Major Tribe Turns Back On Biden’s American Indian Cabinet Pick As She Runs For Governor

The Sandia Pueblo, a major American Indian tribe in New Mexico, endorsed the primary opponent of Biden-appointed former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland — a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe — in the state’s 2026 Democratic gubernatorial primary.

The tribe’s endorsement of Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman is listed on Bregman’s campaign website. A letter from Sandia Pueblo Gov. Felix Chaves expressed confidence that the candidate would support tribal sovereignty, water, and irrigation policies that would benefit the tribe, according to Axios. (RELATED: Biden Admin Invoked ‘Indigenous Knowledge’ To Cut Alaska Drilling, But Some Tribal Leaders Are Ready For Trump)

Chaves told Axios that Bregman “is the only candidate who has consistently shown up and delivered.”

“To say I’m honored and humbled is an understatement,” Bregman said via a press release his office sent to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “From my early days on the Albuquerque City Council, where I established the Hate Crimes Task Force to protect minority communities, to my work as Bernalillo County District Attorney, where my office launched the first of its kind Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Unit, I’ve always stood shoulder to shoulder with our Native communities.”

“With strong early fundraising and now a landmark tribal endorsement, Bregman’s campaign is gaining momentum as he builds a diverse, winning coalition heading into the 2025 Democratic primary,” the district attorney’s office added in the press release.

Haaland, the first American Indian cabinet secretary, had emphasized her actions supporting Native Americans. She streamlined review of tribal water codes and worked to restore “tribal self-determination” and “support Tribal sovereignty,” according to a 2022 press release from her department.

Fiestas across New Mexico celebrate our culture and heritage. I loved spending today alongside friends and the Mora community. ¡Que Viva Mora! pic.twitter.com/n6LPoWEHss

— Deb Haaland (@DebHaalandNM) July 27, 2025

However, the following year, the Navajo Nation Council stood in opposition to Haaland’s massive ban on oil and gas drilling in New Mexico. Later, the head of an anti-fossil fuel activist group where Haaland’s daughter works declined to appear at a congressional hearing on accusations that the activist group had improperly influenced Haaland’s fossil fuel restrictions.

The left-wing Center for American Progress called her conservation policies and those “addressing the treatment of Tribal and Indigenous peoples in the United States,” while as Secretary of the Interior, “historic.” The think tank stated that under Haaland’s leadership, “the Department of the Interior has begun to address its colonial and racist history.”

When first appointed as Secretary of the Interior, a Sandia Pueblo tribal member celebrated Haaland with the statement that “Indian country has shouted from the valleys, from the mountaintops, that it’s time. It’s overdue,” according to an article by NPR. Haaland describes herself as a “thirty-fifth generation New Mexican” and was named the 2025 recipient of the Chief Standing Bear Prize for Courage on Monday.

However, the former Secretary of the Interior was criticized for incompetence throughout her time in office. Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley said in 2024 that Haaland “doesn’t know who’s in charge” of her own department. When asked basic questions about a major developing wind farm in Idaho and other Biden administration energy policies, Haaland struggled to respond.

Josh Hawley goes scorched earth on a DEI hire:

“Deb Haaland apparently doesn’t know who’s in charge of the Interior Department. Hint: it’s supposed to be her.” pic.twitter.com/xVfprbqQUH

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) May 2, 2024

Government oversight and accountability group Protect the Public’s Trust filed an ethics complaint against Haaland in 2023.

While Bregman criticized Republicans in his campaign video, he also blasted “Democrats in Washington” for being “weak, ineffective, and complicit with all this madness” while showing footage of recent protests. Bregman also said in his video that “the intolerance of the radical left that has divided [the Democratic] party.”

The Sandia Pueblo tribe’s reservation spans 22,877 acres, while the tribe employs over 2,000 Indian and non-Indian Albuquerque residents, according to the tribe’s website. The tribe also runs one of New Mexico’s largest casinos, according to Axios.

Haaland announced her run in February and has support from one federally recognized tribe, the Jemez Pueblo, according to her website.

Haaland, who served in Congress from 2019 to 2021, has the endorsement of Democratic New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján as well as all three members of the state’s House delegation. Democratic New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich, his party’s top member on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is the state’s only member of Congress to have declined to endorse Haaland.

Former Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima announced his bid for the 2026 New Mexico gubernatorial Democratic primary in May, making the primary a three-way race.

Incumbent Democratic New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is barred from running for reelection to a third term due to term limits.

Bregman previously served as the chair of the Democratic Party of New Mexico. His son, Alex Bregman, is a Major League Baseball third baseman for the Boston Red Sox.

The Sandia Pueblo tribe declined to comment to the DCNF. Haaland’s campaign did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

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