KRWG Public Media is covering contested races around the region as part of its Election 2026 Coverage. KC Counts spoke with gubernatorial candidates Deb Haaland (D) and Gregg Hull (R) about some of the top issues facing the state. Both candidates have offered additional platform policy plans since these interviews were conducted. Here is a transcript of the conversation in 2 parts which aired on KRWG-FM with Deb Haaland:
Part 1:
KC Counts:
So I want to begin with a little bit about what public safety looks like under a potential Haaland administration.
Deb Haaland:
Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for having me. And it's nice to speak with you once more. And look, we need to prevent crime, right? It's not just our larger cities. It's our towns and villages. It's every rural community across New Mexico. They all deserve to be safe. community no matter where you live they deserve to be safe our children deserve to be safe and so with respect to law enforcement they need the tools to get to the root causes of crime. You know, they need to get violent criminals off our streets. They need to address the terrible fentanyl crisis that's gripping so many of our communities. That means getting illegal drugs off of our streets. And we need to invest in our behavioral health, substance use and rehabilitation. Those programs can help people to find and live sober lives, people with substance use disorder. And so, you know, this is a public health issue. The drug issue, it's a public health issue. And so we need to address that. I also, we want to open the first ever, the first ever Office of Community Safety on a state level. That means having folks who can respond to calls that are not criminal in nature. If we, you know, comes in and somebody needs services rather than to be arrested for a crime, then law enforcement should not have to go on those calls. They should be able to focus on the crime to make sure that our community stays safe. And we need to treat substance use as a public health issue. And then of course, helping folks to find the housing they need and and have the services that they need.
KC Counts:
All right. Let's move on to education. New Mexico, of course, consistently ranks at the bottom of national lists. What do you think is the key to raising our educational standards and having kids be able to meet those standards in New Mexico is?
Deb Haaland:
Absolutely. first of all, I'm so grateful for our governor and the legislature who ensured that we got early childhood education across the finish line. I believe that in and of itself. will help children to get the head start that they need to have a productive and beneficial educational journey. I had to clean my kids' preschool so that I could get a discount on tuition, and I'm happy that families can enroll their kids in an early childhood education. But I mean, all in all, we need to make sure that kids can read sooner. We need to invest in our educator. helping them to advance in their careers, get additional degrees if that's what they want to do. We need to make sure that they can earn a livable wage and have the benefits to match. And we need to, even in the public education space, to support families, right? Children aren't going to school on their own. They need healthy families to help them, to usher them through those years of school. And then of course, making sure that kids have opportunities. I want to bring trades back to our public schools in a big way, starting in middle school with career, you know, with with looking at their careers that they can have and then helping kids with hands on learning with respect to the trades so they can get, you know, paid apprenticeships when they graduate from high school, but also make sure that we can inspire the children who do want four year college degrees to have those career paths as well. And then, of course, having the scholarships to match, right? Making sure our kids don't graduate with a mountain of debt like I have. I'm still paying off my student loans. That can be a path to a solid career for our students.
Part 2:
KC Counts:
And now the challenge of data centers coming into communities across the state. Where do you see the opportunities and the places that maybe we need to tap the brakes in terms of economic development?
Deb Haaland:
Sure. Well, first of all, I think it's important that the community has input, right? The community should be able to have a voice in any of these decisions. These things are happening in local communities and the people in those communities should have an opportunity to speak out and to voice their opinions. That means there needs to be complete transparency when these centers are even thinking about building someplace. But look, New Mexico doesn't have a good track record with private equity. We've seen what it's done to our healthcare system. And so we need to make sure that whatever industry comes into New Mexico, that they are abiding by our clean energy goals, that they have respect for our precious natural resources like water, and that they are making the community investments that people Right now I think it's a good idea to implement some guardrails on this industry so that they know from the start what they can and can't do in New Mexico. And then we need to make sure that whatever industry and data centers specifically because they use tremendous amounts of energy that they aren't going to make costs for New Mexicans go up. This has to be a benefit to any community and to to our state if they're going to be here in our state.
KC Counts:
I certainly grew up on the border, crossing the border into Juarez, probably at age 15. Not something I should have been doing. But I want to talk about CYFD and a young child, a child of that age being taken to the border and dropped off to go find his mother in Juarez and the overall state of CYFD and why we keep finding ourselves, talking about one case after the next. What's going wrong there?
Deb Haaland:
So there's no question that we need to overhaul CYFD. We need a, and if I'm the next governor of New Mexico, I'll put a qualified and experienced secretary in place. I want to immediately work at increasing the workforce where needed to also increase morale. There are a lot of workers who have been there for a long time who care deeply about the kids and about the department. I want to make sure that we can build the morale up so that they know their work is appreciated. And we need to also create an independent commission that can set policy, that can set policy guidelines for CYFD. a commission of experts that have experience and know one understand the law and what CYFD is there for. And that might help us to implement the upcoming changes that we need. But I absolutely support the workers. We have state workers who have dedicated their careers not only to this department but to other supporting departments. And so I just want to make sure that we're doing right by those workers and I believe very strongly that we can care about our children enough and change this department for the better.
KC Counts:
What should this governor be doing right now to make some progress along those lines?
Deb Haaland:
Well, I mean, of course, you know, we know what needs to be done. You know, the Attorney General highlighted a number of cases that we all need to care about and that we should care about. And I just, I feel like, you know, working together with the Office of the Child Advocate, the administration, that everyone can come together and do what's necessary for our children.
KRWG Public Media also interview Gregg Hull on these topic areas. Please visit the KRWG News Election Center for that interview and others.
