Deb Haaland

Deb Haaland picked up catering work and ran a business making and canning salsa while raising her child, Somah, as a single mother.¹ She volunteered at preschool to receive discounted tuition, relied on food assistance and has spoken about experiencing homelessness and achieving more than three decades of sobriety.¹

Growing up in a military family meant attending 13 public schools before graduating from Highland High in Albuquerque.¹ She earned an English degree from the University of New Mexico at 34 and later graduated from its law school.¹ Her work before Congress included tribal administration at San Felipe Pueblo and service on the Laguna Development Corporation’s board.¹

Elected to Congress in 2018, she subsequently became the nation’s first Native American Cabinet secretary, leading the Interior Department.¹ In April 2021, she created a Missing and Murdered Unit within the Bureau of Indian Affairs to coordinate investigations and resources across agencies.² Its responsibilities included unsolved cases and active investigations involving American Indians and Alaska Natives.²

Against Republican Gregg Hull, Haaland proposes preserving universal child care, expanding capacity, creating a public health insurance option and adding reading coaches in schools.³ The child care stakes are specific: she supports keeping the program universal, while Hull wants higher income families to contribute through copayments.³