By Kevin Hendricks, The Paper. & New Mexico Political Report— Republican gubernatorial candidate Gregg Hull says comments he made at an Aug. 11 Hobbs meet-and-greet about working with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on abortion are being taken “out of context,” though in a phone call with The Paper. he confirmed he opposes state funding for abortion services used by out-of-state patients and said he has reached out to Abbott’s office to “make contact.”
At the Aug. 11 Republican Party of Lea County event, an audience member asked Hull directly whether he would meet with Abbott to address what she called “abortion trafficking” of Texans into New Mexico. Hull responded: “Yeah. Oh no, I’m fully committed to working with Governor Abbott,” adding that his campaign had “already reached out” to Abbott’s office and that formal collaboration would follow if Abbott is reelected this fall.
Reached by phone Aug. 18, Hull said the audience member’s question was specifically about Abbott, and that his answer reflected a general willingness to work with any governor, not a commitment to coordinate policy with Texas. “I will work with every governor on various different issues,” Hull said. “There was one guy there from Texas — he specifically asked me, are you willing to work with Governor Abbott? I said I’m always willing to work with anybody. Of course they’re going to take that out of context, but it is what it is.”
On the outreach to Abbott’s office, Hull clarified it was a general introduction, not a policy discussion: “I’ve reached out to him just to say hello, to make contact, but I haven’t had any response back.”
Hull said his objection is specifically to state funds covering abortion procedures for out-of-state patients. “Right now our state funds out-of-state parties coming in to pay for those procedures here in the state. I don’t think our taxpayers should be paying for that,” he said. “If we have out-of-state individuals coming here and receiving services at the expense of New Mexicans, that’s a problem for me.”
Transcript of Q&A with Gregg Hull, Aug. 11, 2026, Lea County Republican meeting; Hobbs, New Mexico
QUESTION FROM PUBLIC ATTENDEE: Texas residents are really keeping the abortion industry alive in New Mexico. And so my question to you: You mentioned abortion tourism. When you become governor, what will your relationship with Governor Abbott be like? And will you commit to meet with him to address the problem of abortion trafficking to New Mexico and do what we can to reduce Texans coming to New Mexico for abortions?
GREGG HULL: Yeah. Oh no, I’m fully committed to working with Governor Abbott. I think that that relationship is diminishing because I don’t know that our current governor works with you know the with Texas at all. Right. So I absolutely, you know, my team has already reached out to Governor Abbott, but he’s in the middle of a campaign right now too, so he’s a little bit busy. But if he’s reelected, absolutely, we’re committed to working with Governor Abbott on on all of these issues. There’s a lot more than this, that we need to talk about because you know we had a lot of issues around border security a few years ago, where Texas was doing one thing, New Mexico was doing another, and there was no collaboration there. And I think that there needs to be collaboration in a lot of areas because we’re two border states. We need to work together to understand what our needs are and making sure that we’re doing the best that we can for our citizens. So absolutely committed to that. There’s nobody I won’t sit at that table and talk with. So I mean, on any issue, I may not always agree with you, but I will sit down and talk with you and at least hear you out. Maybe there’s, maybe you change my mind on something, right? But as I said before, I’m pro-life, so we’re gonna see what we can do.
Hull reaffirmed his position that changing New Mexico’s abortion law would require legislative action, not executive authority, and said he is not currently backing specific candidates or legislation on the issue. “The legislature has passed the law, and unless the legislature flips, this doesn’t change,” he said.
The distinction tracks with comments Hull made in May at an Albuquerque Journal town hall, where he said New Mexico’s abortion law is settled unless lawmakers change it — “whether I agree with it or not, it is the law” — while calling it “inappropriate” to use “broad taxpayer support” to fund abortion clinic construction.
Democratic Party of New Mexico spokesperson Daniel Garcia said Hull’s Hobbs comments show he would roll back reproductive health protections in New Mexico. Hull disputed that when asked directly: “I don’t consider that a fair characterization. I wouldn’t have the authority to do that without legislative support.”
Hull is running against Democratic U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland in the November general election.