The road to Isleta Pueblo, a Native American tribal community just 20 minutes south of downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico, is peppered with campaign signs.
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road → pepper → signs
Among the many names of candidates running in next week’s midterm elections and tribal elections later in November, there’s one that is poised to make history.
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that → run → history
Deb Haaland is set to become the first Native American female governor in the US when voters cast their ballots on 3 November.
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voters → set → November
Recent polling shows her with a comfortable lead over her opponent, Republican Gregg Hull, a businessman and the longtime mayor of the city of Rio Rancho.
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polling → show → Rancho
Her bid for office also signals the growing power of the Democratic party in the state, where Democrats control the legislature, hold all top offices and have enacted progressive policies, such as universal childcare, that have been heralded across the country.
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that → signal → country
Haaland, who is a member of Laguna Pueblo, has been a rising star in national politics since 2018, when she was elected to Congress alongside a wave of progressive freshmen lawmakers, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib.
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she → rise → Cortez
In the House of Representatives, Haaland sponsored legislation such as the Not Invisible Act, which focused on the epidemic of missing and murdered Native Americans.
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which → sponsor → Americans
After Joe Biden was elected president in 2020, he named Haaland to lead the interior department, making her the first Native American to lead a cabinet agency.
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her → elect → agency
In that role, Haaland oversaw the formation of a missing and murdered unit within the Bureau of Indian Affairs and advocated for protecting culturally significant lands, including Chaco Canyon and Bears Ears.
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Haaland → oversee → Canyon
After years in Washington, she’s returned to her home state, running for governor with promises to expand the social safety net, improve healthcare access in rural communities, and protect natural resources and sacred lands.
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she → return → resources
In recent weeks, she’s secured endorsements from prominent Democrats including Barack Obama, while Michigan’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer, and the former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg traveled to the state to stump for her.
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governor → secure → her
Her campaign has sparked excitement among New Mexico’s sizable Indigenous community, who make up more than 12% of the state.
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who → spark → state
Many see themselves reflected in her, and voice enthusiasm for a candidate who’s promised to protect the state’s water, investigate the legacy of New Mexico’s Native American boarding schools, and prioritize missing and murdered Indigenous persons cases.
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who → see → cases
For Haaland, the historic nature of the election isn’t lost on her – but the final weeks of campaigning have been so hectic she sometimes forgets she’s on the brink of a milestone.
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she → lose → milestone
“Sometimes I forget about the fact that I would be the first Native woman.
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I → forget → fact
We’re in the throes of this statewide campaign and it’s so busy and we’re trying to be everywhere all at once,” she said in a recent interview.
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she → ’re → interview
“But I recognize that for some people who feel like they haven’t ever been represented – I really, I’m grateful that I have this opportunity …
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I → recognize → opportunity
I just hope that I can help folks to see that hard work still means something.
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work → hope → something
That anyone can be a leader regardless of where you come from or how much money you do or don’t have.
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you → come → money
Haaland has throughout her campaign invoked her experience as a single mother navigating the Medicaid, WIC and Snap programs before attending law school in her 30s.
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Haaland → invoke → 30s
Early in her career she ran a small business selling salsa, and when she was appointed secretary of the interior, Haaland was still paying off student loans.
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Haaland → run → loans
At a recent panel conversation on housing with the Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, Haaland described trying to apply for a special home loan available to Native Americans while raising her young child.
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Haaland → describe → child
“I think that there is a lot of excitement,” Janice Lucero, who is a member of the Isleta Pueblo and a co-founder of the Isleta Pueblo Voters Alliance, said, speaking from her farm on the Isleta reservation.
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who → think → reservation
“I think Deb actually has a lot of influence on the younger generation.
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Deb → think → generation
She’s able to really reach those folks and really hear the concerns as well in a lot of the communities.”
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She → ’ → communities
Jade Begay, who is Tesuque Pueblo/Diné, lives in New Mexico and served as the Native American engagement director for Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign, agrees.
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who → live → campaign
“I think that Native women are especially excited – and young Native people,” she said.
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she → think → ?
“They know that she’s qualified for this job.
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she → know → job
They know that we can trust her as a leader of New Mexico.
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we → know → Mexico
And we know we can trust her as someone who will be on the frontlines for New Mexico and defend us from the Trump administration.”
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who → know → administration
Record-setting number of Native candidates
Haaland is running in an election cycle that is uniquely significant for Native candidates.
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that → set → candidates
According to Advance Native Political Leadership, a record-setting 358 Indigenous candidates have or are running for office in local, state and federal elections across the country this year.
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candidates → accord → country
Alongside seeing the first Native woman elected governor of a US state, the country could see its first Indigenous woman elected to Senate, if either former Alaska congresswoman Mary Peltola or Minnesota’s lieutenant governor, Peggy Flanagan, win their race.
“The first thing that made it feel really possible was seeing Deb Haaland, was seeing Sharice Davids [the Native American congresswoman from Kansas] on a national level,” said state senator Angel Charley, who is Laguna/Zuni/Diné and entered politics in 2024 when she ran to represent a district that includes Laguna and Acoma Pueblos but had never previously been filled by a Native woman.
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that → see → woman
“I am a strong believer in the strength of the matriarchs,” said Ahtza Dawn Chavez, who is Diné/Kewa Pueblo and the executive director of NM Native Vote, a Native-led group focused on getting out the vote, which endorsed Haaland soon after she announced her candidacy.
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she → say → candidacy
“We felt very strongly about having an Indigenous governor, and in particular an Indigenous female governor.
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We → feel → governor
Although Native Americans have made significant gains in political power in recent years, it’s been a long road to get here.
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it → make → years
Native Americans have only been allowed to vote across the entire United States since the 1960s.
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Americans → allow → 1960s
In New Mexico, Native Americans won the right to vote in 1948, when Miguel Trujillo, a second world war veteran and an Isleta Pueblo tribal member, sued the state.
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Trujillo → win → state
“My mother was a registered Republican for the longest time, believe it or not,” Haaland said.
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Haaland → register → it
“There was a Republican candidate who came around to the Indian camp in Winslow, where they all lived, my grandparents working on the railroad because they were part of the assimilation policies,” she explained, referencing federal policies that forcibly relocated Native Americans and aimed to assimilate many into white society through jobs.
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that → be → jobs
…and 16 more, not listed.
The Aporia
