MLG’s national media lovefest comes with one wild admission

Lame-duck Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham received a glowing national-media sendoff this week from WBUR, Boston’s NPR affiliate, which framed the far-left Democrat as one of the party’s most “effective leaders” while giving her nearly an hour to brag about her administration’s big-government agenda.

The segment, titled “How New Mexico’s governor got big things done,” opened by praising Lujan Grisham’s “robust list of progressive achievements,” including New Mexico’s taxpayer-funded “universal” child care program — a program that remains under litigation — not to mention ex-Lujan Grisham officials are bashing, as we previously reported.

Host Meghna Chakrabarti noted that New Mexico became the first state in the country to offer universal “free” child care and asked Lujan Grisham how she paid for it.

The answer, of course, was oil and gas.

WBUR acknowledged that New Mexico’s massive oil and gas revenues helped bankroll the program, even as Lujan Grisham used the interview to make clear that, if she had her way, fossil fuels would disappear completely.

“If I had a magic wand, nowhere in the world would we be using or burning fossil fuels,” Lujan Grisham said.

For conservative New Mexicans, that may be the most revealing line of the entire interview. The governor is more than happy to spend billions produced by the oil and gas industry, but she openly admits her ideal world would eliminate the very energy source funding her signature government programs.

Lujan Grisham also described universal child care not as a limited government benefit, but as a permanent government-guaranteed “right.”

In a clip from her State of the State address played by WBUR, Lujan Grisham declared, “New Mexico, in fact, is the first state in America to make childcare a right, not an aspiration, not a goal, a right.”

When asked why she used that language, the governor compared child care to foundational ideals.

“Like the pursuit of liberty and happiness … [universal childcare] is what citizens can expect in the state of New Mexico,” she said.

She added that enshrining the policy changes the political fight “forever.”

“That changes the trajectory and the debate for politicians then forever,” Lujan Grisham said.

In other words, the governor’s goal was not simply to create a program. It was to make it politically difficult for future lawmakers or governors to reverse course, even if the program becomes unaffordable or fails to meet demand.

That point is especially relevant as even supporters of universal child care have begun warning that New Mexico’s rollout is running into major problems, including provider shortages, lack of infant-care capacity, and long-term funding concerns.

Still, WBUR treated the program as a national Democrat model, giving Lujan Grisham a platform to argue that other Democrats should follow New Mexico’s lead.

Lujan Grisham also took credit for the program’s expansion, saying, “I’ll take a little more credit here … because you’re not a good governor unless you can do that.”

The governor claimed the state’s permanent funds have grown dramatically during her tenure, saying oil-and-gas-backed funds were around $22 billion to $23 billion when she became governor and are now “just under $70 billion.”

She also said New Mexico created a child care trust fund using another stream of oil and gas revenue, claiming it began with $300 million and is now at $11 billion.

That creates the central contradiction: Lujan Grisham’s “progressive” legacy depends heavily on an industry she simultaneously wants to transition away from — or, in her own “magic wand” world, abolish outright.

The governor did give oil and gas what she called a “shout-out,” saying the industry has sometimes been more cooperative on regulation than Democrat lawmakers.

“They have been more in line with accountability and funding our regulators than some of our Democratic lawmakers have been,” she said.

But that praise did not last long. Lujan Grisham quickly returned to her “climate change” agenda, arguing that New Mexico needs to go further in decarbonizing transportation, agriculture, and other sectors.

“You have to do transportation. We have to do ag. We have to be at net zero,” she said, adding that every state needs “a pathway to net negative.”

She also said New Mexico is “not where we ought to be” on climate and “must do more.”

The governor defended her failed Clear Horizons-style agenda, which would have pushed sweeping greenhouse gas targets into law, after the plan failed in the Legislature with bipartisan opposition.

Lujan Grisham said she believes a simpler bill putting the state on a carbon-neutral path by 2050 could pass.

“I have no doubt you’ll see that work again in the next legislative session,” she said.

That may be a warning for New Mexico’s energy workers, royalty owners, taxpayers, and communities that depend on the oil and gas economy: even as Lujan Grisham prepares to leave office, the anti-energy agenda she championed is not going away.

The interview also veered into national Democrat politics, where Lujan Grisham admitted her party has a problem connecting with voters on everyday issues.

“When the Democratic agenda doesn’t seem to get the particulars … that leaves voters out,” she said.

She specifically acknowledged that more Hispanic voters, particularly Hispanic men, moved in a conservative direction in 2024. This comes just days after addressing the Democratic National Committee, where she stated the Democrats don’t need men to win elections.

Lujan Grisham blamed part of her own narrower 2022 reelection margin on COVID restrictions, saying New Mexicans are “fiercely independent” and care about “freedom” and “rights.”

That admission is notable given the governor’s record of sweeping COVID-era mandates, business restrictions, and her later failed attempt to suspend gun carry rights in Albuquerque through a public health order.

At one point, she said Democrats “have to stop” with platitudes when voters do not feel safe or financially secure in their daily lives.

“Until people are safe in their neighborhoods and communities, until they feel like they’re not living paycheck to paycheck, Democrats have to stop, I think, with these platitudes,” she said.

But moments later, the governor returned to familiar left-wing talking points, claiming Democrat governors need more federal help and attacking President Donald Trump over immigration enforcement.

She accused the federal government of “deporting the innocent refugee asylum seekers and their families who are immigrants looking for the American dream.”

The WBUR host also asked whether Lujan Grisham has future political ambitions.

The governor did not rule it out.

“I’m not done trying to make a difference,” she said.

For WBUR, the interview was a celebration of Lujan Grisham’s progressive résumé. For conservatives in New Mexico, it was something else: a revealing look at a governor who boasts about using oil money to grow government, calls child care a constitutional-style right, dreams of a world without fossil fuels, admits Democrats lost ground with Hispanic men, and still thinks New Mexico should be a national model.

If this is the Democrat blueprint, New Mexicans should pay close attention.