State Land Commissioner Garcia Richard announces run for lieutenant governor

Stephanie Garcia Richard, New Mexico’s public lands commissioner since 2019, is running for lieutenant governor in 2026.

After teasing a “major announcement” on social media for an event planned for Saturday in Santa Fe, the Los Alamos Daily Post broke the news of Garcia Richard’s candidacy Thursday. She resided in Los Alamos during her years as a state representative.

“I do have designs on (being) governor some day, but right now it seems the best path forward for me, and the next logical step, would be as lieutenant governor,” she told the Journal on Thursday.

The Rio Arriba County Democrat was the first woman elected as the state’s commissioner of public lands, heading the office responsible for managing approximately 13 million acres of trust lands throughout the state and generating revenue from activity on it.

The state’s K-12 public education system is the chief beneficiary of those dollars.

Garcia Richard, in launching her bid, touted an increase of $11 billion from trust lands over two terms, including a peak of $2.75 billion in fiscal year 2023 and $2.56 billion in 2024. While most of the revenue comes from oil and gas leases, the office reported that fiscal year 2024 saw a high mark in revenue — $214 million — from other uses.

“If there’s someone who knows how to make the most out of an obscure office, it’s me,” she told the Journal.

It is also a year that may see a crowded field to succeed two-term Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, with Deb Haaland, the former Interior secretary, having launched her run with more Democrats expected to follow.

Garcia Richard, a Tucumcari native who grew up in Silver City, was elected to the New Mexico House of Representatives in 2012 in District 43, serving three terms. She was elected commissioner of public lands in 2018 and again in 2022.

The public lands commissioner’s office is limited to two terms, preventing Garcia Richard from running again.

The next lieutenant governor will succeed Howie Morales, a Silver City Democrat who has served two terms alongside Lujan Grisham.