U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland testifies during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources hearing on May 02, 2023 in Washington, DC. The committee held the hearing to examine President Biden’s budget request for the U.S. Department of the Interior for fiscal year 2024. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images)
Former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland is preparing to run for governor of New Mexico in 2026, a campaign spokesperson confirmed to Source NM on Tuesday.
If elected, Haaland would be the first Native American person to head the state government in its 112-year history. President Joe Biden in December 2020 tapped Haaland to become the first Native American ever to be a cabinet secretary. She previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives for the state’s 1st Congressional District.
“Deb Haaland is of and for New Mexico,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “She’s a proven leader; she’s created New Mexico jobs, brings people together, and is getting ready to run to be New Mexico’s next governor. She and her team will be focused on listening and solutions that fit the needs of our communities.”
Haaland, 64, is a member of Laguna Pueblo, one of the 23 tribes located in what is now called New Mexico, which became a state millenia after Pueblo, Navajo, Apache and Ute peoples started living here. During her time in the Interior, she played a role in elevating Indian Country onto the national stage in U.S. politics, including commissioning the federal government’s first-ever accounting for its role in operating boarding schools to forcibly assimilate Indigenous children.
She appeared recently at The People’s March in Albuquerque, where she lambasted President Donald Trump and said, “Our fight is not over. We will need to do the hard work of getting important things done and pushing back against an administration who couldn’t care less about regular people, about people like us. We will need to unapologetically stand up to make change to ensure that your voices are heard. We need more people with real lived experiences elected to office and serving our communities as doctors, scientists, CEOs, so that solutions reflect who we are.”
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) had also been a rumored contender to succeed Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, but announced last week he will not seek the office, saying the “stakes are simply too high” for him to leave his post in Washington, D.C.
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