Democratic candidate for governor Sam Bregman unveiled a sweeping set of policy plans Thursday and challenged his chief rival for the party’s nomination, Deb Haaland, to engage him in a policy debate on the campaign trail.
“She can bring her plans, or if she doesn’t have them, she can debate mine. I am sure we will have our differences,” Bregman said about former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and the 189-page blueprint for New Mexico, which he made public during a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Albuquerque.
Bregman, the Bernalillo County district attorney, argued that voters need the chance to contrast the positions and policies of Haaland and himself. He did not mention his other competitor for the Democratic nomination, Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima.
“Voters deserve a debate from the candidates and the records about who has the vision, ability, the detailed workable plan to stand up to Trump and articulate and defend that vision to the voters,” Bregman said.
The Haaland campaign responded by criticizing the plan. Dylan McArthur, campaign manager for the Haaland campaign, said the plans are riddled with typos, have repeated paragraphs and sentences, which he described as “absolute gibberish.”
“We are happy to be running on Deb Haaland’s long record of accomplishment for New Mexico instead of half-baked plans that no one even took the time to proofread. We look forward to continuing this conversation over the coming months,” McArthur said in a text message to New Mexico Political Report.
The news conference comes as Bregman is working to blunt Haaland’s momentum. A poll conducted by the Haaland campaign of likely Democratic primary voters conducted in mid-August showed Haaland with a 36-point lead over Bregman. Another 16% in the survey said they were unsure of who they would back, while 9% said they favored Miyagishima.
Haaland has led in fundraising and garnered endorsements from New Mexico Democratic Sen. Ben Ray Lujan and Reps. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M-01, Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M-02 and Teresa Leger Fernandez, D-NM-03, as well as multiple progressive-leaning organizations and tribes. On Thursday, the Haaland campaign also posted a video on its Facebook page of former New Mexico Democratic Sen. Tom Udall voicing his support for Haaland.
The release by Bregman of the blueprint stands in contrast to the Haaland campaign, which, despite highlighting issues like the affordability crisis on the campaign trail, has not yet released a detailed policy agenda.
However, the campaign insists that the blueprint is not about Haaland but a roadmap for what Bregman wants to do if elected, proposals that range from building 1,000 miles of new energy transmission lines to expanding nutrition programs to revising the state’s children’s code and a program to build starter homes.
On the campaign trail, Bregman has portrayed himself as a pugnacious moderate who is willing to take on the Trump administration. At Thursday’s event, he did that, referring to the reconciliation bill President Donald Trump signed as an assault on New Mexico for its cuts to Medicaid and food assistance, and accused the administration of violating due process rights. However, he also called out what he described as intolerant factions in his own party that have alienated large swaths of the electorate, and committed himself to achieving results if elected.
“Again, that may mean taking on some of the sacred cows of some of the activists in my own party, but know this, I will never abandon the values we as Democrats share while I pursue policies to move New Mexico forward,” he said.
Bregman cited the environment as an example, saying that while he is in favor of clean energy and holding polluters accountable, he denounced what he referred to as extreme proposals to shut down the oil and gas industry, which would be devastating to schools and other institutions in New Mexico that rely on those dollars.