Speaking for progressives: Top House Democrat rises rapidly in New Mexico politics

Jan. 16—Frustrated by the mundane work he was doing as a White House intern, Brian Egolf called his father to complain.

"I could do so much more, but all I'm doing is answering phones and making copies," Egolf griped.

The elder Egolf, also named Brian, was somewhat unsympathetic. He asked his son how he could be trusted with more important work if he didn't prove himself first.

"You need to make sure that those corners are perfect, that that staple is 45 degrees," he told him. "When they know you can handle that, then it's fair to expect that they'll give you some more responsibility."

Egolf said he heeded his father's advice and became "the best collator and stapler" in the office.

But the days of stapling papers for others are long gone.

Egolf, 45, who has served as speaker of the state House of Representatives since 2017, is now one of the most powerful politicians in New Mexico, as well as the de facto spokesman of the progressive wing of the state's Democratic Party.

Egolf is also the nemesis of many Republicans, though GOP leaders in the House declined to comment about him ahead of the 30-day legislative session that begins Tuesday; they said it could create more friction in an already divisive chamber.

"I think you probably know many of my feelings, or you wouldn't be calling me," House Minority Leader Jim Townsend, an Artesia Republican who has often clashed with Egolf, said Friday.

The minority whip for the House, Rep. Rod Montoya, R-Farmington, also declined to comment about Egolf, saying, "This is just going to have me picking a fight" with the speaker before the start of the session.

"I can tell you this," he said. "The Democrat Party has gone from being a party where they took pride in being for the average person, and now they just are the party of white, rich, liberal progressives. Look at who represents Santa Fe. Brian Egolf and [Senate Majority Leader] Peter Wirth. They don't have a single connection to traditional New Mexico."

Early ascent

Sure, Egolf has his fair share of critics, who have branded him a Santa Fe liberal who is egotistical, power-hungry and pushing New Mexico too far to the left of the political spectrum. But his rise in politics is impressive.

"His critics say he's a little arrogant," said Rep. Susan Herrera, D-Embudo. "But you know what? It's interesting when you're a public official. There's a thin line between competence and arrogance. There really is. You have to be competent enough to do this job, and I wouldn't want his job for all the tea in China."

Herrera likened Egolf's job as speaker to "herding cats."

"On a good day, things go your way. On a bad day, it's terrible," she said. "I think he handles it as well as anybody can."

Egolf, an attorney who has served in the House since 2009, ascended the ranks of the Roundhouse in short order.

Friends and colleagues say he rose in power through a formula that included drive, determination, intelligence, fundraising prowess and relationship building.

In his first term, he was appointed to serve on the influential House Appropriations and Finance Committee.

By his second term, he was serving as chairman of what was then the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

"The old regime supported him by putting him into that chairmanship when he was young and fresh," said Rep. Eliseo Alcon, D-Milan, who took office the same year as Egolf. "That's a good start for anybody."

When Democrats lost control of the House from 2015 through 2016, Egolf became minority leader, a position he vowed to serve in only once.

"I'm one and done," he told a reporter who asked Egolf how long he would serve in that post, which he said he saw as an opportunity to approach candidate recruitment and campaigning in a new way.

Egolf said Democrats went to work right away to regain control of the chamber.

"We saw what was happening with a Republican majority," he said. "The Republican House was passing some of the most restrictive anti-abortion legislation in the entire country. They were voting to roll back renewable portfolio standards and clean energy. They voted to deregulate the storage of volatile and dangerous chemicals and aboveground storage facilities."

Republicans also tried to bring back the death penalty, he said.

"Very, very significant and, in my view, misguided efforts were passing the statehouse when the Republicans were in the majority, so it gave us a lot of motivation to give them as little time as possible to pass these bills," he said.

When Democrats regained control of the 70-member chamber in the next election cycle, Egolf was elected speaker. He cruised to reelection in 2018 after playing a key role in Democrats' big gains in House seats when they picked up eight districts and cinched a 46-24 majority.

Egolf said one of his proudest accomplishments is "changing the composition of the House for the better."

"Our caucus is, by far, more diverse than it's ever been," he said. "We consciously sought out candidates that were women and people of color. That is not an effort that had been pursued before in an organized way, and we made that the centerpiece of all of our political and campaign side."

Alcon and others say Egolf will appear at events, help with fundraising and take other actions to help Democrats win election.

"More than anything else, his legacy is being able to keep us in the majority," Alcon said. "He has been able to work all over the state of New Mexico to make sure that Democrats are elected to the House of Representatives."

Egolf remains speaker, which not only elevates his profile in the Legislature but gives him a lot of influence and power, including making committee assignments and deciding when a bill will come up for a vote.

"I think one of my main jobs is to help members turn their great ideas into great law, to take my members' visions and make it a reality for the people that they serve," he said.

Political aspirations

Egolf said he plans to seek reelection but was coy about his plans in politics in the future.

"When I first started running, I thought to myself, 'Any politician that serves in one office with an eye towards the next one probably won't do a very good job where they are and probably won't make it to that next one,' so I'm focused on doing the job that I was elected to do," he said.

State representatives serve two-year terms, and Egolf said he never plans more than two years out.

