How this governor paid for universal child care in her state

Added: 2026-04-30

[00:00:00]Michelle Lujan Grisham, has served as governor of New Mexico since she was first elected in 2018 and is the only Hispanic governor in the United States.

[00:00:07]Governor Lujan Grisham, so good to have you join us tonight. Thank you.

[00:00:12]>> I'm delighted to be here. So, as you know, earlier today the Supreme Court struck down a majority black district in Louisiana in a major ruling in the Voting Rights Act. How do you think that this will impact midterms? Well, hard to say and hard to say whether enough states can do much about it by the midterms, but it is a harrowing, I think, bad decision for making sure that democracy is in fact the standard for elections and every voice heard and matters in this country. It means that the burden of proof to identify that a district is gerrymandered or is discriminating against predominantly black or Hispanic or minority voters is going to be almost impossible. You have to prove intent.

[00:00:56]And so, I think it's a terrible decision, not surprising. And, of course, Florida's already passed a map and it looks like from early reports that Republicans could in that design by not having every vote matter or count and everything gerrymandered, they could gain 19 more seats.

[00:01:18]And so, clearly this could make it easier for Republicans to do just that.

[00:01:21]Do you think that Democrats should respond in kind? I I think this whole right quid pro quo is really a problem if we're going to do what's right and uphold a free and fair election system and process. But, I don't think that we can be we ignore it. So, here's what I would do. Solid maps that don't disenfranchise any voters. That we should be the party of doing it right, being truthful, and we have a two double more than double response or increase in polling activity showing that Democrats are leading for 26. Stay the course, deliver for Americans, get them to vote, and increase those margins. And here's what I mean. Focus on the things that matter like universal child care. Okay, so let's talk about universal child care. Of course, New Mexico the first state to provide child care at no cost to have universal child care. How are you paying for it? Well, a couple of ways. So, one, we didn't just do it overnight. So, we did a series of investments. Number one, we created an early childhood or child care trust fund. That trust fund started with about $300 million and today it's well over $10 billion.

[00:02:39]So, there were no tax increases. We used existing tax structures from oil and gas revenues and we put it into this trust fund. Two, New Mexico's very good at saving money. Again, looking at our energy resources, we've got about $70 billion that is dedicated towards education, pre-K, and now child care.

[00:03:00]And that combination in large part pays for it and the legislature last legislative session funded it for five years by authorizing an increased allocation from the the trust fund. Well, you sound confident, so I'm going to assume that you believe that this program will survive the legal challenge. I think it will and it's a it's a political stunt this legal challenge in New Mexico by a Republican candidate who is losing and is trying to get earned media. It's a really unfortunate political stunt cuz it makes some families nervous, but here's the part that he probably doesn't understand.

[00:03:40]One, it's a very popular program. It saves the average family $13,000.

[00:03:46]Guess what? More people are going into the workforce. Guess what? 262 additional providers have signed up.

[00:03:53]It's the perfect partnership between the private sector and the public sector and it creates child well-being.

[00:04:00]>> As the governor of a border state, what do you think that good border policy looks like? A good border policy is certainly not indiscriminate and mass deportation.

[00:04:11]It means on the front end making sure that we look at the economic well-beings of the countries where people are fleeing to. It means making it easier to get a visa or immigration status so that you can immigrate to the United States. And lastly, where you have security issues, I don't disagree that you need to close and or tighten security at these, you know, it's 2,000 plus miles of open border.

[00:04:38]You need to open up legal pathways and ports of entry, which New Mexico is now moving on having additional lanes and additional pathways for ports of entry and that helps with commercial access. Governor Lujan Grisham, we thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate it.

[00:04:54]>> Thank you.