The former member of Congress and Interior secretary is a step closer to becoming the first Native American female governor in U.S. history.Show Caption
Former Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland prevailed in the New Mexico Democratic gubernatorial primary held on June 2, bringing her a step closer to becoming the first Native American female governor in U.S. history.NBC News and Decision Desk HQ projected shortly after polls closed that Haaland won the nomination over District Attorney for the state's Second Judicial District Sam Bregman to replace outgoing Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.Haaland made previously made history as the first Native American Cabinet secretary when Biden appointed her to run the Interior Department, which manages federal lands. Before that, she was a member of Congress.She is the second Native American woman to be a major party gubernatorial nominee. Paulette Jordan ran for the office in Idaho as a Democrat in 2018, but lost in the ruby-red state to Republican Brad Little.Haaland, by contrast, is running in a blue state and has a strong shot at her state's governorship. Both the Cook Political Report and Sabato's Crystal Ball consider the general election a "likely Democrat" win.Haaland is the second Biden cabinet member to run for their state's governor's office, as former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra is pursuing the seat in California.The former Interior secretary ran a liberal-leaning campaign against the moderate Bregman, including defending the Democratic Party in a profile in Vogue."I know that people get frustrated with the Democrats. I’m not saying that Democrats are perfect," Haaland told the magazine. "But I still feel that our values win the day for the most vulnerable people in our country—the first people any politician should ever think about."Haaland made resistance to the Trump administration a key part of her campaign, telling the Albuquerque Journal that she would push for more funding for the state's attorney general to sue the administration."We’ll keep suing the administration,” she said. “If that’s effective, then we should fight him in the courts every chance we get.”Sen. Ben Ray Luján projected to win renominationAlso in New Mexico, Luján won the Democratic nomination for reelection, appearing to handily defeat Matt Dodson. The Associated Press and Decision Desk HQ called the race for the incumbent shortly after polls closed.He will face write-in Republican candidate Larry Marker in November, as Marker accrued enough votes in the primary to make the November ballot, according to the Associated Press and NBC News.Both the Cook Political Report and Sabato's Crystal Ball say Democrats are likely to hold that Senate seat.In the races for the rest of the state's congressional delegation, Democrat Melanie Ann Stansbury will face Republican Didi Okpareke for the seat from the 1st District while incumbent Democrat Teresa Leger Fernandez will face Republican Martin Zamora in the 3rd District.The lone contested primary for a House seat in the state saw Gregory Cunningham defeat Jose Orozco to take the Republican ballot line, according to the AP and DDHQ, to face incumbent Democrat Gabriel Vasquez for the state's 2nd District.
