Famed MMA coach Greg Jackson is considering a run for Congress.
The 46-year-old trainer, who operates out of the Jackson-Wink Academy in Albuquerque, is currently exploring the possibility of running as an independent for an upcoming open seat in New Mexico.
The 1st district in New Mexico is currently represented by Deb Haaland, who was first elected to the seat in 2018 but she’s now expected to be nominated as the new Secretary of the Interior under President-elect Joe Biden.
Multiple sources confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on Monday following an initial report from Axios, who quoted Jackson in their story.
“I’m exploring a run because I care about this community and I feel I can make a difference,” Jackson said in the interview.
According to sources close to the head coach for fighters such as Jon Jones and Carlos Condit, Jackson has been contemplating a move into politics for several years.
Jackson says he “leans Democratic” and considers criminal justice reform one of the major issues on his potential platform. According to the initial story, Jackson would also like to teach police officers how to use MMA style techniques to avoid the final resort of using deadly force against a suspect.
Long before he had political aspirations, Jackson has actually taught classes to law enforcement agencies across the country.
As far as the likelihood that Jackson could get elected, that remains to be seen.
Haaland replaced Michelle Lujan Grisham, who went onto become Governor of New Mexico, and both women are Democrats so the party will undoubtedly attempt to secure that seat with another member from within the party. Republicans will assuredly attempt to use a potential run from Jackson as a way to usurp enough votes to flip the seat in the House of Representatives where Democrats maintain a slim lead after the 2020 elections.