by Joshua Bowling for Source NM
Former U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman on Saturday participated in their only scheduled debate as the two compete for the Democratic Party gubernatorial nomination in the June 2 primary election.
They responded similarly to questions from advocacy groups about President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdowns and the state’s nascent universal childcare initiative, and mostly diverged when it came to environmental issues.
Candidates had 90 seconds to answer questions, 60 seconds to offer rebuttals and 30 seconds to respond to rebuttals. The debate will air at 7 p.m. Thursday on New Mexico PBS’ YouTube channel and on TV on channel 5.1, as well as 9 p.m. Friday on channel 5.4.
Haaland touted her experience of holding Trump’s “feet to the fire” while she served in the U.S. House of Representatives and said the state and the nation are in a “break-glass moment” with “a chaotic administration in Washington, D.C. that is wreaking havoc across our state.”
Bregman said he was “not aware” of Haaland holding Trump to account, and argued that he had a proven track record of “getting things done” as top prosecutor for the state’s most populous county. Bregman, who often ran out of time before he could fully answer debate questions, told Source NM he did not see the event as a proper debate.
“It was pretty narrow and the time frames were kind of ridiculous,” he said after the debate at Central New Mexico Community College. “This is a limited audience — right here and on PBS?”
Haaland told Source NM that she took the debate “very seriously” and reiterated that she believes she’s the right choice to steer New Mexico through the latter half of Trump’s term.
“I said this is a break-glass moment — that is the honest-to-God truth,” she said. “Donald Trump is wrecking our state, he’s wrecking our country and we need a leader who knows how to get things done.”
In addition to discussing the Trump administration’s impact on New Mexico, debate questions submitted by advocacy groups including the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, the Center for Biological Diversity and Indivisible Albuquerque included several timely issues, including data center, water resources and a private equity firm’s proposal to take over the state’s largest electric provider.
Journalist Gwyneth Doland, far left, moderates a Democratic gubernatorial debate between former U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman on May 2, 2026. (Joshua Bowling/Source NM)
Data centers
When asked what approach the state should take to massive data center projects, such as Project Jupiter in Doña Ana County, Bregman and Haaland took different stances.
“If done right, data centers can provide a benefit to a community and actually accelerate clean energy,” Bregman said. “The construction jobs alone are huge. They’re a lot. We have to have a governor who’s willing to balance those interests to make sure that our environment is absolutely protected, but also making sure we’re taking advantage of economic development where we can.”
Haaland, by contrast, shot back that any number of developments, such as affordable housing projects, can create temporary construction jobs. Any developments like data centers need to comply with the state’s clean energy goals laid out in the Energy Transition Act, she said.
“They shouldn’t be able to generate power from gas-powered microgrids and all of these other things,” she said. “I just believe very strongly that data centers don’t have the best interests of our community at heart, as evidenced by the fact that they are not being transparent.”
WaterGov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has advocated for expanding the use of wastewater from oil and gas operations known as “produced water.” A controversial proposal to use the water for construction, manufacturing and energy production died in the recent legislative session.
Haaland said that she believes the “science is still out” on produced water, in large part because oil and gas operations routinely use proprietary chemicals.
“None of us know what produced water contains, and we shouldn’t be able to let it loose in any streams or anywhere in our drinking water supply because I believe that’s very dangerous,” she said, adding that she oversaw the U.S. Geological Survey while leading the Interior Department.
Bregman likened the issue to the use of treated wastewater in public spaces like parks and golf courses.
“Produced water, brackish water, reused water of any type, we need to make sure it’s cleaned up, that it’s fresh, and then we make sure that we protect every precious drop of water that we possibly can,” Bregman said. “But we also have to build out our resources.”
Former U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, left, and Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman, right, participated in “Debate Games” on May 2, 2026, in which high school students from across the state competed to see who knew each candidate’s policy stances better. (Joshua Bowling/Source NM)
Private equity utility takeover
Recently, residents and state lawmakers have protested a private equity firm’s bid to take control of PNM, the state’s largest electric utility. The final question of the evening, which went to Haaland first, asked candidates how they’d approach the proposed deal.
Haaland drew parallels to private equity’s seeming ubiquity in New Mexico’s healthcare industry and said those firms are committed to “their shareholders, not the community, not New Mexicans.”
“If this deal goes through, their feet need to be held to the fire about any community investments that they’re promising,” she said. “We need to make sure that any industry that’s coming to New Mexico, they are making their community investments, they are not using New Mexico as a piggy bank.”
Bregman began his answer by saying the Energy Transition Act’s goals of adopting 80% renewable energy statewide by 2040 and 100% by 2045 were “laudable,” but expensive.
“Here’s the deal, right? It’s going to take a lot of building to have our capacity and our transmission lines. PNM doesn’t have the money to do that. It’s gonna cost a hell of a lot of money,” he said, adding that the deal needs “ironclad” conditions to prevent rate increases.
Bregman’s time expired before he could outline the rest of his desired terms for Blackstone’s acquisition.