Bernalillo County DA Bregman says he’s running for NM governor because he’s ‘tired of mediocrity’

Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman at a town hall event this week said he believes education is the most important issue facing New Mexico and, if elected governor, he’ll also prioritize healthcare, crime and affordability.

“I’m tired of mediocrity. I want excellence in state government and I want excellence in New Mexico,” he said.

Bregman spoke Tuesday evening as the only Democratic gubernatorial candidate to participate in the Albuquerque Journal’s ongoing candidate town hall series. All three Republican candidates for governor — former Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull, communications professional Doug Turner and cabinet secretary-turned cannabis CEO Duke Rodriguez — and one independent candidate — former Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima — have all previously appeared at the newspaper’s events.

Former U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who is running against Bregman in the June 2 Democratic primary and has consistently led the prosecutor in polling, was scheduled to speak at a Journal town hall on May 22, but canceled late last week.

Jay Newton-Small, the newspaper’s executive editor, kicked off Tuesday’s event by addressing the cancelation within the context of other candidates she’s covered over the years who were accessible to journalists versus campaigns she characterized as inaccessible.

“When you run these campaigns that are super closed, it’s really dangerous and it makes me super nervous,” she said, noting that she has “never met” Haaland but “she canceled on us because she cannot answer any questions, and that is terrifying to me.”

Newton-Small said she’s covered five presidential campaigns and that campaigns for the late U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), Barack Obama and George W. Bush were “the best to cover.” Campaigns for Al Gore and Hillary Clinton, she said, failed in part because they were closed-off to the press.

Newton-Small told attendees the paper was fundraising for investigative reporting and added that “the next four years, if she wins, guess what? We’re going to be investigating her.”

In a statement to Source NM, Haaland campaign spokesperson Hannah Menchhoff wrote that Haaland has made public appearances hundreds of times since announcing her candidacy.

“Throughout the course of this campaign, Deb has visited all 33 counties, participated in hundreds of public events, multiple public forums with other gubernatorial candidates, a statewide televised debate with her democratic opponent, and in April and May alone has done over 20 interviews — including with the Albuquerque Journal,” Menchhoff wrote. “We look forward to continuing to talk with New Mexicans and the press across our state, including the Journal, just as we always have.”

At Tuesday’s town hall, Bregman answered questions from journalists and audience members about his time as Bernalillo County’s top prosecutor and his vision for steering the state through the next four years.

New Mexico Primary 2026: Democratic governor candidate Sam Bregman

He acknowledged that many voters see him as a “moderate” or a “centrist.” When asked, he reiterated his refusal to support Haaland if she earns the nomination, citing her campaign’s previous inclusion on its website of details about the several houses he owns. That said, he added that his refusal to vote for Haaland “doesn’t mean I’m going to run out and support a Republican, either.”

Bregman said he believes education is the most important issue facing New Mexico, and argued that the state needs to have more consistency in its Public Education Department, alluding to the outsized turnover of education secretaries under Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s leadership.

Lujan Grisham has appointed five secretaries to the department since taking office in 2019. That level of turnover“causes a real lack of continued leadership,” Bregman said.

Bregman praised Lujan Grisham and the Legislature for work this year to reform the state’s medical malpractice laws and to join a number of interstate compacts for licensed professionals.

He said that, if elected, he’d prioritize joining the compacts that did not make it across the finish line in the recent legislative session, adding that New Mexico’s shortage of physicians and nurses is among the worst in the nation.

“We have to make this the most attractive place to practice medicine in the country if we want to increase our numbers,” he said.

Along with healthcare, Bregman pointed out that New Mexico continually represents the bottom in national public safety rankings.

Bregman has led the prosecutor’s office in the state’s most populous county since he was appointed to the role in early 2023. Since then, he has indicted 77 minors for murder, he said.

“I know what goes across my desk. Violent crime is down, property crime is down, but juvenile crime [is] absolutely going in the wrong direction,” he said.

He said he wants to focus on root causes of crime, in part by boosting the availability of mental and behavioral health services, and that he wants to work to make life more affordable for New Mexicans.

In particular, Bregman said he would “push like Hell” to abolish the personal income tax for residents 65 and older and to provide down payment assistance to first-time homebuyers.

“I’m running for governor because, I think all of you will agree with me, that New Mexico has never truly lived up to its potential,” he told the crowd gathered at the newspaper’s office.