Deb Haaland returns to New Mexico politics with governor campaign

Native American candidate Deb Haaland who is running for Congress in New Mexico's 1st congressional district seat for the upcoming mid-term elections, speaks in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Oct. 1, 2018. If Haaland is successful she will be the first Native American woman to hold a seat in the United States House of Representatives. The seat is currently held by Michelle Lujan Grisham who will now run for Governor of the state.

Democratic congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York puts on her coat with Deb Haaland of New Mexico after posing for the 116th Congress members-elect group photo on the East Front Plaza of the US Capitol in Washington, DC on Nov. 14, 2018.

Congresswomen Deb Haaland, Katie Porter, and Ayanna Pressley wave before speaking for Massachusetts Senator and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren who missed her get out the vote caucus rally on Friday, Jan. 31, 2020, in Des Moines. Warren had to stay in Washington D.C. because of a vote to hear witnesses in the impeachment trial.

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland speaks about the Vineyard Wind project during a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday afternoon in Centerville, Ma on Nov. 18, 2021. A groundbreaking ceremony was held at Covell's Beach for the start of the Vineyard Wind project. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, Gov. Charlie Baker and other state and local politicians and officials spoke before the groundbreaking.

Vice President Kamala Harris (R) conducts the ceremonial swearing in of Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland as her daughter Somah Haaland holds the Bible in Harris' ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on March 18, 2021 in Washington, DC. Haaland becomes the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary.

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland speaks at the Red Road to DC Totem Pole Journey which ended in front of the US Capitol to draw attention and action to sacred sites and Indigenous rights during an event in Washington, DC, on July 29, 2021.

President Joe Biden embraces Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland before announcing the expansion of areas of three national monuments at the White House on Oct. 8, 2021 in Washington, DC. The Biden administration restored the areas of two Utah parks with lands held sacred by several Native American tribes, Bears Ears National Monument and the Grand Staircase-Escalante, as well as the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts of the New England coast, after former President Donald Trump opened them to mining, drilling and development during his time in office.

U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland visits Las Cruces, NM on Sunday, March 27, 2022. Haaland hiked Dripping Springs Trail and met with local community leaders to talk about the importance of conservation.

Deb Haaland, Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, arriving on May 2, 2023 to testify in front of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources on the proposed budget request for fiscal year 2024 for the Department of the Interior.

First lady Dr. Jill Biden and US Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland talk with two Menominee Tribal Enterprises’ sawmill workers, one of the tour stops during her visit to the Menominee Nation, on Tuesday Oct. 10, 2023 in Neopit, Wis.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, a former New Mexico congresswoman and the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary, visited Fairhill Marsh at Odiorne Point in Rye Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024.

Deb Haaland, Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior, speaks at a Senate Energy and Natural Resources hearing on May 2, 2024 to examine the President's proposed budget request for fiscal year 2025 for the Department of the Interior.

President Joe Biden is presented with a blanket by US Interior Secretary Deb Haaland (R) and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland (L) before speaking at a Tribal Nations Summit at the Department of the Interior in Washington, DC, on Dec. 9, 2024. The eighth-generation blanket from a tribally owned business is embroidered with "Joe Biden Champion for Indian Country."

Deb Haaland, former United States Secretary of the Interior, accepts a shawl during the Sovereignty Symposium at OKANA Resort in Oklahoma City, on Friday, June 13, 2025.

Deb Haaland, the 54th U.S. Secretary of the Interior speaks before President Joe Biden formally apologized for abuses committed against Native boarding school students over the past century during a visit to the Gila Crossing Community School on Oct. 25, 2024.

U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland speaks to the press at the Sonoran Solar Project solar power facility on Dec. 5, 2022, in Buckeye, Ariz.

U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland speaks during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago on Sept. 23, 2024.

United States Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland answers questions from the media as she visits Arizona for a Biden-Harris canvassing launch in legislative district 9 on June 22, 2024, in Mesa.

United States Interior Secretary Deb Haaland bows her head in prayer alongside Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona at the signing of the Colorado River Indian Tribes water rights settlement at the BlueWater Resort on April 26, 2024, in Parker, Ariz.