Sam Bregman, 61, is the current Bernalillo County District Attorney (since January 2023) and a career litigator with over thirty years of legal experience. A Jew from suburban Maryland, Bregman moved to New Mexico for baseball and has become deeply involved in state politics. He served on the Albuquerque City Council where he championed the first hate crime ordinance and the Sexual Assault Nursing Examiner (SANE) program. He served as chair of the New Mexico Democratic Party and as Deputy State Auditor. He was appointed District Attorney by Governor Lujan Grisham in 2023 and won election to a full term in 2024. Positioning himself as a moderate and 'common-sense' Democrat, Bregman is the second major candidate to enter the 2026 gubernatorial race.
Sam Bregman was born and raised in suburban Bethesda, Maryland. His father, Stan Bregman, was a lawyer and political activist who represented the Washington Senators baseball team in the 1960s. Baseball initially brought Bregman to New Mexico. He served on the Albuquerque City Council in the 1990s, where he introduced the state's first hate crime ordinance and championed the Sexual Assault Nursing Examiner program. After his city council tenure, he spent most of his career as a lawyer in private practice. Governor Lujan Grisham appointed him Bernalillo County District Attorney in January 2023 to lead a task force combatting organized crime. He was elected to a full term in 2024 and is pursuing his first statewide office.