Rep. Deb Haaland (D-New Mexico) offers remarks after being introduced as President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Department of the Interior on December 19, 2020.

“I’ll be fierce for all of us, for our planet and all of our protected land and I’m honored and ready to serve,” Haaland said at an event in Wilmington, Delaware.

If confirmed as Secretary of the Interior, Haaland would be the first Native person to lead the department. She would also be the first Native person in the Cabinet of any presidential administration.

Haaland hails from the Pueblo of Laguna, a tribal nation based in New Mexico.