Deb Haaland elected New Mexico governor, first Native American woman to lead a U.S. state

Deb Haaland won New Mexico's governorship on November 3, defeating Republican Gregg Hull by 14 percentage points to become the first Native American woman elected governor in U.S. history — a milestone that arrives as a record number of Indigenous candidates ran for office across the country in the same election cycle.

Haaland, 65, a citizen of Laguna Pueblo and former U.S. Secretary of the Interior under President Biden, captured 57% of more than 720,000 votes cast, according to unofficial results reported by the Albuquerque Journal. Hull, 60, a businessman and former three-term mayor of Rio Rancho, conceded after 10 p.m., telling supporters he was proud of running a clean campaign. Hull said his integrity mattered far more to him than tearing down an opponent to win a political office.

Before a packed crowd chanting 'Deb, Deb, Deb!' at the Route 66 Casino Hotel on Laguna Pueblo land west of Albuquerque, Haaland drew on her family's roots in New Mexico — among them her grandmother's forced attendance at a boarding school for Native American children — before shifting her remarks to the tasks that lay ahead.

Tonight isn't just about history — it's about our future.— Deb Haaland, Governor-elect of New Mexico

Tuesday's result also breaks a streak stretching more than four decades in which New Mexico's governorship alternated between the two major parties. The last Democrat to win the governorship with a fellow Democrat already in office was Toney Anaya in 1982, according to the Albuquerque Journal. Outgoing Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is term-limited under the state constitution.

Haaland's win was part of a broader night of historic firsts. In Minnesota, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, an enrolled member of White Earth Nation, became the first Native American woman elected to the U.S. Senate, defeating Republican Michele Tafoya. Georgia voters chose Keisha Lance Bottoms as their governor, making her the first Black woman to hold that office in the state. Chris Pappas of New Hampshire made history as the first openly gay man sent to the Senate, PBS reported.

According to CBS News, the National Congress of American Indians — the country's oldest and largest association of tribal governments — described the victories as significant milestones for Indian Country. U.S. Census Bureau figures cited by CBS News show that Native American women account for roughly 1% of the American population, a group that has long held far fewer elected offices than its share of the population would suggest.

Long before Native women were welcomed into the halls of government, they were leading our Nations, protecting our families, and shaping the future of Indian Country.— Larry Wright Jr., Executive Director, National Congress of American Indians

The road to this moment has been long. Full voting rights for Native Americans across the country did not take effect until the 1960s. In New Mexico specifically, the right was won in 1948 when Miguel Trujillo, a World War II veteran and Isleta Pueblo tribal member, sued the state. New Mexico made further strides in 2023, becoming the first state to enact a revised Native American Voting Rights Act that gave tribes a stronger voice in decisions about polling locations and redistricting, the Guardian reported.

Haaland herself has accumulated a series of firsts over her career. When she took the helm of the Democratic Party of New Mexico in 2015, she became the first Native American woman to lead a state political party. In 2018, she and Kansas Rep. Sharice Davids broke new ground together as the first Native American women to win seats in Congress. Biden then named her Interior secretary in 2021 — the first Indigenous person to serve as a Cabinet secretary — a post she held until January 2025.

On the campaign trail, Haaland drew on her own biography to connect with voters. She spoke openly about raising her daughter as a single mother, selling homemade salsa, relying on Medicaid, WIC, and food stamps, and attending law school in her 30s. Speaking to a Rio Rancho congregation in October, she said, 'My story is a lot like many New Mexicans — humble beginnings,' according to CBS News.

Her platform centered on the cost of living, protecting New Mexico's universal childcare program, overhauling the child welfare system, and pushing back against federal safety-net cuts. In a PBS interview after her victory, she warned that 89,000 New Mexicans could lose Medicaid coverage and others could lose SNAP benefits as a result of federal legislation passed earlier in the year, and pledged to enhance the child tax credit and working families tax credit. She also announced plans to sign an executive order on her first day directing a halt to new large-scale data center construction until the state legislature establishes governing rules, CBS News reported.

I have so much experience, having served at the highest level of government as the secretary of the interior, where I managed a work force of 70,000, an $18 billion annual budget.— Deb Haaland, Governor-elect of New Mexico

Haaland raised a record $20.5 million for the race, according to the Albuquerque Journal — dwarfing Hull's roughly $2.5 million, according to MultiState. No major conservative group came to Hull's aid, and former President Trump did not endorse him. A Democratic Governors Association-backed committee ran TV ads tying Hull to Trump.

The race was not without its tensions. For the first time in 20 years, New Mexico's gubernatorial candidates did not share a debate stage, with Haaland absent from a televised forum with Hull, the Albuquerque Journal reported. Hull appeared beside an empty lectern on KOB-TV after Haaland's campaign cited a scheduling conflict. Haaland said she had worked to identify an alternative date that both sides could accept.

Hull had campaigned on his record as Rio Rancho's mayor, promising to attract large employers to a state with poverty and wages among the worst in the nation. He called for a phased repeal of New Mexico's personal income tax, arguing that eight years of one-party Democratic control 'have failed.' He initially declined to concede on election night, telling supporters to 'keep the faith' and to wait until every vote was counted, before calling Haaland to congratulate her after 10 p.m.

Haaland will be sworn in on New Year's Day and faces an immediate transition: assembling a cabinet and preparing a budget recommendation before a 60-day legislative session begins in January, according to the Albuquerque Journal. She also pledged to push for universal healthcare in New Mexico and to place reading coaches in schools statewide.

In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola, who is Yup'ik, was still locked in a Senate contest against incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan that CBS News rated a toss-up, with the outcome potentially not decided until ranked-choice tabulation later in the month — meaning a third Native American woman could add to the night's milestones.

Why it matters — Haaland's election is the culmination of a decades-long expansion of Indigenous political power in a state where Native Americans only won the right to vote in 1948 — and she takes office facing immediate pressure to shield residents from federal safety-net cuts while governing a state with some of the nation's highest poverty rates.

Reported by theguardian.com, pbs.org, thehill.com, cbsnews.com, abqjournal.com, en.wikipedia.org, multistate.us