Former Biden administration Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is running into some speed bumps on the road she hopes will take her to the top job in New Mexico.
Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, is running as a Democrat in the primary for governor of the state.
But she learned last week that another Native American tribe is endorsing her opponent.
“Sandia Pueblo, a central New Mexico tribe north of Albuquerque, endorsed Haaland’s opponent, prosecutor Sam Bregman,” political news outlet Axios reported.
The Sandia Pueblo tribe is small, numbering only about 500 members, but Axios said “it operates one of the state’s largest casinos and helps drive entertainment and commerce in New Mexico’s biggest metropolitan area.”
The endorsement of her opponent is “a signal that Haaland … isn’t galvanizing New Mexico’s Native Americans as she did during her 2021 confirmation hearing for interior secretary, when she rallied Indigenous people in the U.S.,” the outlet observed.
Haaland’s popularity may have waned during her tenure in the Biden administration because of some of the policies she supported.
“As Interior Secretary, Haaland clashed with the Navajo Nation, the largest tribe in New Mexico, over the Biden administration’s ban on oil and gas leasing on lands near Chaco Canyon,” Axios reported.
She also “faced criticism for avoiding the media and giving few interviews.”
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One interview she did participate in drew a lot of attention, but not necessarily for the right reasons.
During “LGBT History Month” in October 2023, she proudly demonstrated her buy-in to the woke Biden administration ideology by sharing an interview she did with a drag queen dressed in park ranger-style garb — complete with a long red wig, matching mustache, Smokey Bear hat, forest green miniskirt and black, high-heeled boots.
To celebrate LGBT History Month, I joined outdoor advocate and climate movement icon @pattiegonia to discuss how places like @StonewallNPS help tell our country’s full and honest story. pic.twitter.com/XSIGs1qz9z
— Secretary Deb Haaland (@SecDebHaaland) October 2, 2023
In the video, Haaland gushed about how much she loved the LGBT and transgender flags and asked the drag queen, (not a real park ranger, but rather an “outdoor advocate and climate movement icon” who goes by the drag name of Pattie Gonia), to talk about Stonewall National Monument in New York City, which commemorates six days of rioting in 1969 by gays over what they complained was police harassment.
Not everyone who saw the video on social media appreciated its social and cultural value.
This is embarrassing for our government
— little brown dog (@Dualchgwp) October 3, 2023
“This is embarrassing for our government,” one person commented.
Expecting people to take this seriously feels like gaslighting.
— Scott G (@scttfrnks) October 3, 2023
Another remarked, “Expecting people to take this seriously feels like gaslighting.”
Still, the stunt may have gone over well in the deep-blue state, which has two Democratic senators “and backed then-Vice President Kamala Harris by six points over President Donald Trump in 2024,” according to gender-and-politics-oriented outlet 19th News.
The outlet reported that Haaland made history as “one of the first two Native American women elected to the House and again in 2021 as the first Native Cabinet secretary.”
“The Democratic nominee is favored to win the general election in New Mexico, a political outlier as an overwhelmingly rural state with high poverty rates that consistently votes Democratic,” 19th News reported.
But Axios said at least one Democratic political consultant felt Haaland’s campaign “has come off as a little lackluster with no direction.”
“It doesn’t seem like Deb has a message,” Sisto Abeyta of TriStrategies said.
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