By SHERRY ROBINSON
All She Wrote
© 2026 New Mexico News Services
Our races for governor have entered stupid territory.
We’ve heard about one candidate’s ride on Epstein’s plane, another candidate’s four homes and a third candidate’s lawsuit challenging universal childcare.
Look away from the mudslinging and focus on issues, and you might notice that Deb Haaland, the Democratic frontrunner with the biggest war chest, has nothing to say about the economy or economic development. Two Republican candidates, Doug Turner and Duke Rodriguez, aren’t much better. Both seem to be saying, “I’m a businessman. Trust me,” instead of articulating a plan.
Democrat Sam Bregman and Republican Gregg Hull, by comparison, have a lot to say. I’ve been reviewing candidates’ websites and public comments. The big issues are affordability, healthcare, public safety and education. To pay for the candidates’ grand plans, we might want to think about job creation.
Rio Rancho’s longest serving mayor, Gregg Hull, has the most thorough economic development plan, probably because he’s the only candidate with hands-on experience. Rio Rancho, the state’s third largest city, has a long reputation for hustling permits through its well-oiled bureaucracy. Hull doesn’t get total credit for that, but he was part of the culture.
Says his website: “As the ‘Pro-Business Mayor,’ Gregg Hull has secured more than $6 billion in investments in Rio Rancho.”
Under his Putting New Mexico to Work Plan Hull would use targeted incentives to attract high-paying jobs, expand the state’s energy portfolio to include all sources, improve transportation routes along major population corridors, and reform medical malpractice laws “to keep and protect the health professionals our economy depends on.”
Oil and gas can be regulated responsibly without killing the golden goose, he says. “We need to approach energy policy with care and balance. Sudden or impractical rules that reduce production don’t just affect energy companies. They create budget gaps that ripple across the entire state.”
For more, see his website, but you get the idea. What I’m looking for is some specifics, as well as a clue that he knows what he’s talking about because some candidates really don’t.
On Bregman’s website, besides the candidate riding his horse, you will find his 198-page Blueprint for New Mexico. The Bernalillo County prosecutor has the most to say about crime, but he promises that economic development will be his top priority: “I will make New Mexico the best place in the country to start a business, raise a family, and build a future.”
Bregman calls for New Mexico jobs in clean energy, quantum and national security tech, advanced manufacturing, agriculture, and trade. He would expand access to capital, simplify rules and slash red tape. He would “expand apprenticeships, guarantee training-to-hiring pipelines, and ensure that every student graduates with a next step.” And he would leave no community behind.
Bregman isn’t hostile to oil and gas and allows that “many companies do act responsibly,” but he supports clean energy. “While oil and gas still provide jobs and revenue today, I will hold the industry to modern standards,” he says.
Doug Turner and Duke Rodriguez say little about the economy on their campaign websites, but in public comments they’ve offered a few ideas.
Turner’s website offers the usual platitudes about “common-sense, pro-growth policies,” cutting red tape, and not picking winners and losers. He’s long on the state’s faults but short on plans. In an Albuquerque Journal interview, he said, “The contribution that oil and gas makes to this state needs to be recognized, and I don’t think we should have an environment that makes it onerous for people to operate in that space.”
Rodriguez’s website refers to workforce housing, investment in statewide infrastructure, and protecting energy jobs while expanding next-gen energy. He wants to develop oil refineries in New Mexico. I’ve written about two refinery closings in the past, so I think the industry has already spoken. One of his better ideas, articulated in a New Mexico In Depth interview, is to recreate and modernize the Braceros Program, which supplied legal Mexican labor from 1942 to 1964. It’s not an original idea, but it would relieve worker shortages in agriculture and other sectors.
On Deb Haaland’s website is every cause dear to progressives but not a word about the economy. In an interview, New Mexico In Depth asked point blank how she would pay for all her plans to make New Mexico more affordable. Haaland’s response: “When I was in the Secretary of Interior’s office, I managed an $18 billion budget, and every year we place our priorities right?”
Anybody satisfied with that answer?
Beyond that, she’s no friend of oil and gas but has spoken with industry leaders who want to reduce their environmental footprint. And like everybody else, she wants small businesses to thrive.
Candidates, it’s not enough to outline your vision for New Mexico. Tell us how you’re going to pay for it.