Morning Digest: A New Mexico heavyweight could see a contested primary for governor

Deb Haaland is gearing up for a bid, but she's not alone

New Mexico Democrat Deb Haaland (credit: Deb Haaland Facebook)

Leading Off

NM-Gov

Deb Haaland, who will soon step down as interior secretary, has remained quiet about her interest in running for governor of New Mexico, but local reporter Joe Monahan says that she's actively hiring staff for her planned campaign. Haaland, a Democrat who won two terms in the House before joining Joe Biden's cabinet, would be the first Native American woman elected governor of any state.

Several other Democrats, however, are eyeing the race to succeed termed-out Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham next year. One new name belongs to Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman, whom Monahan says is "sounding more confident" about running and could self-fund such a bid. The would-be candidate does not appear to have said anything publicly about his interest, though.

Bregman, who unsuccessfully ran for office several times in the 1990s, had emerged as a prominent local litigator when Lujan Grisham appointed him district attorney in 2023, and he handily won last year's race to keep his new job. He's also the father of Major League Baseball player Alex Bregman, a third-baseman who's twice won the World Series with the Houston Astros. (The younger Bregman is also the subject of ongoing speculation about his future—albeit as a free-agent infielder.)

Sen. Martin Heinrich also declined to rule out running for governor last month, though he hasn't said anything new about his intentions since. Monahan wrote in December that observers believe Heinrich, who won reelection last year, would need to wait until the summer before announcing a new campaign to avoid alienating the voters who just gave him a third term in the Senate.

Monahan also believes that a Bregman campaign could complicate Heinrich's plans by "split[ting] male and moderate Dem voters." Such a division could make it easier for Haaland to win a plurality of the vote with the support of women and progressives.

It's possible that still other New Mexico Democrats could try to claim the governor's mansion. Lt. Gov. Howie Morales didn't rule out such an effort in 2023, though he doesn't appear to have commented more recently. Morales hails from the rural southwestern part of the state, which would set him apart from the trio of candidates discussed above, all of whom are from the Albuquerque area.

Several Republicans are also eyeing the race, though no major names have jumped in yet. Kamala Harris carried the state by a 52-46 margin last year, extending a Democratic win streak at the presidential level that goes back to 2008, but no party has won more than two consecutive elections for governor since the 1980s.

The Downballot Podcast

The Minnesota GOP tries to hijack a tied House

The Minnesota House wound up evenly tied after the November elections, but Republicans say they're entitled to run the chamber and pick a speaker. We're unpacking this bizarre turn of events on this week's episode of The Downballot podcast, an ongoing saga that's seen Democrats respond by playing hardball and walking out to deny the GOP a quorum. Will the courts step in, or will they leave lawmakers to resolve the deadlock themselves? It's all unfolding as we speak.

We're also talking to data journalist Derek Willis, whose work collecting detailed election results across the country is near and dear to our nerdy hearts. Willis notes that this is a particularly American problem—most other countries centralize their election data—and explains the often-painful process for gathering results, which can even involve deciphering handwritten numbers. But the efforts yield critical insights into our democracy, so if you'd like to get involved, be sure to check out the all-volunteer Open Elections.

The Downballot podcast comes out every Thursday morning everywhere you listen to podcasts. Click here to subscribe and to find a complete transcript!

Governors

MI-Gov

Democratic Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist tells the Detroit News' Craig Mauger that he's made up his mind on his future political plans and will make an announcement, as Mauger puts it, "soon." Local political observers have talked about Gilchrist as a likely candidate to replace his boss, termed-out Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

SC-Gov

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson told a local Republican gathering this week that he's considering entering next year's race to replace Gov. Henry McMaster, who cannot seek another term. Wilson, who is the son of Rep. Joe Wilson, is one of many Palmetto State Republicans who has shown an interest in competing in what will be the first open-seat race for governor since 2010.

TN-Gov, TN-Sen

Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs posted on social media Tuesday that he'd back Sen. Marsha Blackburn should his fellow Republican and political ally run for governor of Tennessee next year.

Jacobs—better known to many as the former WWE star Kane—has long been taking steps toward a gubernatorial bid of his own, but Blackburn's reported interest in the post has scrambled those plans. Should Blackburn enter and win the race to replace termed-out Gov. Bill Lee, however, she'll have the power to pick her successor in Congress—an appointment that Jacobs may be hoping would go to him.

If Jacobs does wind up joining the Senate, he may be in for some awkward conversations with one of his colleagues. It turns out that Jacobs began wrestling in 1992, as Inside Elections' Jacob Rubashkin highlights, under a different ring name than the one that would later make him famous: Angus King. Jacobs, however, was no longer using that persona two years later when an independent politician in Maine named Angus King won his first term as governor.

King, who is now in his third term as a member of the Democratic caucus, probably won't have the chance to see any video of his coincidental namesake, though. In a 2011 piece for Bleacher Report titled "The Many Gimmicks of Glen Jacobs," Jacob Waring wrote that footage and pictures of Jacobs' first wrestling role are "as elusive as Bigfoot, Loch Ness and The Great Pumpking!"

Waring added that the only known details about Jacobs' character from that time were that he "wore a black shirt and used black eye liner," a look the Maine senator is unlikely to emulate.

Legislatures

MN State House

Minnesota Democrats have filed two petitions with the state Supreme Court asking it to rule that a Republican vote purporting to elect Rep. Lisa Demuth as speaker on Tuesday was invalid because the chamber lacked a quorum.

Because of a walkout by Democratic lawmakers, only 67 members—all Republicans—were present when Secretary of State Steve Simon called Tuesday's session to order. Simon, a Democrat, immediately adjourned, having previously said a majority of 68 was necessary to conduct business. Republicans, however, took the dais after Simon stepped aside and held a vote in favor of naming Demuth the body's leader.

House Democrats responded by filing a petition with Minnesota's top court, while Simon filed a second case separately.

Obituaries

Tom Salmon

Former Vermont Gov. Tom Salmon, a Democrat whose 1972 win was dubbed "the biggest political upset in Vermont history" by the Burlington Free Press, died Tuesday at the age of 92.

Salmon had looked like an up-and-coming member of the state House in an era when Republicans had long dominated Green Mountain State politics, but his 58-41 loss to Attorney General Jim Jeffords in 1970 didn't inspire much optimism about his future. Salmon seemed to be in for another such defeat two years later when he began a campaign for governor on the last day possible.

But the Democrat, who ran under the slogan "Vermont is not for sale," ended up defeating Republican Luther Fred Hackett 55-44 in an outcome that even caught the attention of the legendary CBS anchor Walter Cronkite. (Bernie Sanders, then a 31-year-old member of the third-party Liberty Union, took just over 1%.)

The VTDigger's Kevin O'Connor has much more on how Salmon pulled off his victory, as well as his subsequent career, in his obituary.