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Deb Haaland Promises To Fight Climate Change

Marisa Demarco
/
KUNM

Democrat Deb Haaland won New Mexico’s race for the open First District U.S. House seat.

Haaland told a crowd of her supporters at the Democratic party headquarters in Albuquerque she would pursue in Congress all the issues that she campaigned on—like fighting climate change, moving toward 100 percent renewable energy, and treating health care as a right, not a privilege.

“Now is the time to return to the most basic ideals of simply being good and kind people, ensuring dignity and freedom for all no matter what we look like, who we love, how we pray or where we were born,” Haaland said.

Haaland is a member of Laguna Pueblo and one of the first indigenous women to be elected to Congress.

Navajo supporter Alrayn Nelson says it’s about time. "In many cases it says we’ve as a county have come this far. As 2018, this should have happened, you know, decades ago," he said. "But it says a lot about New Mexico, and I am really happy that our state was one of the first in the country to elect a Native woman.”

Haaland won nearly 60 percent of the vote in her three-way race with Republican Janice Arnold Jones and Libertarian Lloyd Princeton.

Marisa Demarco began a career in radio at KUNM News in late 2013 and covered public health for much of her time at the station. During the pandemic, she is also the executive producer for Your NM Government and No More Normal, shows focused on the varied impacts of COVID-19 and community response, as well as racial and social justice. She joined Source New Mexico as editor-in-chief in 2021.