Deb Haaland
American politician (born 1960)
Debra Anne Haaland (; born December 2, 1960) is an American politician who served as the 54th United States secretary of the interior from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as the U.S. representative for New Mexico's 1st congressional district from 2019 to 2021 and was chair of the New Mexico Democratic Party from 2015 to 2017. Haaland, a Native American, is an enrolled member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe.
Haaland's congressional district included most of Albuquerque and most of its suburbs. Along with Sharice Davids, she is one of the first two Native American women elected to the U.S. Congress. She is a political progressive who supports the Green New Deal and Medicare for All.
On December 17, 2020, then-president-elect Joe Biden announced that he would nominate Haaland to serve as Secretary of the Interior. She was confirmed by the US Senate on March 15, 2021, by a vote of 51–40. Following her swearing-in on March 16, she became the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary and the second to serve in the Cabinet, after Republican former vice president and Kaw Nation citizen Charles Curtis (who, in 1893, also became the first Native American to serve in the US Congress).
Haaland is the Democratic nominee for governor of New Mexico in the 2026 election.
The public source identifies “Deb Haaland” as american politician (born 1960). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Haaland, American and politician.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Deb Haaland”, the useful work is to connect “american politician (born 1960)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q54860790. VIAF identifies the subject as 1494157162094778980006. The Library of Congress control number is no2020048690. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1960, 2021, 2025 and 2019.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Deb Haaland”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Deb Haaland primary sources, Deb Haaland archive and Haaland research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Deb Haaland”?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Deb Haaland” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.