If that was the answer, NM-3 in the northern portion of the state would have shown the same results. Instead the vote in the four most Hispanic counties ranged between 79 and 83% for Obama. They have been on the government teat for so long up there nothing will draw them away from it. But part of the problem is of the liberals own making - the enviro-nazis in trendy Santa Fe (together with the Sierra Club, NRDC and the Wilderness Society nationally) have succeeded in shutting down all natural resource development in that area (not counting the San Juan county area). Mining and lumbering are dead and they provided good jobs for many whose families have lived there for hundreds of years.
Steve Pearce won or nearly tied in counties which voted Democratic for President - Examples Socorro Pearce won 56-42%, Obama 54-38%, Cibola Pearce lost 49-50% Obama 62-33%. He has a message that resonates - jobs and economic development and though SE NM has both he can point to that success as a beacon for what enterprise and business can accomplish when not hobbled by government redtape and bureaucracy.
NM-3 is different, as you say, but that’s like saying my thesis doesn’t apply to Ann Arbor. If you know NM, then you know what a haven Sante Fe and points North are for every sort of liberal whack-job. That means Hispanics living there are likely to be dependents of various kinds, and to be encouraged in their dependency. It’s more common for that dependency class to be fostered in big cities like ABQ, but the disease isn’t exclusive to urbanity.