DA Sam Bregman enters race for governor
Apr 10, 2025 | 6:54 pm ET
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Second Judicial District Attorney Sam Bregman held a rally on the Las Vegas Plaza to announce his plan to run for governor of New Mexico, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)
Albuquerque’s top prosecutor Sam Bregman announced his candidacy for governor early Thursday, but said he will not step down from the Second Judicial District Attorney’s office during the campaign.
Bregman is the second candidate to vie for the Democratic nomination, which will be decided by voters in a June 2026 primary election. He faces Deb Haaland, the former U.S. Secretary of the Interior and New Mexico delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, who announced in February her intention to be the state’s first Indigenous woman governor.
The Haaland campaign declined to say much on Bregman’s entry. A spokesperson noted Haaland has raised $3 million in donations since launching the campaign and said in a written statement: “Deb’s message of strength and leadership to address New Mexico’s challenges head-on is resonating with New Mexicans. We’re truly grateful for the resounding grassroots support she’s received across the state.”
Source NM spoke briefly to Bregman about his bid to be the next governor prior to his formal announcement Thursday in Las Vegas.
Even though primary elections are a little over a year away, Bregman, who, as DA, oversees prosecutions in Bernalillo County, said he could manage his day job while running for office.
“I’m sure of it because of the team I have in place; I’m sure of it because I have a leash on every day called the iPhone, which is a computer itself,” he said. “I’m the district attorney 24-7, 365 and I always will be, as long as I have this job — and I know I can do the job and run for governor.”
Prior to serving as DA, Bregman held a seat on the Albuquerque City Council from one term beginning in 1995. In 2023, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham appointed Bregman to the Second Judicial District District Attorney position. He subsequently ran and won the primary challenge for the seat in 2024, which marked the most expensive race in that election.
Bregman highlighted to Source his accomplishments thus far as DA, such as efficiently managing an office of 330 attorneys and prosecuting more than more than 300 murders, he said.
Bregman said that the state has to do more to recruit police officers in Albuquerque, pointing to the recent request for Lujan Grisham to deploy National Guard in a support role.
Second Judicial District Attorney Sam Bregman held a rally on the Las Vegas Plaza to announce his plan to run for governor of New Mexico, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)“My understanding is that they will not be carrying guns, they will not be armed, they will not be patrolling the streets,” he said of the national guard. “But that goes back to, we have to do a better job in recruiting and retaining police officers.”
Bregman departed significantly from Haaland on this issue of climate change. She told Source NM in a February interview: “We need to do everything we can to have a clean environment for children,” and said that includes addressing emissions. Bregman, in contrast, said he would “not propose any new things on climate change,” saying that the industry provides more than $1 billion in revenue for schools, and generates significant revenue for the state.
“Those people who want to shut down the oil and gas exploration, development, I don’t support that one bit,” Bregman said.
When it comes to immigration, Bregman said he stands by his previous comments criticizing the Trump administration’s proposals for mass removals — which have included sending a Maryland man to an El Salvador prison.
“This policy of scaring the hell out of everybody out there that they’re going to be deported is a chilling effect on crime, for example, I can tell you that firsthand,” he said, saying that undocumented witnesses and victims are unwilling to come forward for fear of deportation.
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Bregman said the state’s next leader has to assume an adversarial stance against the federal government. He opened a two-minute long video with his campaign announcement with a voiceover censuring top Republicans, saying: “New Mexico is under attack by Elon Musk, his puppet Donald Trump and Republicans in Washington.”
“You’ve got to stand up and fight back,” he told Source NM, later saying that was not a criticism of Lujan Grisham.
In the ad, Bregman also lobbed criticism against Democrats in Washington D.C., whom he characterizes as “weak, ineffective and complicit,” along with the “radical left.”
In his interview with Source, Bregman said the stakes such as Republican’s proposed cuts to Medicaid — the jointly run state-federal health insurance program for the very poor — which would have disproportionate impacts on New Mexico, requires pushing back against the federal government “at every opportunity.”
“The chaos in Washington right now is all the more reason why we need someone who is not only a fighter, but results-driven and I feel like I am,” Bregman said.
Santa Fe, NM