Quick Facts About Deb Haaland: Age, Family, Net Worth, Political Career of New Mexico's First Native American Woman Governor

Democrat Deb Haaland has won New Mexico's gubernatorial election, defeating Republican Greggory D. Hull to become the first Native American woman elected governor of a US state, according to the Associated Press.

A member of the Pueblo of Laguna, Haaland will take office on 1 January 2027, succeeding term-limited Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. She previously served in the US House of Representatives and as President Joe Biden's Interior Secretary, becoming the first Native American to hold a Cabinet-level post.

Her campaign focused on the cost of living, access to healthcare, education and public safety, alongside plans to address water shortages and ageing infrastructure across the state.

Early Life, Family and Pueblo Heritage

Born in Winslow, Arizona, on 2 December 1960, Haaland is 65. She is an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Laguna and has described herself as a 35th-generation New Mexican. Her father, John David Haaland, served in the US Marine Corps and received the Silver Star for his service in Vietnam. Her mother, Mary Toya, was a US Navy veteran who worked in Indigenous education.

Her family moved frequently, and she finished high school in Albuquerque. She earned an English degree from the University of New Mexico in 1994 and gave birth to her daughter, Somáh, shortly afterwards.

Haaland raised her daughter as a single mother while studying for a law degree, which she completed in 2006. She ran a small salsa business and took catering work to support her family. In August 2021, she married her long-time partner, Skip Sayre.

From State Politics to the Biden Cabinet

She volunteered for John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign and Barack Obama's 2008 campaign. She later served as Native American Vote Director for Obama's 2012 re-election effort.

After an unsuccessful run for lieutenant governor in 2014, she became chair of the New Mexico Democratic Party in 2015, the first Native American woman to lead a state party. She won a seat in the US House of Representatives in 2018. Alongside Sharice Davids of Kansas, she became one of the first two Native American women elected to Congress.

Biden nominated Haaland as Interior Secretary in December 2020. The Senate confirmed her by 51 votes to 40 on 15 March 2021, and she was sworn in three days later.

As secretary, Haaland launched the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative to examine the federal government's role in the boarding school system. She established the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Missing and Murdered Unit and helped protect about 336,000 acres around Chaco Culture National Historical Park from future oil and gas leasing. She left the post in January 2025, when Biden's term ended.

Net Worth and Priorities as Governor

No reliable, independently verified estimate of Haaland's net worth was available in the biographical sources reviewed. A figure should not be included without a credible financial disclosure or other substantiated source.

As governor, Haaland will oversee New Mexico's state budget, public education and natural-resource policy. Her campaign proposals included housing, wages, childcare, healthcare and public safety. Her water plans addressed drought and ageing infrastructure, including proposals to repair drinking-water systems and protect tribal water projects.

Her administration will be responsible for turning those campaign commitments into state policy when she takes office on 1 January 2027.