Egolf declined to disclose whether he's considered running for higher office. When pressed for an answer, he jokingly said time for the interview had run out.

"I just want to do the best job I can as long as I'm honored to have this job and to try to contribute, do as much as I can for the people of the state of New Mexico as long as I'm in the chair," he said.

Egolf, a married father of two young girls, was born in Oklahoma City and raised in Santa Fe since he was in the sixth grade. He traces his roots in New Mexico to the Territorial days, when his grandmother's family first moved to Santa Fe in the 1880s.

"Santa Fe had always been a huge part of our family's existence," he said. "It felt like every single time we left Oklahoma City, we were coming here. My grandparents bought their property here in the early '60s and had lots of guest rooms and things, so we all just used it as our second part of orbit of our life."

Egolf said he attended Santa Fe Preparatory School, where he was involved in theater and the track team.

His late mother, Christina, was a stay-at-home mom, and his father worked in the oil business.

"He and my grandfather had an independent exploration and production company," he said.

His family's ties to the oil industry proved useful when he served as chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, he said.

"I was never in the oil business myself, but I kind of grew up around it," he said. "So, I was able to bring a different level of discernment to what folks were telling the committee. If someone was saying something about how the field operations work that I knew was completely wrong, I could basically call them out on it."

After graduating from high school in 1995, Egolf attended the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where he graduated in 1999 with a degree in diplomacy and international security.

He continued to dabble in theater but eventually decided not to pursue it professionally.

It was during his time at Georgetown that he interned at the White House. He said he met his wife, Kelly, while living in Washington, D.C.

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Egolf said he decided to move back to New Mexico, where he attended the University of New Mexico School of Law. He graduated magna cum laude in 2005.

An enthusiastic lawmaker

While working as a lawyer in Santa Fe, Egolf said he was approached to run for the state Senate and decided to give it a shot. When Wirth, who was then a member of the House, decided to run for the seat, Egolf said he turned his attention to running for the House and won election.

Stephen Arias, who served for 32 years as the House's chief clerk, the longest-serving clerk in the state's history, said Egolf was eager to learn the inner workings of the Roundhouse as a freshman lawmaker.

"He had an extra enthusiasm, I thought, of wanting to do things the right way, and that impressed me," Arias said. "He was often in my office asking me about stuff, how things work and who he should talk to on certain committees."

Arias, who stepped down in 2014, said he never saw Egolf's enthusiasm waver.

"He wanted to go someplace, and he obviously did," he said.

Arias also said Egolf worked to foster long-term relationships with his colleagues in the Capitol from the get-go.

"He took an interest in a lot of the members because that's how you attain power," he said. "He spent time with other members ... and then he was always willing to help with fundraisers for their endeavors and go speak with them or go any place to help them, and that's how power is built."

Alcon, the Milan Democrat who took office the same year as Egolf, said Egolf invited all the freshman Democrats to dinner at his home in Santa Fe after they won election.

"We got to sample his wife's enchiladas, which were really good," Alcon said, adding he had never heard of Egolf until then.

Alcon interpreted the dinner invitation as an attempt by Egolf to develop a good working relationship with the new lawmakers, as well as to possibly lay a foundation of support for a future leadership post in the House.

"The fact that he was comfortable enough to reach out to other people, I think, kind of just threw that out, that he was looking at the future," Alcon said.

Rep. Kelly Fajardo, R-Los Lunas, said Egolf knows how to work a room. When she took office in 2013, Fajardo said she remembers Egolf going around the chamber of the House and introducing himself to freshman lawmakers. Since then, she said, she and Egolf have developed a strong relationship that includes open and direct communication.

"I've yelled at him. I've been upset with him. But who doesn't in politics?" Fajardo said. "One of the things that I have found personally over the years, he will always take my call. He'll always listen to me. We may disagree on things, but I think the fact that we can talk, have cordial communication ... makes for a good environment."

Fajardo, who considers Egolf a friend, said she wasn't surprised to see him step into a leadership role at the Roundhouse after they served together on a legislative committee. She said Egolf was an outspoken and knowledgeable lawmaker who delved into the details.

"He had no problem speaking up in committee," she said. "You have to have that ability to be in leadership, and you have to be able to do it very well. There's people who talk, and they just talk. It's like blah, blah, blah. And there's people who actually have something to say, and I think he was the type that had something to say."

Rep. Joy Garratt, D-Albuquerque, called Egolf "a very comprehensive person."

"What I've realized as a legislator in a swing district, particularly, is you're never going to please everybody," she said. "You just can't, so you really have to follow your own moral compass, and that's what I see him doing. He has a moral compass, and he really tries to be true. He really tries to think about the whole state."

When lawmakers propose legislation, Garratt said Egolf often asks how the measure would benefit the entire state, not just the district they represent.

"I just see that comprehensiveness in him, which I really respect," she said.

Arias, who remains friends with Egolf, agreed Egolf looks at the big picture in his role as speaker.

"I always send him a note every year that says, 'Thank you for taking care of all of the people in New Mexico,' " he said. "I send him that note every year because he gets it done."

Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter @danieljchacon.