New Mexico's Hispanos have long participated actively in every facet of state politics--party work, candidacy, office holding, and voting. Yet, they have not shared the political rewards commensurate with political importance in state politics. The 1974 election of Jerry Apodaca as New Mexico's twenty-third Governor marked only the third time, and the first in recent history, when an Hispano achieved the state's highest elective executive office. The 1940, 1948, 1968, and 1974 governor elections which saw a popular Anglo facing a popular Hispano were compared. This report discusses: (1) the electoral circumstances that made an Apodaca victory possible; (2) the way the circumstances differed from previous efforts by Hispanos; and (3) the long-term implications for New Mexico politics that can be drawn from Apodaca's victory. By comparing the key electoral variables present, the campaign strategy, and the election returns, the fallacy in traditional axioms about New Mexico politics, primary of which has been the axiom that an Hispano could not win for Governor in the state, was illustrated. (NQ)