In the history of the United States, just 11 individuals of Hispanic origin have served as the Governor of one of the 50 states. Just 5 states have had a Governor of Hispanic origin. New Mexico accounts for 7 of these 11 governors. Four other states have had one Hispanic governor each. In only one of these 4 states has a naturalized, foreign-born U.S. citizen of Hispanic origin been elected to the office of Governor.
Here are your hints:He had the same first and last name as a Communist head of state.
For bonus points, be the first to enter his name and years of service in the comments section (don't peek!).
Answers added below the fold.
As 9 of you correctly answered, Arizona is the only state other than New Mexico to have elected a naturalized foreign-born Governor of Hispanic origin.
Bonus Points go to James Allen of DKE who immediately provided the correct first and last name (Raul Castro) in comments.
Raul Hector Castro was born in Sonora in 1916, in a copper mining town (Cananea) very similar to those found north of the border in Arizona (in fact Cananea also had a substantial American population), and immigrated to the U.S at age 10. His story is really quite remarkable. He was elected by his fellow citizens of AZ to the office of Governor in 1974, on his second try after having lost the general election narrowly in 1970 as the Democratic challenger to the GOP incumbent.
The other 3 states which have had Hispanic governors are California, Florida, and Nevada:
Brian Sandoval of Nevada is currently in office. He was born in Redding, California.
Bob (not Mel) Martinez was elected Governor of Florida in 1986. Martinez was 3rd generation Floridian, and descended from European Spanish immigrants to the U.S.
California has never elected a Hispanic governor, but for 9 months in 1875 Romualdo Pacheco served as Governor upon the resignation of the elected Governor, who had been elected to the U.S. Senate. Pacheco was born in Alta California before it became part of the U.S. and was elected Lieutenant Governor in 1871. He served in a number of roles in California and U.S. government in the 19th century.