Opinion & Commentary in NM Political Report
Pat Davis is the founder and publisher of NM Political Report, City Desk ABQ and NM.news.
He is a recovering politician having served eight years as an Albuquerque City Councilor and, in another life, served as a police officer and nonprofit organizer.
Sam Bregman’s warning that he will prosecute federal immigration officers who unlawfully detain or assault persons in his jurisdiction earned Bernalillo County’s district attorney some time in the national media spotlight last week.
Now his campaign is launching a $60,000 local television campaign to ensure New Mexico’s Democratic primary voters remember.
The new ad, “On Notice,” began airing Tuesday on KOB, KOAT, KRQE and DirecTV according to advertising buying reports reviewed by New Mexico Political Report. The campaign also said the ads would run on digital and streaming services, but they did not disclose the budgets.
The ad includes cuts of Bregman’s previous ads featuring the DA around the community and on a horse interspersed with new clips from Bregman’s interview with CNN’s Elex Michaelson last week.
The new ad blitz seems designed to pull more progressive Democratic primary voters away from Haaland, but it also threatens to alienate conservative independents who can vote in the Democratic primary for the first time this year. “I was going to support Sam Bregman for gov until he stated he wants to sue ICE and other federal government law enforcement who are doing their lawful job,” a reader commented on our story on Bregman’s letter to ICE.
Bregman’s campaign is carving out a more moderate lane in the June Democratic primary where he’ll face former Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima, another moderate, and former U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a progressive.
Bregman had raised $2.4 million to Haaland’s more than $6 million when campaigns last reported in October and internal Haaland polling at the time shared by NM Political Report showed Bregman trailing her by nearly 25 points.
For her part, Haaland has marched with protestors in Albuquerque and Santa Fe in recent weeks and pledged to “hold this administration accountable and protect New Mexicans. Always.”
Miyagishima, meanwhile, is also on the air in the Albuquerque market with a much smaller $5,000 advertising buy promoting his policy to cap medical malpractice rates.
On the ICE surge and arrests in Minnesota, he said on X that “Professionalism and accountability aren’t “anti-police”—they are the foundation of public trust. We can keep our communities safe and follow the law at the same time.”
At least for the moment, Bregman has an office with the power to take action, if it comes to that, and he’s making all he can out of the moment.