With Deb Haaland already facing criticism for skipping multiple Democratic gubernatorial debates, KOAT-TV added a new wrinkle to the controversy: the Albuquerque station compared her strategy to President Donald Trump’s decision to sit out the 2024 Republican presidential primary debates.
But the comparison may say more about Haaland’s vulnerability than her strength.
In a Friday report, KOAT political analyst Brian Sanderoff said frontrunners often avoid debates to reduce risk, citing Haaland’s decision to decline several debate and town hall opportunities against Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman.
“The voters like debates. However, voters suffer as a result, because they get less information from these candidates,” Sanderoff said.
KOAT then compared Haaland’s approach to Trump’s 2024 Republican primary strategy, when the former president skipped debates while holding a massive lead over a crowded field that included Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Trump’s campaign argued he had little reason to give struggling rivals a platform, especially as he maintained that the 2020 election had been stolen from him in favor of Joe Biden and presented himself as the party’s rightful standard-bearer.
Haaland’s situation is very different.
Trump entered the 2024 primary as a former president with universal name identification among Republican voters and a commanding hold on the GOP base after the 2020 election had irregularities and election fraud claims.
Haaland, by contrast, is seeking a new office in an open New Mexico governor’s race and is asking voters to hand her control of the state after a record that includes controversial positions on energy, crime, and federal land policy.
That makes the debate issue more than a campaign tactic. It raises a basic question for Democratic primary voters: why is Haaland so reluctant to appear repeatedly on stage with Bregman?
That would make the piece much stronger and less stale.