Deb Haaland

Debra Anne Haaland (born December 2, 1960) is an American politician. Haaland was the 54th United States Secretary of the Interior from 2021 to 2025 during the Joe Biden administration. She was the U.S. Representative for New Mexico's 1st congressional district from January 3, 2019 until March 16, 2021. She is running for Governor of New Mexico in the 2026 gubernatorial election.

She is a former Chair of the Democratic Party of New Mexico. She was one of the first two Native American women to be elected to Congress, alongside Sharice Davids, both in 2018.The U.S. Is Getting Its First Native American Congresswoman as Deb Haaland won and will assume office in January 2019, Fortune, McKenna Moore, 7 June 2018. Retrieved August 13, 2018.

Secretary of the Interior
On December 17, 2020, President-elect Joe Biden nominated Haaland to serve as United States Secretary of the Interior in his cabinet. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 15, 2021 with a 51 to 40 vote. She is the first Native American Cabinet secretary in U.S. history.

On her first day as secretary, Haaland met with tribal media in a press conference, speaking about her plan to include the tribes as decisions that impact them are made. 

In May 2021, Haaland approved the new constitution of the Cherokee Nation.

In June 2021, Haaland announced the creation of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative. 

In November 2021, Haaland banned the word "squaw", a derogatory term for Native American women, from all federally owned lands, and ordered a task force to determine new names for the 650 places that currently use the word.

In March 2023, Haaland announced $25 million to be dedicated to bison conservation.

Haaland took part in President Biden's designation of national monuments, including Avi Kwa Ame National Monument and Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument.

2026 New Mexico gubernatorial election
On February 11, 2025, Haaland announced her candidacy for Governor of New Mexico in the 2026 gubernatorial election.

Personal life
Haaland has a child, Somáh, whom she raised as a single mother. On August 28, 2021, Haaland married her longtime partner, Skip Sayre, in Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico.

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Category:1960 births
Category:Living people
Category:United States representatives from New Mexico
Category:United States Secretaries of the Interior
Category:Politicians from Arizona
Category:Democratic Party (United States) politicians
Category:20th-century Native American people
Category:21st-century Native American people