We’re about two months from Election Day, and our governor’s race is more of a shuffle.
Four years ago, Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham and Republican Mark Ronchetti were firing rhetorical cannons at each other. Now it’s hard to stay awake.
As Ronchetti recently complained, “It feels like nobody is running for governor right now.”
In his podcast he explained: “This is a quiet race. A quiet race is not a good race.”
The news about Democrat Deb Haaland, the stealth candidate, is more about where she’s not than where she is. Republican Gregg Hull, still trying to introduce himself to voters outside of Rio Rancho, kneecapped himself in public comments sure to alienate the disaffected Dems and Independents he needs to win.
Last week, here’s what appeared on social media: “Haaland is a ‘No Show’ for New Mexico Alliance of Health Councils roundtable discussion.” This was an online event for the state’s healthcare community to talk about how they would deal with the loss of federal funding and protect Medicaid.
“It’s very telling that Deb Haaland wants to be the first Native American woman to serve as governor in the history of our country, yet fails to show up to one of New Mexico’s most critical roundtable discussions on healthcare, which included stakeholders from every tribal community,” said Interim Chairman Mike Nelson. “Over 170 community partners participated in this meeting and Haaland was nowhere to be found.”
He wasn’t placated that Stephanie Garcia Richard, Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, participated.
Hull told participants the state should work toward sustainability to reduce overdependence on federal funding, reported KUNM. That could include using the state’s permanent funds.
Garcia Richard said the state relies heavily on federal help with healthcare coverage. “We have to fight back,” she said, to “ensure that we have the funds here at home to cover Medicaid because our population cannot afford to lose healthcare coverage.”
When NMSU announced the revival of its prestigious Domenici Public Policy Conference in September, the speakers list included Hull and Garcia Richard but not Haaland. For years, the nonpartisan conference, founded by the late Sen. Pete Domenici, was a premier event in the state for people in the public sphere and notable for the big names in attendance.
So now we have a pattern. Haaland can avoid public events and send in Garcia Richard. As public land commissioner and a former three-term state representative, Garcia Richard knows state government well, and she’s not shy about speaking. If the two win their elections, we’ll see this dynamic for the next four years.
Meanwhile, Hull waded into deep water.
New Mexico Political Report revealed that during a recent meet-and-greet in Hobbs an attendee asked Hull if he would meet with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott “to address the problem of abortion trafficking to New Mexico and do what we can to reduce Texans coming to New Mexico for abortions.”
Hull’s muddled response sounded like a yes, and Democrats jumped all over it. (See the transcript at https://nmpoliticalreport.com/2026/08/18/) Understanding how this would play in the state’s population centers, Hull claims that Dems took his comments out of context. He’s tried ever since to walk back his comments.
“When I say I’m going to work with people, it doesn’t mean that I’m working on any individual issues specifically,” he told the Santa Fe New Mexican. To the Political Report he said that he reached out to Abbott “just to say hello, to make contact, but I haven’t had any response back.”
He also claimed several times that the state of New Mexico funds abortions for out-of-state residents. It does not. And he’s said he doesn’t think abortion is a big issue here, but it’s still a lightning rod, as it was in the 2022 race.
In trying to carve out his own political space, Hull leaves a lot unsaid and leans into his personal motto that he can work with anybody. He still needs to convince many New Mexicans that he wouldn’t come to Santa Fe with a Trojan horse full of MAGAs.
Haaland responded to the fuss with her usual boilerplate about “an extreme agenda that helps Donald Trump make New Mexicans sicker, poorer, and hungrier.”
There you see the root of the quiet campaigns: She’s not running against Hull – she’s running against Trump. As he gives voters reasons to not vote Republican, she doesn’t have to campaign.
Voters here aren’t happy with Democrats either, but if Hull doesn’t define himself, voters may adopt that old adage, “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.”
Sherry Robinson is a longtime New Mexico reporter and editor. She has worked in Grants, Gallup, the Albuquerque Journal, New Mexico Business Weekly and Albuquerque Tribune. She is the author of four books. Her columns won first place in 2024 from New Mexico Press Women.
