The U.S. Senate Monday voted 51-to-40 to confirm Rep. Debra Haaland (D-N.M.) as secretary of interior, which will create a vacancy in the congressional district that includes the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories facilities in Albuquerque.
Haaland presented House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with her letter of resignation Tuesday and issued a farewell address to her colleagues in the House of Representatives.
New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver said via Twitter that her office has 10 days after a vacancy occurs in the state’s first congressional district to order a special election to be held within 77-to-91 days afterward.
“Today I stand on my ancestors’ shoulders ready to serve as the first Native American cabinet secretary,” Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna tribe, said Tuesday via Twitter. She should be sworn in Wednesday or Thursday by Vice President Kamala Harris, the Indian Country Today newspaper reported Monday.
New Mexico law requires Haaland to provide a letter of resignation before the secretary of state formally recognizes the vacancy and can issue a proclamation for a special election, Oliver said.
On March 4, Haaland’s nomination was passed out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on an 11-to-9 vote. The committee vote was, like the floor vote, mostly along party lines with many Republicans voicing misgivings about the potential for restrictions on potential new oil and gas leasing under Haaland and the Joe Biden administration. A few members of the GOP, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) did, however, vote to confirm.
