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NM Election 2026: Public Lands Commissioner

October 8, 2026

This week on New Mexico in Focus, we continue our election coverage with the race for commissioner of public lands. Correspondent Gwyneth Doland sits down with both candidates, Republican Michael Perry and Democrat Juan De Jesus Sanchez, to discuss a long list of issues facing the Land Office: oil and gas, Project Jupiter, uranium mining and President Trump. 

This fall, voters will be presented with four amendments to the state Constitution. If approved, one of them would establish salaries for lawmakers — a move that would catch New Mexico up to the other 49 states, which already pay their legislators. A former state senator and a policy advocate stopped by our studio for a conversation with Executive Producer Jeff Proctor to discuss the amendment. 

Two decades ago, officials in Utah and Texas introduced Tamarisk Beetles to the environment as part of a biocontrol experiment meant to thin out the number of invasive tamarisk trees in their states. Today, those beetles have made a home for themselves along the Rio Grande in New Mexico. Freelance environmental journalist and NMiF Correspondent Elizabeth Miller takes us near La Joya, about an hour south of Albuquerque, to follow along with researchers who have been monitoring the beetles for years. This story comes courtesy, in part, of reporting Miller did for bioGraphic, an independent magazine that focuses on biodiversity and conservation around the world. 

Host: Nash Jones 

Michael Perry on Project Jupiter, Oil Production Near Schools 
Correspondent: Gwyneth Doland 
Guest: Michael Perry, Republican Nominee for Commissioner of Public Lands 

Juan De Jesus Sanchez III on Protecting State Land, Accepting Oil and Gas Money 
Correspondent: Gwyneth Doland 
Guest: Juan De Jesus Sanchez III, Democratic Nominee for Commissioner of Public Lands 

Voters Will Decide Whether to Pay State Legislators a Salary 
Correspondent: Jeff Proctor 
Guests: 
Oriana Sandoval, CEO, Center for Civic Policy 
Mark Boitano, Republican Former State Senator 

Tamarisk Beetle Biocontrol Program Falls Short 
Correspondent: Elizabeth Miller 
Producer: Antonio Sanchez 
Camera: Jonah McDonald, Roger Torres 
Guests: 
Kim Eichhorst, Program Director, Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program 
Matt Leister, Science Director, Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program 
Matthew Johnson, Colorado Plateau Research Station Director