Cannabis executive and former cabinet secretary considering run for governor

SANTA FE — Duke Rodriguez, one of New Mexico’s most successful cannabis entrepreneurs and a former health care executive, is weighing a bid for governor.

Rodriguez, 67, the president and CEO of Ultra Health, which he founded in 2010, said he’s talked to national Republican groups and local GOP officials about the viability of a campaign.

He indicated he expects to make a final decision by this summer, but said in a recent interview he was more than “90% confident” he will join the 2026 race.

“I’m not hiding the fact I’m developing this conversation,” Rodriguez told the Journal. “It’s a real, honest possibility.”

If he ends up running, Rodriguez would join a GOP field of candidates that currently only includes Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull. However, several other Republicans have also been mentioned as possible candidates.

On the Democratic side, former U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman have both announced campaigns in what’s expected to be an expensive race to succeed term-limited Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

No stranger to state’s inner workings

Before launching what would become New Mexico’s largest medical cannabis operation with 25 licensed dispensaries around the state, Rodriguez served as secretary of New Mexico’s Human Services Department under former Gov. Gary Johnson and was a senior executive for Lovelace Health System.

He claimed he would bring unrivaled knowledge of Medicaid and other health care issues to the governor’s race, while also expressing a desire to transcend the hot-button issues of crime, education and homelessness.

Specifically, Rodriguez said he would propose stronger Medicaid verification and eligibility requirements if elected governor, especially for non-citizens.

“I think we will have to be responsible about who we insure and how much we insure them,” he said, while adding we would also push to scale back the authority of out-of-state corporations who have landed lucrative contracts to run Medicaid programs in New Mexico.

“I would suggest the state not take on the role of building abortion clinics, but instead take on the role of building primary care clinics,” Rodriguez added.

Rodriguez and another Ultra Health executive filed a lawsuit in March against the New Mexico Medical Insurance Pool, which provides last-resort medical coverage, alleging the body had violated the state’s open meetings and public records laws.

That lawsuit is still pending, with former state Sen. Jacob Candelaria of Albuquerque representing Rodriguez and his colleague, according to court records.

The ‘right time’ to launch a campaign?

Rodriguez, who was born in California to first-generation American parents, spent time during his childhood in Silver City and Alamogordo.

He said his family received benefits under Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, saying, “We were definitely a very poor family.”

However, he described New Mexico’s reliance on such programs as problematic, as nearly 40% of New Mexico residents — or about 822,000 people — were enrolled in Medicaid as of last month.

“I’m not saying that having those programs is a bad thing,” Rodriguez told the Journal. “But there is no pride in being No. 1 in Medicaid and No. 1 in SNAP.”

He also questioned the state’s spending growth from $7 billion in the 2020 budget year to $10.8 billion in the coming fiscal year, and the effectiveness of new initiatives launched in recent years by Lujan Grisham and the Democratic-controlled Legislature. That includes an overhaul of New Mexico’s behavioral health system that passed with bipartisan support during this year’s 60-day legislative session.

The state’s unprecedented revenue windfall should have been used instead to shore up the state’s public retirement systems and pursue large-scale desalination plants to produce more usable water, Rodriguez argued.

On the subject of a possible campaign for governor, Rodriguez dismissed suggestions that many Republican voters might balk at supporting a cannabis industry executive.

“I don’t think cannabis ownership is going to be a deciding factor,” he said.

But he acknowledged the difficulties in a Republican winning a statewide race in New Mexico, as the last GOP candidate to claim victory in such a race was former Supreme Court Justice Judith Nakamura in 2016.

If he ends up running, Rodriguez said he would likely have to contribute at least $2 million of his own money in order to run a competitive race. He also said the idea of running for governor is not a new one for him.

“I have certainly considered it for more than a few decades, but it was never the right time,” Rodriguez said.