Making history on election night … by making news
It’s already a record year for the number of Native Americans running for elective office in the United States. Now another kind of history, a broadcast first.
This is Trahant Reports.
I have always wondered what it would be like if the “news” had a Native focus? We would hear about candidates who come from Native communities. We’d hear about how policy shapes our world, whether in an urban neighborhood, on a reservation, or in an Alaskan village. The news would be ours.
Well, on election night three national media organizations, FNX | First Nations Experience, Indian Country Today, and Native Voice One, are joining together to broadcast the first ever live national coverage of election night focusing on the 103 Native Americans who are running for Congress, governor, lieutenant governor, as well as state legislatures. There will be reports from Indian Country Today contributors from the candidates’ campaigns across the country.
FNX | First Nations Experience will broadcast Native Election Night Live from its studios in San Bernardino, California, starting` at 6 p.m. Pacific. It will be a five hour, coast to coast broadcast, with on the ground reports from correspondents across the country.
The newscast will be anchored by Antonia Gonzales of National Native News — and yours truly.
This election has already been amazing. There has never been a Native American woman elected to the Congress — and now there are three viable candidates. So the idea is to open the window and let Indian Country Today readers, the viewers of FNX, and the listeners from Native Voice One, get the information about this extraordinary moment in real time. This is history that we don’t want anyone to miss.
“A record number of Native American candidates are on ballots across America this year,” said Micah Wright, Content Manager for FNX. “As America’s only Native-themed broadcast television network, it’s our responsibility to inform the public about the political advances of all our tribal peoples. It’s especially gratifying that we get to do it in coordination with our fellow Native news organizations.” Wright is a member of the Muscogee Nation.
Native Voice One is excited to join in broadcasting the live results of election night, in partnership with FNX and Indian Country Today,” said Bob Petersen, Yu’pik Eskimo, network manager for NV1. “Listeners will have the opportunity to hear the Native voice represented on this historic date in American history through the live multi-hour, multi-platform broadcast across the country.”
The five hour program will be broadcast over the FNX network (so check with your local PBS affiliate about its availability.) It will also be carried on the radio by Native Voice One, and streamed on the Indian Country Today website.
Election night is a month away — plenty of time to organize your own watch party.
I am Mark Trahant.
Indigenous Peoples Day momentum
This is a philosophical race for Indian Country.
Election Day is just a month away — so let’s talk about politics … and the Native vote.
This is Trahant Reports.
This is a record year for Native people running for office. There are more Native candidates — and especially more women running — than ever before. But what about the other races? Races where there are no Native American on the ballot, and where Native issues are rarely (if at all) explored.
One state that has to be at the top of any such discussion is North Dakota.
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat, is running against Rep. Kevin Cramer, a Republican. Both have won statewide races.
Heitkamp is an independent Democrat, one who will sometimes support President Donald J. Trump.
This is a philosophical race for Indian Country.
More tribal voters have promised to never vote for Heitkamp again (the Native vote was critical to her win six years ago) because of what they say are her failures to lead during Standing Rock and the Dakota Access Pipeline debate. The perception is that she was on the side of DAPL. As Marlo Hunte-Beaubrun, Standing Rock, who ran for Public Service Commission two years ago, told the Associated Press, “We rallied so hard for her, but when her hand was forced she basically sold out to big oil.”
But when it comes to Big Oil, Cramer is even more supportive than Heitkamp. His finance committee is led by Harold Hamm, one of the architects of North Dakota’s energy policy. He is chairman of Continental Resources, the biggest leaseholder in the Bakken oil basin.
So why is this race philosophical? Because it begs the question which would-be senator would be there on some issues, all of the time?
Heitkamp is one of the best in the Senate on Native issues ranging from violence against women to making sure the Census counts every tribal citizen. She’s supported Native American provisions in the Farm Bill, including a Tribal Food and Security Act.
Cramer supports a few tribal issues, but his primary argument is that he is a North Dakota voice that the president listens to on energy issues.
And that includes dismissing the science of global warming.
Nearly 6 percent of North Dakotans are tribal citizens. North Dakota has no voter registration, and because of a court order, people can show up at the polls, register, and vote on the same day. But one challenge for North Dakota is rural addressing. State law requires an “address,” something that’s not uniform across Indian Country.
An earlier judge found that nearly half of all Native Americans lacked state-ordered identification to vote in North Dakota and at least 2,300 citizens would be prevented from voting.
Still the Native American vote, obstacles or not, will matter because the state is so small.
I am Mark Trahant.
Early Voting
Donna Bergstrom, Red Lake, speaks to voters. She is the Republican candidate for Lt. Gov. (Photo via Facebook)
Election Day is a funny phrase. A generation ago it signified that one day when citizens showed up at the polls and cast ballots. Then after the polls closed, the votes were counted.
And today? Election Day is more like Election Month.
This is Trahant Reports.
In a few places people are already voting in the November election.
Early voting started in Minnesota last week, on Sept. 21st.
There are nine Native Americans running for a variety of offices in Minnesota, including the office of lieutenant governor where the next incumbent will likely be Peggy Flanagan, a Democrat and a citizen of the White Earth Nation, or Donna Bergstrom, a Republican, and a member of the Red Lake Ojibwe.
There is Ray “Skip” Sandman, also Ojibwe, and a candidate for the U.S. House on the Minnesota Independence Party.
There are also eight candidates for the state legislature running as Democrats and Republicans.
Another state where voting has already started is South Dakota. This is another state where Native voting could really make a difference, especially early. Why? Because early voting is a sure thing. A vote on election day itself could work, but the voter might get tied up at work. Or have to deal with a family issue. Or. Or. Or. The point is an early vote is done. Certain. So imagine what the numbers would look like if the Native American precincts in South Dakota reached 100 percent participation.
