Republican gubernatorial nominee Gregg Hull walked onto a KOB 4 debate stage Thursday night, prepared for a face-to-face showdown with Democrat Deb Haaland.
Instead, he found an empty podium.
Haaland did not appear, citing a previously scheduled commitment with farmers, ranchers, and agricultural interests in southern New Mexico. That left Hull alone beneath the studio lights — and the former three-term Rio Rancho mayor used the unusual setup to deliver an extended, policy-heavy pitch on affordability, crime, child welfare, and data centers with no opponent on stage to rebut him.
“It should have been a debate,” Hull said in his closing statement.
“In the primary, I did four debates. I am not afraid to debate. I will always take debates head-on,” he added. “I think it’s important to address the issues in front of a camera where the most amount of people in New Mexico can see what you have to say.”
The unusual scene featured two podiums, an American flag backdrop, and journalists prepared for a traditional gubernatorial debate. Only one candidate showed.
Polling expert Brian Sanderoff called the situation “highly unusual” and said it gave Hull “a good opportunity” to deliver his message without interruption or rebuttal from Haaland.
Hull took advantage of it.
Hull goes straight at affordability
Asked what he would do in his first 100 days to address household costs, Hull returned to his proposal to gradually eliminate New Mexico’s personal income tax.
He said the first phase of his plan would cut the annual state income-tax bill for a single filer earning $40,000 from $1,471 to $671. A married couple earning $200,000 would see its bill drop from $8,989 to $7,250 under the initial phase, according to Hull.
By the fourth stage, he said, New Mexicans would pay no state personal income tax.
“While we can’t control pricing of certain items, we can try to put as much money back in the pockets of our citizens as possible,” Hull said.
Haaland has taken a different approach, proposing a higher minimum wage, additional tools to connect families with tax credits, and long-term savings accounts for children born in New Mexico.
‘Let’s make sure that no more kids die in CYFD custody’
Hull was similarly direct when the conversation turned to New Mexico’s troubled Children, Youth and Families Department.
His standard for success was blunt.
“Let’s make sure that no more kids die in CYFD custody,” Hull said.
He called for immediately overhauling the state Children’s Cabinet and bringing in an independent commission to help select the agency’s top leadership.
The issue has become particularly combustible after a New Mexico Department of Justice investigation and multiple lawsuits involving CYFD, including a case involving a foster teenager allegedly driven to the U.S.-Mexico border and told to cross alone into Ciudad Juárez.
Haaland has likewise proposed an independent commission and says she would appoint an experienced secretary to lead the department.
Hull targets New Mexico’s ‘revolving door’ on crime
Public safety produced some of Hull’s strongest criticism of the status quo.
Hull said he repeatedly hears from police officers and sheriff’s deputies frustrated by what he described as a “revolving door” criminal justice system.
“They will arrest somebody in the morning and they will be right back on the street that same night,” Hull said.
He proposed working with lawmakers on a constitutional amendment that would give the state greater ability to hold violent defendants before trial.
Hull said the goal would be to ensure authorities can “not only arrest these violent criminals … but hold them” in jail.
Haaland has emphasized different approaches, including alternative-response programs for behavioral health calls, funding for public defenders, and a task force focused on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons cases.
No blanket data-center moratorium
Hull also used the solo appearance to stake out a different position on one of the campaign’s hottest issues: massive data-center development.
He rejected Haaland’s pledge to impose a day-one moratorium on new large-scale projects, arguing that New Mexico should evaluate individual developments rather than close the door on an entire industry.
“When it comes to economic development, we don’t ever want to close the door completely,” Hull said.
“We want to evaluate each deal on its merits, and we always, always reserve the right to say no.”
Hull added that he would never approve a development that increased residents’ utility bills or improperly consumed scarce resources such as water.
“I would never support a data center that raises our power bills or inappropriately uses any type of natural resource, such as water,” he said.
Hull also took aim at the controversial Project Jupiter development, saying that had he been negotiating the project, “there would have been many changes to that particular project.”
Hull turns Haaland’s Jupiter criticism back on her
Hull also challenged Haaland’s criticism of his approach to data centers.
After the broadcast, the Democratic Party of New Mexico branded him “Hyperscale Hull” and mocked him as “Gregg Dull.” Protesters outside the studio carried similar signs.
Hull fired back by pointing to the campaign contributions Haaland has received from individuals associated with Project Jupiter and the data-center industry.
“I’m not the one who took the money,” Hull said. “This is gaslighting at its best.”
He argued Haaland’s campaign had found time for a September news conference announcing her data-center moratorium shortly after campaign-finance reports drew attention to those industry-linked contributions.
“I think that she’s been let off the hook on that way too easy,” Hull said.
Haaland says she kept an earlier commitment
Haaland, meanwhile, said her absence should not be interpreted as unwillingness to engage with voters.
“I’m keeping my word to the New Mexicans I made a commitment to months ago — meeting with farmers, ranchers, and the agricultural industry in Southern New Mexico,” she said.
She maintained that her campaign had offered Hull and KOB eight possible debate dates and accused Hull of rejecting each one.
KOB offered a somewhat different account of how the debate collapsed.
News Director Matt Grubs said both candidates initially agreed to debate before a date was selected. KOB offered airtime on any date the campaigns could mutually accept, and when they could not reach agreement, the station selected Oct. 8 because neither side had identified it as unavailable at that stage.
“Both candidates agreed to debate on KOB before a date was set,” Grubs said. “That commitment means something to us and to our viewers.”
“Debates are vital to our democracy,” he added.
Hull’s campaign acknowledged that Oct. 8 was not its preferred date either but said it accepted KOB’s compromise.
“They created a circus,” Hull spokesman Ryan Saylor said of the Haaland campaign’s handling of the dispute.
An empty podium — and a full hour for Hull
Whatever voters make of the scheduling dispute, Thursday’s optics were unmistakable.
KOB had built a debate stage for two candidates.
Hull was there.
Haaland was not.
And with no opponent beside him, Hull spent the evening answering substantive questions on some of New Mexico’s most difficult problems, offering detailed proposals, taking follow-ups, and repeatedly returning to his argument that voters deserve to see candidates defend their ideas directly.
For a lesser-known candidate trying to close a single-digit polling gap, the unusual format gave Hull something campaigns rarely receive this late in an election: uninterrupted television time to define himself on his own terms.
He ended the evening by reminding viewers that was not the format he had wanted.
“It should have been a debate.”