New Mexico Primary 2026: GOP governor candidate Doug Turner

In the relatively short amount of time since launching his Republican gubernatorial campaign, Albuquerque native Doug Turner has spoken often about his tendency to be a hands-on manager and frequently points to high-profile state issues — like New Mexico’s troubled child welfare agency — as problems that previous governors have “not micromanaged enough.”

While most of the gubernatorial candidates formed their campaigns in 2025, Turner said he was not in a position to join at the time, as he was grieving the loss of his wife to breast cancer. Although his campaign is younger than those of his opponents, it’s picked up steam quickly and he believes his years as an involved company founder and CEO have given him the necessary experience to turn around the state’s low rankings in education and child well-being.

After about three months, Turner now steers a campaign with more cash on hand than his two Republican opponents for the June 2 primary — Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull and former state cabinet secretary and hospital executive-turned cannabis CEO Duke Rodriguez — combined, with nearly $440,000. On Tuesday, his campaign released the results of a poll it conducted, which placed Turner at 41%, compared to Hull’s 17% and Rodriguez’s 7%, when voters learned about his background and policy proposals.

“I think it’s very easy to talk about problems over and over and over again, which you hear on the campaign trail — ‘I’m going to fix this, I’m going to fix crime,’” Turner said from his Albuquerque campaign office, which doubles as the office for Agenda Global, the communications firm he founded. “But people really don’t want to dig into the how. And if you don’t know the how, then you really are just complaining.”

Source NM spoke with Turner about his candidacy. The conversation has been edited for clarity and concision.

What makes you the best choice for Republicans in the primary election?

I’m probably as independent as you can get, from an individual thinker perspective. I haven’t worked in government my whole career, just a tiny, tiny amount at the village council level. I haven’t been a mayor for 12 years. I haven’t worked in the administration.

I’ve always been my own person. I’ve always run my own companies. I’m a firm believer that the buck does stop with me. It’s a very Teddy Roosevelt way of thinking.

As a Republican, how would you approach governing with a Democratic-controlled House and Senate?

I think the passage of medical malpractice reform in this last legislative session should tell anybody that when the Legislature wants to come together and do good things for the state, it can.

I think it all starts with getting on the same page on what kinds of accomplishments need to happen and setting pet projects aside. 

I would argue that most Democrats are just as interested in doing good for the state as most Republicans.

What do you think is the biggest issue facing New Mexico right now?

Failing our children. That has impacts downrange in terms of economic development and our economy, it has impacts in terms of crime and juvenile justice. We see it in [the Children, Youth and Families Department].

We’re not giving them the tools once they leave school to go out and get a job easily. They’re not prepared, which impacts our workforce, which impacts small businesses who can’t find employees. It impacts companies that want to come to New Mexico because they have a tough time finding that workforce.

We have a truancy problem. Our kids kind of fall through the system and the next thing you know, they’ve got a handgun and they’re at a skateboard park and people die.

How would you approach the Children, Youth and Families Department in light of the New Mexico Department of Justice’s recent report?

I think that the philosophy of reunification that the state has is a great one on paper. Practically speaking, it takes so long for them to get around to making that happen that kids have lost big chunks of their lives. There have to be limits on that. And if there are people who are willing to adopt these kids and get them out of the system, put them into a loving, caring home, then we need to be aggressively moving toward that direction.

Continually trying to rehabilitate a drug-addicted parent so their child can go back to them is, I think, a fool’s errand.

The current governor has called multiple special sessions to address Trump administration budget cuts. How would you approach governing through the remainder of Trump’s presidency?

You’ve got Deb Haaland out there saying she’s going to fight everything that the president does. I think that’s not a good way to lead.

I think the job of the governor is to find ways to work with the administration — no matter who’s in office — to get what you need done for the state.

Controversial land-use issues, including proposals for oil and gas drilling and data centers, currently face New Mexico. What approach would you take to these developments?

I think we need a friendlier relationship between oil and gas and the State Land Office and state government because oil and gas puts so much money into the state’s budget.

When it comes to data centers, they’re gonna go somewhere.

We can’t put AI and our broader data needs back in the bottle. The genie is out. We ought to be looking at them as at least short-term job creators. They’re not going to be massive job creators. They are going to have an economic multiplier as they get built and they will employ hundreds of people after they’re built.

We need to develop wisely…I certainly don’t want them in a place that is going to really draw on residential and municipal needs adversely, but they are going to get built. So, to that end, we ought to be attracting them.

If elected, what’s your first order of business?

Make some reforms on the current free child care. I’m not saying you get rid of it. People do need it. But I think you have to have needs testing, I think you have to have clear certification requirements for people who are taking care of kids so you can’t just park them in a grandmother’s house and have them get paid. 

I would move to create some minimum required standards in public schools. You can’t move up to a grade unless you can read at the grade level.

I would create a small business ombudsman in the Economic Development Department whose only job is to help navigate red tape.

How will semi-open primaries impact your campaign?

Maybe a little. This is the first election where independents and decline-to-state voters can vote. At some level, it’s an issue of making sure they know they can.

The Republican Party of New Mexico is having some issues like infighting and failing to get candidates on the primary ballot. Is there anything you’d do as governor to put a steady hand on the rudder?

From the Republican Party perspective, we do need a governor willing to support the state and local parties.

We live in a democracy in this country. Democracy is inherently messy. The debates going on in the Republican Party, while I don’t think it’s productive for the campaign season, we should be grateful we live in a free country where we can have that debate.