Deb Haaland was the apparent winner in the race to become New Mexico’s next governor, according to unofficial results of the Nov. 3 Midterm Election
Haaland, 65, earned 412,834 votes or 57% of the electorate, according to unofficial results from the New Mexico Secretary of State.
That’s compared with 308,351 votes cast or 43% for her opponent Republican Gregg Hull, 60.
Haaland vowed to improve access to health care, affordable housing and continue to oppose policy by Republican President Donald Trump while in the governor’s office.
“Right now, there is a President in the White House who has enriched himself beyond comprehension, while working his hardest to make New Mexicans sicker, poorer, and hungrier,” Haaland said in her speech during a press conference held on election night at the Laguna Pueblo.
“It’s time for families in rural communities who travel hours to see a doctor, unsure how they’ll cover the cost, to have affordable, accessible, high-quality healthcare,” she continued.
“It’s time for union workers in New Mexico to have better access to good paying jobs, like helping build more affordable housing here in the state. And it’s time to make it easier for every parent to give their children a better life that they have always hoped and dreamed of having.”
Haaland will replace current two-term New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who is term limited and will leave office in 2027. Along with the gubernatorial candidates of each party, votes also went toward their running mates and lieutenant governor candidates Democrat Stephanie Garcia Richard and Republican David Gallegos.
“Tonight, New Mexico chose its future,” Garcia Richard said the press conference. “We made history together.”
Hull conceded defeat in a Facebook post on election night.
“I wish tonight had ended differently, and I know how much so many of you put into getting us here. I respect the decision New Mexicans made, and I wish our next governor well,” he wrote.
Former mayor of Rio Rancho for three, four-year terms, Hull was critical during his campaign of Democratic leadership in Santa Fe, which controlled the governor’s office, State House of Representatives and Senate for the past eight years.
He specifically argued the state saw little improvement in educational outcomes despite increased spending by Democrats in areas such as increased teacher salaries and state-funded childcare for all incomes levels, an initiative known as “universal child care” create via an executive order by Lujan Grisham in March.
“We were 30th in the nation for the amount of money that we spend on children – $16,000 to $17,000 annually – and we are absolutely getting dead-last results,” Hull said during an August campaign stop in Artesia.” That cannot be acceptable for us.”
Haaland, who served from 2019 to 2021 in the U.S. House of Representatives for New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District said she mostly supported Lujan Grisham’s educational priorities such as increased funds for early childhood education.
The former U.S. secretary of the interior under former-President Joe Biden, Haaland also called for strong environmental regulations on oil and gas drilling and a moratorium on construction of data centers in New Mexico.
Hull’s campaign slammed Haaland in August for accepting campaign donations from executives linked to Oracle, a technology company currently building a data center known as Project Jupiter in Dona Ana County.
But the Democratic nominee said in a September campaign event in Carlsbad that she did not discuss policy issues with any of her donors, including those with ties to Project Jupiter.
“Just because they give me a donation doesn’t mean I’m going to do what they say. That’s not how it works with me,” Haaland said. “We need guardrails.
