Deb Haaland wins New Mexico governor race, becoming first Native American woman governor

Haaland projected to win New Mexico

Democrat Deb Haaland was projected to win the New Mexico governor race in the midterm elections held on 3 November, according to projections from the Associated Press and NBC. She is set to become the first Native American woman to govern a US state. Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo community, served as Interior Secretary under Joe Biden between 2021 and 2025, when she became the first Native American to sit in a federal cabinet. In 2018 she was one of the first two Native American women elected to Congress, a distinction she shares with Sharice Davids of Kansas.

Campaign priorities and clashes with Trump

Haaland's campaign team said her priorities are health, housing and education, along with addiction, crime and drought, which it described as challenges that call for solutions different from the usual ones. During her time as Interior Secretary she led an investigation into the legacy of boarding schools that forcibly placed Indigenous children, which ended in two official reports and a programme called 'Road to Healing'. Haaland has blamed Donald Trump for deepening New Mexico's problems through cuts to social programmes and higher living costs tied to the ongoing war with Iran. During the campaign she said she would urge the rejection of Trump's proposal to rename the state 'New America'.

Why the New Mexico result matters beyond the state

Coverage of the result framed it as a blow to Trump, since a Democratic governor who openly opposes him would hold executive power in the state. The Democratic National Committee approved a 2028 presidential primary calendar in August that places New Mexico among the first states where voters will back a Democratic candidate. Results from the earliest deciding states can shape how later contests turn out, which is why Haaland's win carried weight for the party.

Other Democratic wins

In Georgia, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, a former president of the Atlanta City Council, defeated Republican Rick Jackson and is set to become the first Black woman elected governor of a US state. Her win returns the governorship to the Democrats after more than two decades of Republican control, and the post had been held by white men throughout the state's history. In Texas, Democrat Gina Hinojosa beat Republican Greg Abbott and would be the first Latina to hold the governor's office there, in one of the country's largest Republican strongholds. In Minnesota, Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan defeated Republican Michele Tafoya for a Senate seat. A member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, she would be the first Native American woman in the US Senate. In Ohio, physician Amy Acton, a former head of the state's public health department, defeated a Republican opponent. In Michigan, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed was also projected to win, and according to media projections he would be the first Muslim senator.

What remains unsettled

The outcomes reported here rest on projections and unofficial results published on 4 November, and none of the articles gives final vote totals or margins. Several of the firsts described are therefore conditional on certification and on taking office. The results were reported as part of the wider midterm elections, in which Democrats are also expected to take back control of the Senate in some accounts.