Jourdan Bennett-Begaye
ICT
WASHINGTON — Deb Haaland officially launched her campaign Tuesday for governor of the Land of Enchantment two weeks after she announced her run for the office.
Leading up to the campaign launch, she teased the campaign announcement on social media in a few videos saying, “We must be fierce” and “Are you ready New Mexico?”
The Laguna Pueblo citizen emphasized in the launch video the significance of listening to communities, safety, and the cost of living.
“Lowering costs, making rent and housing affordable, strengthening our schools, and preventing crimes so that you feel safe raising a family here. The solutions are there if we are fierce enough to choose them,” she said in the video.
Haaland, a Democrat, said she will start her tour around the state to listen to New Mexicans’ struggles and solutions for their communities.
If Haaland is elected, she would be the first Native American woman to serve as governor in the country. Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, White Earth Nation, got close to that historical mark when Gov. Tim Walz ran as former Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate in the 2024 presidential election.
Haaland broke glass ceilings when she became one of the first two Native women to serve in Congress and the first Native American to serve in the president’s cabinet.
She highlighted her experience in Congress and at the Department of the Interior in funding water projects in rural areas, other projects to clean up New Mexico’s pollution, and jobs in clean energy.
New Mexico limits the governor to two consecutive four-year terms, but allows a governor to run again after sitting out for one term. The current governor is Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Democrat, who is now serving her second term.
The New Mexico gubernatorial election is Nov. 3, 2026.
The state is home to 23 tribes — 19 Pueblos, three Apache tribes, and the Navajo Nation — and more than 260,000 American Indian and Alaska Native people, according to the 2020 Census, with an entire Indian affairs department serving them.
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