ELECTION 2010: The Worm Turns

By SFR

The election's over. Now what? SFR has visuals of the New Mexico Legislature's new breakdown.

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In the New Mexico House of Representatives, change is afoot. Democrats--who previously held a 45/25 majority--lost eight seats, bringing the balance closer to even. (Compared with the sea change in the US House, though, New Mexico's shift was modest.)

Most of the turnover occurred in the central counties (Bernalillo, Sandoval and Valencia), with a couple of Democratic seats in Doña Ana County also going Republican. Doña Ana is also where Governor-elect Susana Martinez carved out a hefty base; that Martinez also won big in Sandoval and Valencia Counties is more surprising.

But if a picture's worth 1,000 words, then an interactive chart is worth like a million, right?

HINT: In order to see the change that took place late last night, you'll actually need to interact with the chart below. Find the drop-down menus at the bottom of the chart; one of the menus is labeled "Size." You can switch the size between "2008 members" and "2010 members" to see the makeup of New Mexico and US legislatures before and after last night's election.

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