One of the most interesting political races in the country is shaping up just a few hundred miles from Denver. While it currently features a handful of candidates, some better known than others, one name stands out.
That name belongs to former New Mexico Congresswoman and Cabinet Secretary Deb Haaland. Haaland is a Democrat. Among the other names are a district attorney, mayor and an assortment of local elected officials. Of the six declared candidates, three are Democrat, three are Republican.
Haaland’s story is as interesting as any candidate’s, not just in the New Mexico race, but as interesting as any in the nation. It is a tale strung on an irrepressible cable that has supported both amazing highs and heart wrenching lows.
Haaland, 64, is an enrolled member of the Laguna Pueblo Nation, one of New Mexico’s 23 recognized tribal nations. Her native pride is underscored in both her everyday deportment and her desire to help so many others who have walked the same bumpy roads as her.
It would not be hard to imagine her life story, with its amazing arcs and equally dramatic lows, one day being made into a movie.
Haaland’s story contains chapters that include homelessness and alcoholism; living on food stamps and earning a law degree; running New Mexico’s second largest casino; leading the state’s Democratic Party; winning a congressional seat; sitting in a Presidential Cabinet meeting. And doing it all as a single mother.
Haaland, who became sober after enrolling in college in 1988, became active in politics as a volunteer in John Kerry’s 2004 presidential run. She has not stopped since, working on Barack Obama’s campaigns along with a number of local and state races, as well. She ran unsuccessfully for New Mexico Lieutenant Governor in 2014.
But it was in 2018 when Haaland’s political career really took off. She won the state’s 1st Congressional District race, an area that encompasses Albuquerque and its suburbs. She pinned her Campaign on clean energy—a plank that did not endear her to her state’s oil and gas industry—health care for all and immigration reform. Her win, along with Kansas Republican Sharice Davids, was historic. The pair were the first Native American women to serve in Congress.
In the 116th Congress, Haaland won the distinction of being the freshman whose name appeared as co-sponsor on the largest number of bills. She also became the first Native American woman to preside at the U.S. House of Representatives.
A month before taking the oath of office, then President-elect Joe Biden announced that he would be nominating Haaland as his Secretary of the Interior. His choice in Haaland was endorsed by Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and Elizabeth Warren. Haaland also received the endorsement of Republicans Don Warren and Oklahoma’s Tom Cole, a member of his state’s Chickasaw Nation.
Despite serving only a single term in the House, Haaland earned the respect of numerous House colleagues. Following Haaland’s confirmation where she wore native clothing and jewelry, Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin, one of the current leading Democratic voices in the body, gushed over the Haaland selection.
“Congratulations to my beloved colleague Deb Haaland,” he said. While no longer in ‘the people’s House,’ Raskin said, “You will be the people’s voice as our new Interior Secretary.” He called her selection “a breakthrough appointment for America.”
At Interior, Haaland underscored her continued commitment to moving forward on one of every Indian nation’s most vexing and painful realities, the ongoing horror of missing and murdered indigenous women.
Another of Haaland’s imperatives as Secretary of the Interior was lifting the veil on the federal government’s abusive Indian Boarding School program that began in the late 19th century and continued through the mid-part of the 20th century. The program called for removing Native children from their homes and families and placing them in government run boarding schools.
The schools focused on indoctrinating Native children on an ‘American’ way of living that meant erasing native languages and customs. There were hundreds of these schools across the country, including five in Colorado, one of which is Fort Lewis College in Durango.
Investigations into the histories of these schools have documented countless chapters of forced labor, physical abuse and deaths of these young students. Returning the remains of these children continues to be an ongoing battle.
New Mexico’s primary election is set for June 2, 2026. While it is still nearly a year off, Haaland leads her rivals in both money raised and significant endorsements. She has reported more than $3 million in the bank, with her closest rival, Bernalillo County DA Sam Bregman, next with just over a million raised.
Haaland has earned endorsements from most of the state’s elected Democratic legislators and a number of former state legislators. She has also gotten the backing of a number of mayors and elected local officials from across the state.
One endorsement she has not received is that from current New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, who by law cannot seek another term. Traditionally sitting governors withhold endorsements until after the primary election. But Haaland has gotten ringing endorsements from former House colleagues and the state’s senior Senator, Ben Ray Lujan.
Haaland, said Lujan, “knows the challenges that New Mexicans face because she’s lived them.” He also said he worked with her as Interior Secretary and that “she has what it takes to continue meeting the demands of the state’s highest office. “Deb Haaland knows the challenges that New Mexicans face because she’s lived them. I’ve worked with her up close when she served in Congress and as America’s first Native American Cabinet Secretary…she has what it takes to continue delivering for New Mexico.”
If Haaland wins her party’s nomination and goes on to win the November 2026 election, she would become New Mexico’s first Native American governor in the state’s 113 year history.
