Debra Haaland won a primary election in New Mexico last week and she is now the favorite to earn a seat in Congress this November.
This is Trahant Reports.
There have been 12,244 men (and a few women) elected to the U.S. House, the Senate, or both since March 4, 1789. Yet none of those representatives have ever been a Native American women. As in ever.
Haaland is a citizen of the Laguna Pueblo.
As she said during her campaign, “Congress has never heard a voice like mine.”
Get the microphone ready.
Halaand is now the Democratic Party’s nominee for New Mexico’s 1st congressional district. She still faces a Republican challenger in November, but there are two factors to consider here. First, it’s a district that mostly favors Democrats. And, beyond that, this is not a cycle that is working for Republicans anyway.
So Haaland is now the favorite.
There is so much about Haaland’s win that is worth pointing out. She has worked to build a voter network for a couple of decades, running campaigns for other candidates, or the party itself. She did everything right — including pointing out that this country has never in its history elected a Native woman to Congress.
I talked to a Latina who told me that she was voting for Haaland for that one reason. Justice.
Of course the score remains uneven. But more women than ever are running for office and more Native American women than ever are running for office, 62 by my latest count. And that’s just state and legislative offices … more Native women are also running for county commissions, school boards, and, yes, tribal councils.
This year alone there are four Native American women who are running for the U.S. House or Senate — so Haaland might not even be alone, if she is elected to Congress.
There are two Native women running for governors, and five more running for lieutenant governors. A Native woman is running for attorney general in South Dakota and Secretary of State in Wisconsin. As Haaland said on election night … “this is the year of the Native American woman.”
Another candidates, Paulette Jordan who is running for governor of Idaho, campaigned with Haaland and was with her on election night. Jordan said: “Our political system was not designed to elect women of color, and so we must work harder than anyone else to overcome that culture of political insiders and dark money in order to truly represent the people we wish to serve.”
Now imagine what Haaland — and the other Native women — will have to say when they finally hold that microphone on the floor of the House of Representatives.
I am Mark Trahant.
