Sam Bregman says he would push for term limits for New Mexico lawmakers

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Sam Bregman said Thursday he will push for legislative reforms, including term limits for lawmakers, 90-day sessions and a paid Legislature, if he is elected New Mexico’s next governor in 2026.

“I’m telling you, the Legislature, I think ... many believe that it’s not working the way it should,” Bregman told The New Mexican after a campaign event at the Santa Fe Country Club that drew a crowd of about 100.

“We have real challenges, and we’re not addressing the challenges,” he said. “There’s a lot of good people in the Legislature — don’t get me wrong — but there’s also a sense out there that we’re not getting things done for the people.”

Bregman said he would work with the Legislature to place a constitutional amendment before voters on legislative term limits — noting he believes senators should be limited to two four-years terms and representatives to three two-year terms. While statewide officeholders in New Mexico are limited to two four-year terms, legislators are not.

During Thursday’s stop in Santa Fe, part of a statewide “Common Sense Over Chaos” policy tour Bregman began Nov. 4 in Tucumcari, he also announced he would create a state fund to provide down payment assistance to help New Mexicans buy their first home.

“We have a shortage of housing and affordability of housing that’s really concerning in the state of New Mexico,” he told the crowd, “and it’s not just Santa Fe. It’s the whole state.”

Bregman is vying for the Democratic nomination for governor against Deb Haaland, a former congresswoman and U.S. interior secretary, and Ken Miyagishima, former longtime mayor of Las Cruces. On the Republican side, Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull and first-year state Sen. Steve Lanier of Aztec are seeking their party’s nomination.

Legislative overhaul
“I’m going to use the bully pulpit of the Governor’s Office,” Bregman told The New Mexican. He plans to formally announce his proposed legislative reforms at the final stop on his campaign tour Friday in Albuquerque. “I’m going to use all the persuasion I possibly can to encourage them to do what I think is the right thing.”

A statement the Bregman campaign plans to issue Friday states that “for far too long,” some politicians have served in the Legislature for decades.

“While we respect the years of service many have given to our state, the lack of term limits has come at a cost,” the campaign’s statement says. “By keeping the same people in power, we are missing out on the next generation of leaders who bring new ideas, fresh perspectives, and the energy we need to tackle today’s challenges.”

Bregman said he would also advocate for longer legislative sessions if elected.

Lawmakers have previously considered constitutional amendments to change the system of New Mexico’s legislative sessions of 60 days in odd years and 30 days in even years. But the measures haven’t gained traction at the Roundhouse.

“I want transparency in our Legislature, so that laws aren’t passed on the 29th day of a 30-day session and nobody gets a chance to really participate,” said Bregman, who is proposing yearly 90-day sessions. “I want a Legislature that works, and we can do that.”

Bregman also said he would work to establish a paid Legislature, which is the last so-called citizen legislature in the country.

“I want to see a paid Legislature, so that anybody can participate,” he said, adding only the wealthy and retirees can serve without pay.

“I want to get new, fresh blood in,” Bregman said. “I want new ideas.”

Lawmakers also have pushed for a base salary, but the efforts have failed.

Bregman said a salary for lawmakers should be based on the median income in New Mexico but should be set by an independent salary commission, not lawmakers themselves.

“But I do believe that they should be paid, so that they can do this job,” he said.

The American dream
Bregman also spoke about the state’s challenges in crime, education, health care and economic development, and shared a general outline of how he would address them.

But the focus of his Santa Fe visit was housing and affordability.

“I think Santa Fe can relate to that issue a little bit, right?” he asked the crowd.

Money for a down payment assistance fund could come from general fund appropriations or a permanent fund similar to other investment funds the Legislature has created, he said, adding he was still uncertain how much money should be allocated.

“I think we need to study a little bit more as far as what the demand would be right off the bat, but certainly it’ll cost,” Bregman said. “It’ll be substantial because we don’t want three people to get their $25,000 or $30,000 down payment. We want to actually do this, so that we change the course in which we’re going — which is in the last five years we have half the inventory for homes than we did. We need to change that — gotta go in the opposite direction.”

Bregman called homeownership a path to the middle class and told the audience he was in law school when his grandfather died and left him “a little money” that he used for a down payment on a home.

“When I talk about the path to the middle class, I’ve lived that,” he said. “I know what homeownership can do. It’s the American dream. It truly is the American dream.”

‘Says what he means’
The event drew several notable figures, including Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza, former Santa Fe City Councilor JoAnne Vigil Coppler and two former Cabinet secretaries under the Lujan Grisham administration: former Children, Youth and Families Secretary Teresa Casados and former Finance and Administration Secretary Debbie Romero.

Vigil Coppler, who also ran for mayor of Santa Fe this year, said she’s watched Bregman, the district attorney in Bernalillo County, for a long time and has always liked his “forthrightness.”

“He says what he means, and he means what he says,” Vigil Coppler said, adding she, too, doesn’t “beat around the bush.”

“That attracted me first, and now that he’s running, I like his stand on crime because crime touches every single thing that we do in Santa Fe and in New Mexico,” she said.