David F. Cargo
| David Cargo | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 22nd Governor of New Mexico | |
|
In office January 1, 1967 – January 1, 1971 |
|
| Lieutenant | Lee Francis |
| Preceded by | Jack Campbell |
| Succeeded by | Bruce King |
| Member of the New Mexico House of Representatives | |
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In office January 1, 1963 – January 1, 1967 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
David Francis Cargo January 13, 1929 Dowagiac, Michigan, U.S. |
| Died | July 5, 2013 (aged 84) Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Ida Jo Cargo |
| Alma mater | University of Michigan, Ann Arbor |
| Military service | |
| Service/branch | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1953-1955 |
David Francis Cargo (January 13, 1929 – July 5, 2013) was the 22nd Governor of New Mexico, having served between 1967 and 1971.
Cargo was born in Dowagiac, Michigan, the eldest of three children born to Francis and Mary (née Harton) Cargo. He was a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School (LLB: 1957).
He represented the Albuquerque area in the New Mexico House of Representatives from 1963 to 1967, when he was elected governor at the age of thirty-seven. As a representative he won one of the first lawsuits forcing proportional representation in the state legislature. He remains one of the youngest governors elected to date in U.S. history, along with Harold Stassen in Minnesota (1938), Bill Clinton in Arkansas (1978), Christopher "Kit" Bond and Matt Blunt in Missouri (1972) and (2004), respectively, and Bobby Jindal in Louisiana (2007).
Cargo was considered a liberal Republican, more in the Nelson Rockefeller mode than in the Barry Goldwater image. He had difficulty winning the Republican primaries in both 1966 and 1968; both times he faced State Representative Clifford J. Hawley of Santa Fe. In 1966, Cargo won with 17,836 (51.8 percent) to Hawley's 16,588 (48.2 percent). He improved in 1968, when he defeated Hawley, 28,014 (54.9 percent) to 23,052 (45.1 percent).
Cargo won the general election of 1966, when he barely defeated Democrat Gene Lusk. Cargo received 134,625 votes (51.7 percent) to Lusk's 125,587 (48.3 percent). Running again in 1968, Cargo won by an even smaller margin, 160,140 (50.5 percent) to Democrat Fabian Chavez Jr.,'s 157,230 ballots (49.5 percent).
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