Bregman’s run for governor

Bernalillo County District Attorney and gubernatorial hopeful Sam Bregman he plans on addressing crime throughout the state, especially when it comes to juvenile crime.

Bregman announced his bid for governor back in April and has a long history holding public office, including being on the Albuquerque City Council, New Mexico Racing Commission, and being the Deputy State Auditor. Bregman touts his experience as district attorney and cites that he has “indicted 46 kids for murder” as evidence that he can tackle juvenile crime.

“You’re seeing a spike through the whole state in juvenile crime,” Bregman said. “I’ve been a big proponent of changing the children’s code up in Santa Fe.”

Along similar lines, the New Mexico Children Youth and Families Department, or CYFD, has faced years of criticism over how effective the department is at helping children.

“CYFD has a lot of good people working over there,” Bregman said. “But they are getting burnt out because they have a constant 30% vacancy rate.”

Bregman continued by pointing to how understaffed the Bernalillo DA’s office was and how he hired “80 lawyers” to cut their workload in half.

“We’ve convicted 300 people of murder in the last two years, convicted 3,000 people for DWI.” Bregman explained. “We can do the same thing at CYFD.”

On more economic issues, Bregman said that he sees the boarder with Mexico as, “one of the single biggest economic opportunities the state has ever seen.” He continues by saying it can be improved by building a “workforce for the next generation.”

For the Democratic Primary in 2026, Bregman faces former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and recently announced former Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima. In his announcement, Miyagishima homed in on New Mexico’s medical malpractice laws that he said were pushing doctors out of the state. Miyagishima called on his opponents to not take money from trial lawyers.

When asked about this challenge, Bregman said that he “is not taking him up on his offer” and that trial lawyers are not the enemy.

“Trial lawyers every single day stand up for people that have been hurt.” Bregman said.

He also opposed any cap on how much money can be won from a malpractice lawsuit citing how it could be unfair for the victim and calling the idea “ludicrous.” According to archived pages from The Bregman Law Firm’s website, the firm has won millions of dollars for people because of malpractice lawsuits.

The Democratic primary is set to take place on June 2, 2026.