Deb Haaland divorces husband after launching campaign for governor

The early front-runner to secure the Democratic nomination for governor, Deb Haaland, got a divorce in February, according to court records reviewed by the Journal.

The split from her ex-husband Lloyd “Skip” Sayre comes after three and a half years of marriage and during the early days of her gubernatorial bid.

“After thoughtful discussion and consideration, we made the decision to end our marriage. We take this step with deep respect for each other and an appreciation for the time we spent together,” a spokesperson for Haaland’s campaign said in a statement. “We appreciate respect for our privacy on this personal matter.”

Documents in 2nd Judicial District Court in Bernalillo County state incompatibility as the reason for the divorce and list Haaland as the petitioner.

“I will support her for governor. I’ve supported her her entire political career, and this will not change that,” Sayre told the Journal on Thursday.

He added that the publicity of the campaign was not a factor in the divorce.

Will it affect her run for governor?

Haaland is vying to succeed Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, whose second term ends in 2026.

“Voters typically do not care about marital status, and single and married candidates fare equally well,” Jennifer Lawless, professor of politics at the University of Virginia, wrote to the Journal. “The challenge with a divorce, of course, is being able to navigate a difficult personal time and a competitive statewide election simultaneously … If candidates who are in the process of getting divorced tend not to fare well, it’s likely because of the personal toll the change in circumstances takes.”

Divorces haven’t been a big deal to a campaign for decades, according Jessica Feezell, an associate professor with the Department of Political Science at the University of New Mexico, pointing to Ronald Reagan who became the first elected president to have been divorced in 1980.

“I think that this is a personal matter, and the challenges that New Mexico faces, are, I think, bigger than this,” Feezell told the Journal.

Those sentiments were echoed by Brian Sanderoff, a New Mexico political expert and president of Research & Polling Inc.

“I think we’re way beyond that in society these days,” Sanderoff said Thursday. “I would not expect a divorce to impact, to hurt her in a political campaign, frankly.”

New Mexico had the second-highest divorce rate in the country in 2022, according to a study from the National Center for Family & Marriage Research at Bowling Green State University.

“Many of us have been divorced, a high proportion of New Mexicans and Americans have unfortunately experienced divorce,” Sanderoff said. “Many of our elected officials, the same. It just seems to be a nonissue anymore in American politics.”

He added that Haaland’s early fundraising figures — over $2 million to date — give her in edge in the race.

“At this point, her strategy seems to be to raise as much money as soon as possible to dissuade other Democrats from entering the race,” Sanderoff said.

Few challengers to Haaland have emerged so far, but former Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima told the Journal in February that he launched an exploratory committee to weigh a potential run.

There is around a year until the primary and roughly 20 months until the gubernatorial race.

“The most important thing voters want to know about a candidate is how their vision would make their lives better and if they believe that person can deliver on that vision,” Karen Finney, a political consultant and spokesperson for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential run, wrote to the Journal. “It’s very unlikely to be an issue in the election.”