A 13th generation New Mexican with a 5-month-old daughter, Juan De Jesus Sanchez III says he’s running for state land commissioner with an eye toward the future.

The farmer and conservation advocate who lives in Valencia County was the first candidate to announce an intention to succeed Stephanie Garcia Richard as leader of the State Land Office and he received the most votes from delegates at last month’s Democratic Party of New Mexico’s preprimary convention. He's running in the primary against state Rep. Matthew McQueen of Galisteo and Jonas Moya, a former state director of the Farm Service Agency.

In the latest episode of the “Around the Roundhouse” podcast, Sanchez joins Santa Fe New Mexican state politics reporter Daniel J. Chacón to share his background and discuss what his priorities would be if elected to office.

Sanchez has spent years working with water as a former natural resource specialist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a technical advisor for the New Mexico Acequia Commission. He said he’s “trying to bring more of a long-term vision” to the State Land Office and wants to “protect areas that are sacred and special to us.”

Chacón asks Sanchez about his thoughts on greater oversight of leases to private land owners considering Jeffrey Epstein was allowed to lease public land through the State Land Office for grazing purposes until the agency canceled the leases in 2019, when Epstein was indicted in New York and arrested on charges of child sex trafficking.

Sanchez, a former political director and deputy campaign manager for U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, speaks about how he plans to balance the pursuit of revenue while considering environmental stewardship. He also talks about wanting to decentralize the State Land Office and ensure there are jobs throughout the state by working with universities to open satellite offices that would allow the department to have employees on the ground across New Mexico.