Gregg Hull, the Republican nominee running to be New Mexico’s next governor, appeared alone at the only gubernatorial debate scheduled before the Nov. 3 election.
The broadcast Thursday night had many of the trappings of a traditional debate — two podiums, a background projecting an American flag blowing in the wind and opening and closing remarks. But Democratic nominee Deb Haaland opted out, and without a second candidate on-stage offering rebuttals, it often played out more like a one-on-one interview.
“It should’ve been a debate,” Hull said to cap off the broadcast. “I think it’s important to address the issues in front of a camera where the most amount of people in New Mexico can see what you have to say.”
Brian Sanderoff, president of the Albuquerque-based firm Research and Polling Inc. which closely monitors political races across the state, on Friday said the situation was “highly unusual.”
More than anything, it was “obviously a good opportunity for Gregg Hull to get his message across without being rebutted by his opponent,” Sanderoff said. “We had a circumstance where there’s an empty podium.”
In September, KOB-TV announced it would host a debate between Hull and Haaland, the former U.S. Department of the Interior secretary under the Biden administration, on Oct. 8. Haaland’s campaign staffers at the time said they hadn’t agreed to the date and that KOB-TV turned down any alternative dates they proposed. She subsequently withdrew from the debate, citing a scheduling conflict.
Haaland in a statement said she spent Thursday “keeping my word to the New Mexicans I made a commitment to months ago — meeting with farmers, ranchers and the agricultural industry in southern New Mexico.”
“I offered a total of eight dates to my opponent and KOB, and my opponent rejected every single offer,” she said.
Haaland participated in one debate against fellow Democrat Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman ahead of the June primary election. Bregman at the time often said it was not a proper debate, largely because it aired on New Mexico PBS and because many of the questions came from advocacy groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, the Center for Biological Diversity and Indivisible Albuquerque.
The conversation with Hull focused on issues surrounding affordability, New Mexico’s troubled child welfare department, public safety and data centers.
Affordability
KOB journalists kicked off the conversation by asking Hull what he would do in his first 100 days in office to address affordability in New Mexico.
He referred to his recently announced plan to gradually phase out New Mexico’s personal income tax.
Under the four-step plan, the amount of New Mexicans’ taxable income would gradually decrease. The first step would reduce income tax for a single filer with a $40,000 salary from $1,471 to $671, he said. Similarly, it would reduce annual income tax for a married couple filing jointly with a $200,000 income from $8,989 to $7,250. By the fourth plan, no state resident would pay income tax.
“While we can’t control pricing of certain items, we can try to put as much money back in the pockets of our citizens as possible,” he said.
Haaland in February announced an “affordability agenda,” which included raising the state minimum wage; launching a multilingual calculator to let New Mexicans see which tax credits they qualify for; and creating long-term savings accounts for babies born in the state.
Child welfare
Reforming the state’s Children, Youth and Families Department has become a key issue for candidates in both parties this election cycle.
The New Mexico Department of Justice in April released a scathing investigative report into the agency and filed multiple lawsuits against it, including after news reports that its staffers drove a foster teen to the U.S.-Mexico border and instructed him to cross alone into Ciudad Juárez so he could reunite with his estranged mother.
Hull said he defines successful reform at the department simply: “Let’s make sure that no more kids die in CYFD custody.”
He said he would revamp the state’s Children’s Cabinet immediately upon taking office and recruit an independent commission to select top leadership at the department.
Similarly, Haaland has previously told Source NM she would hire “a qualified and experienced secretary” and stand up an independent commission to set department policies.
Public safety
The Democrat-controlled Legislature has often pushed back on Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s proposed criminal justice reforms in recent years. In 2024, when she called a special legislative session focused on public safety, lawmakers adjourned after just five hours without passing any crime-related legislation.
Hull said New Mexico has a “revolving door” problem and that he’s often heard from frustrated police officers and sheriff’s deputies who feel like they “will arrest somebody in the morning and they will be right back on the street that same night.”
In particular, he said he would work with the Legislature to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot “where we can not only arrest these violent criminals…but hold them (in jail).”
Haaland has previously said she’d prioritize investments in alternative response models, which often send behavioral health professionals to the scene of 911 calls for mental health crises, fully funding the Law Offices of the Public Defender and creating a task force to investigate Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons cases.
Data centers
Haaland has committed to signing a data center moratorium immediately upon taking office and working with the state Legislature to craft laws that set guardrails around such developments.
By contrast, Hull said a moratorium sends the wrong message to employers. He said he would “evaluate each deal on its merits” and “always reserve the right to say no.”
“I would never support a data center that raises our power bills or inappropriately uses any type of natural resource, such as water,” Hull said. “If it was me that had been working on the economic development deal for Project Jupiter, there would have been many changes to that particular project.”
