap between the two parties tightened from 142,585 voters to 130,896.

With more than a quarter of voters now unaffiliated or registered with minor parties, purple voters could play an increasingly decisive role in future general elections.

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In year past, declining to state a party affiliation meant you were barred from voting in partisan primary elections in June to choose final nominees. This year, however, independent voters can choose to vote in one of the major party contests.

BY THE NUMBERS

*The Secretary of State merged the Libertarian column into “Other” in the 2026 report. The party remains legally qualified in New Mexico.