Former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland will run to be the next governor of New Mexico, a spokesperson confirmed to The Hill.
“Deb Haaland is of and for New Mexico. 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,” a spokesperson for Haaland said in an email.
“Our team will be focused on listening and solutions that fit the needs of our communities,” the spokesperson added.
Axios first reported that she will be jumping into the race to replace Michelle Lujan Grisham (D), who is term-limited.
Haaland most recently led the Interior Department, an agency that oversees public lands, oceans, energy development and tribal affairs under the Biden administration. The appointment made her the first Native cabinet secretary.
She is a member of the Pueblo of Laguna and describes herself as a “35th generation New Mexican.”
During her tenure at Interior, she oversaw efforts to limit the expansion of fossil fuel opportunities on federal lands and waters, including in ecologically sensitive parts of Alaska.
She also started a new unit in the department to investigate missing and murdered indigenous people and probed the historic deaths of Native children in federal boarding schools.
Previously, she represented New Mexico’s First District in Congress.
“Before I came here, before I came to Congress … I was an advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous peoples. I was a climate activist,” she recently told The Hill.
“I worked hard on a lot of elections, every seat, every single cycle, to get the candidates who cared about my issues elected. So my guess is that I’m going to give support to organizations that move those issues forward,” she added in an interview earlier this month.
Meanwhile, Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), who was also seen as a potential gubernatorial candidate, recently told Semafor that he will not be running.
Over the past few decades, New Mexico has been a reliably blue state in presidential elections and Haaland appears well positioned to win the governorship. However, gubernatorial elections have been more purple: Lujan Grisham was preceded by Republican Susana Martinez.
