Deb Haaland was sworn into Congress during a government shutdown in 2019. In her two years representing New Mexico on the national stage, she said she learned how to manage President Donald Trump.
After her confirmation in 2021 as President Joe Biden’s cabinet secretary for the U.S. Department of the Interior, she focused on repairing morale in the multibillion-dollar agency in the aftermath of Trump’s first term.
Before holding public office, Haaland was a single working mother who sold homemade salsa and picked up custodial shifts at her child’s pre-school to help pay tuition.
She said her life experience as a member of the Laguna Pueblo and as the head of the federal agency tasked with overseeing the nation’s natural resources makes her the right choice to steer New Mexico into the future — and through the remainder of Trump’s second term.
“When I came back from doing my federal service, it was pretty clear that people were afraid of what Donald Trump would do. And I think all those fears have come to fruition,” Haaland told Source NM. “It’s expensive to be poor. I recognize that people are struggling here and I will really do my best to help New Mexicans to weather this storm.”
Source NM spoke with Haaland about her candidacy. She faces Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman in New Mexico’s June 2 Democratic primary. The conversation has been edited for clarity and concision.
What makes you the better choice for Democrats in the primary election?
I have the experience. I’ve already managed one of the largest departments in the federal government — it’s a workforce of 70,000 and an $18 billion annual budget. I did that for four years.
I was a member of Congress. I got five bills signed into law by President Trump. I implemented two of those bills after I passed them in the Department of the Interior.
I was a tribal administrator. I was an organizer here in New Mexico. I’ve traveled extensively to every under-represented community, practically, but certainly to every tribal community to register voters, get out the votes. I have seen more of New Mexico than a lot of folks.
What is the most pressing issue facing New Mexico right now?
When I travel, people talk about how expensive things are, so affordability is definitely a priority for many New Mexicans. But I’d have to say that health care is perhaps more pressing — it’s related to affordability, though.
If folks get kicked off of Medicaid and they live in Roy, New Mexico, they have to travel hundreds of miles to get health care, and gas is over $4 a gallon, it’s difficult for people to get the health care they need.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has called multiple special legislative sessions to address the Trump administration’s budget cuts. How would you approach governing in the final years of his second term?
The state will have to fill in the gaps.
If I can help the attorney general hire more lawyers to sue the Trump administration more, then I will do it. The federal government has obligations to our state and I am not going to let them slide on those.
The state currently faces controversial land-use issues, including oil and gas drilling proposals and AI data centers. What approach should the state take with projects like these?
I’m going to highly scrutinize these projects. One of the reasons why is I come from Laguna Pueblo, where the Jackpile Mine was the largest open-pit uranium mine in the world. It made people sick. People died. My cousin lost the hearing in one of his ears. This was not a good thing in the long run, the way I see it. Our precious natural resources need to be safeguarded.
Data centers, in particular, are increasingly looking at building their own natural gas plants for power. How can the state square that with its clean energy goals?
That’s something I would absolutely work against. We need to reach our clean energy goals. That’s what we promised the state we’d do and that’s what people expect. I don’t want industries — because we’ve already seen it enough — looking at New Mexico like it’s some big piggy bank.
If elected, what’s your first order of business?
Working overtime to get a budget together.
How do you think semi-open primaries will affect your campaign?
In other states where this has been the case, there may have been 5 to 8% of voters who show up. I’m 30 points ahead in the polls right now and it’s not just our poll, it’s a number of polls that have taken place. And 5 to 8% isn’t going to swing that number in either direction.
How would you approach the Children, Youth and Families Department in light of the New Mexico Department of Justice’s recent report?
I feel very strongly that we just need to start from scratch.
We need to have a qualified and hard-working leader in there initially, but I would like to move forward with the commission idea because I believe that having consistency for the children there will be a benefit to them.
How would you address New Mexico’s annual distinction of having the nation’s highest rates of police killings?
I want to start an Office of Community Safety where we have social workers and other behavioral health professionals on staff, because we’re asking law enforcement to be a counselor and a therapist and a psychologist all in one.
When you were Interior Secretary, you established the Missing and Murdered Unit within the Bureau of Indian Affairs. I wonder how you might approach that on a statewide level.
We still have an issue with data sharing. We need to be able to talk to one another and work together.
I know the Indian Affairs Department had a task force for Missing and Murdered Indigenous People. I would revisit that, of course, and be transparent about the issue and bring people to the table and find out what we need.
You also tackled the horrible legacy of boarding schools during your time at Interior. Is there anything you’d do as governor to continue that work?
So many people that we spoke to on our road to healing — the survivors and descendants — talked about their language being stolen from them. To the extent that the state can be supportive, monetarily as well as educationally, to tribes for native language revitalization in the way that they feel is best for communities, then that’s what we will do.
Native language is everything. It’s geography, it’s history, it’s seasons, it’s gender, it’s past and present.
You’ve spoken publicly about the importance of Native representation in government. How would your perspective shape your work as governor?
Representation does matter at a time when the Trump administration is trying to say that Native Americans are part of DEI. We’re the group of people who are actually embedded in the Constitution of the United States.
I’m a Pueblo woman first. That’s who I am first. My grandmother didn’t have running water or electricity until the mid-1970s. When I was a kid, we hauled water and we ate by candlelight. I get all of that and I feel like I understand what folks go through.
Given the last word on the Jeffrey Epstein implications, what would you say?
I’d say that Jeffrey Epstein was a despicable human being. I never met him. I never emailed him. I never called him on the phone. He wasn’t ever on the plane that didn’t belong to him. Folks are saying it was his plane — it was not.
You are facing Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman in what feels like the most contentious New Mexico race this election cycle. What positive attributes do you think he brings to the race?
He’s clearly a good father. His son is incredibly successful and I’m sure the first thing he would say is, ‘My parents are the reason that I’m here.’
I know Sam talks a lot about his long-standing marriage. I think that’s very honorable. He seems like a really wonderful family man. I think that’s good because, in that respect, he can be a role model for a lot of folks.
