Debra Haaland (1960- ) is the Congresswoman-elect for New Mexico’s 1st District. On January 3rd 2019 she and Sharice Davids of Kansas will become the first two Native American women ever in the US Congress. Both are Democrats. The two Native American men already in Congress are both Republicans from Oklahoma – Tom Cole and Markwayne Mullin.
Activism: In 2016 she took part in the #NoDAPL protests against the Dakota Access pipeline. The protest failed to stop the pipeline, but it showed her and many other Natives that their voices needed to be heard – and could be heard. It has led to a new wave of Native activism. Add to that the racist rise of Trump.
In 2018 ten Native Americans ran for Congress – and four won!
New Mexico’s 1st District takes in most of Albuquerque and parts nearby. It is almost half White and half Latino and leans Democratic (blue) by 7 points. It is only 3.5% Native, much lower than the state overall, which is 11% Native.
Laguna Pueblo is the reservation where she is from, 50 km west of Albuquerque. It started as a Spanish mission in the wake of the 1680 Pueblo Revolt. The reservation has uranium, yet her grandmother’s one-room house did not have running water or electricity till the 1970s. As a girl Haaland had to fetch water from a nearby pump. She calls herself a 35th generation New Mexican.
Military brat: She has lived all over, not just on the reservation. Her father was in the Marines for 30 years, winning a Silver Star in the Vietnam War. He was White – thus her Norwegian last name. Her mother is Laguna Pueblo. Both were Reagan Republicans. When she found out how terrible Reagan was, she learned to do her own research on politics – and became a Democrat. And, unlike her parents, she went to university, and later law school.
Politics: She got into politics by campaigning for John Kerry in 2004 and Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. In 2014 she ran for Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico and lost. In 2015 she ran for Chair of the Democratic Party of New Mexico and won.
Green New Deal: She is for a $15 an hour minimum wage, Medicare for all, and other “radical” left-wing causes, much in the vein of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. But her two big issues are climate change and renewable energy. New Mexico is going through a terrible drought – while it gets so much sun it could become a leading provider of solar energy. The US needs to wean itself from fossil fuels for the sake of the earth.
“A voice like mine”: And of course she wants to be a voice for Native Americans:
“I don’t know if it’s actual legislation as much as it is just really advocating to make sure that Congress recognizes the fact that the United States has a trust responsibility to Indian tribes. So at every possible opportunity, I’ll work really hard to make sure tribal leaders have a seat at the table when there’s issues of importance.”
Thanks to Mary Burrell for suggesting this post.
– Abagond, 2018.
Update (December 17th 2020): Biden has chosen Haaland to be his Secretary of the Interior, of which the Bureau of Indian Affairs is a part! More than 130 tribal leaders have been pushing for this. If confirmed by the Senate, she will become the first Native cabinet secretary. Read more at Indian Country Today.
Sources: Vox, Newsweek, CBC, her speech in 2018 at Netroots Nation.
See also:
- Welcome to Native American Heritage Month 2018
- Native Americans
- The 2018 midterms
- #NoDAPL
- Colonial Mexico
- Reagan
- Trump
- climate change
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Abagond 