Deb Haaland, the former interior secretary under Joe Biden, has been elected governor of New Mexico and will become the first Native American woman to govern a US state.

Haaland, a Democrat, defeated her Republican opponent Gregg Hull, 60, a businessman and the longtime mayor of the city of Rio Rancho.

Haaland, 65, had already broken boundaries as the first Indigenous cabinet secretary. Her victory in New Mexico, where Native Americans make up 12% of the population, comes as Indigenous voters are asserting more power in elections nationwide.

Haaland, who is a member of Laguna Pueblo, has been a rising star in national politics since 2018 when she was elected to Congress alongside a wave of progressive freshmen lawmakers, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. After Biden was elected president in 2020, he named Haaland to lead the interior department.