South Dakota has ten Native candidates running for office, including for two statewide offices. Wayne Frederick, Rosebud, is seeking the post of Public Utilities Commission and Alexandra Frederick, Lakota, is running for Secretary of State. Yes, they are a married couple. Campaigning together. Alexandra Frederick says they have already driven 10,000 miles to reach voters in small towns. She told the Huron Plainsman that “we can change things, we can make it better, we can make this a South Dakota that represents everybody …”
If elected, Frederick would be in charge of elections. And she said she is working hard to encourage more people to vote. Voting practices that she said are not always fair. Members of her family, living in the same house, were told once when they went to vote that some of them had to vote at a different precinct that was many miles away.
There are nine Native American candidates for the South Dakota legislature.
Across the country some 100 million people do not vote. One study estimates that at least 30 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives are not registered to vote.
Today is a good week to change that. This week, and September 25, are National Voter Registration Day and Week. If you want more information, on how to vote and how to register go to NativeVote.org
A lot of voter registration deadlines are next week — so do it soon.
I am Mark Trahant.
Native groups speak out against Kavanaugh
2020 Census in Trouble
A troubled Census: Norm DeWeaver, James Tucker, and Liz Medicine Crow, talk about the challenges for Native people in the 2020 Census. (Photo by Mark Trahant)
American Indians and Alaska Natives are undercounted during the best of circumstances, like every time the U.S. conducts its once-a-decade count.
And this year? Trouble ahead.
This is Trahant Reports.
Yes, the 2020 Census is in trouble. It’s been in trouble for a while, said Norm DeWeaver, a consultant who has served on Census advisory boards, and has works with tribes to improve their count.
DeWeaver said Census troubles have been brewing for several years because Congress hasn’t wanted to spend enough money on the process. Congress has the idea that the Census should cost the same as it did a decade ago.
Native communities have a number of additional problems, ranging from the lack of rural addressing to a justified concern about answering questions from the government.
Yet the stakes are huge. One estimate says that every tribal citizen who is not counted costs their tribal government at least $3,000 in lost federal services.
Let’s put that in perspective. If a 10,000 member tribe is undercounted by 5 percent, that’s a loss of $1.5 million a year in federal funds, every year, for the next ten years. Many federal programs and block grants use Census numbers to determine the spending. The Census itself says the undercount of American Indians and Alaska Natives was 4.9 percent last time around. Most experts think the undercount was much higher.
The top 16 federal programs use Census data to determine funding models and block grants. James Tucker an attorney said: “If you are not counted, you do not exist for purposes of those federal grants and you are hurting your tribe. It’s as simple as that.”
In getting ready for 2020, there were supposed to be field tests at Standing Rock and at Colville, a way to test the methodology, but those were called off to save money. Yet it’s that practice, that improves the count.
Three U.S. Senators, Heidi Heitkamp, D-North Dakota; Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota; said the Census was setting aside Native communities for “other priorities.” The three senators asked the bureau to come up with an action plan to be certain that there is an “accurate and cost effective process to count all American Indians and Alaska Natives.”
Another reason why the Census is so important is because it determines representation in the Congress and state legislatures. One Congressional district is about 700,000 people (except in states where there is one member for the entire state). Several states are hoping that population gains will mean an additional seat because of the 2020 count.
Elizabeth Medicine Crow of the First Alaskans Institute says Alaska Natives should have had at least two additional seats in the state legislature based on population.
So how do you fix the Census? The best answer would be more support from the Congress. But another answer is for tribes to do more of the work on their own — in a way bailing the federal government out.
I am Mark Trahant.
Native Women
This is Trahant Reports.
Two years ago Denise Juneau was making history. She was running for Montana’s only seat in Congress. It was a hundred years since Jeannette Rankin had won that same seat, the first woman ever elected to the Congress. So a century later Juneau, Mandan Hidatsa and Arikara, would be the ideal first Native woman to serve. She was following her plan perfectly, raising $3 million, crisscrossing that huge state, and mobilizing voters.
Still, she lost.
Juneau is now Superintendent of Schools for the city of Seattle. She said she didn’t feel bad about losing because “we did everything we were supposed to. We just lost.”
Then she turned philosophical.
She said every time another Native woman steps up to run for any office, whether that be the state legislature, the city council, the. Congress, it paves the way. There’s sort of a pipeline, which is really awesome right now, that there’s never been a path for Native women to just really step up. “I believe right now, we’re in a time and space where we see that happening,” Juneau said. “There will be a first at some point.”
That “first at some point” is coming fast. There are now more Native women running for office than men, 51 candidates out of 99 running for offices across the nation. More Native women than men are running for every office from state legislature to governor.
The only exception: Congress. There are three Native women running and five Native men for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
How does that compare to the rest of the country? Well, nationally it’s a record year for women seeking office: There are currently 251 women seeking one of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 26 more women seeking one of 35 Senate seats.
Last week I even added a new name to my tally, Yvette Herrell, who running for the second congressional district in New Mexico as a Republican. The Cherokee Nation let me know that Herrell is a citizen. So New Mexico could send two, not one, Native American women to the Congress.
Deb Haaland, Laguna Pueblo, is the Democratic nominee in the state’s first congressional district. Sharice Davids, Ho Chunk, is a candidate in Kansas.
Beyond Congress, there are two Native women running for governors, Paulette Jordan, Coeur d’Alene, In Idaho and Andria Tupola, Native Hawaiian, in Hawaii. And there are four Native women running for lieutenant governor, Debra Call, De’nina, in Alaska; Anastasia Pittman, Seminole, in Oklahoma, and in Minnesota, two candidates, Peggy Flanagan, White Earth, on the Democratic side, and Donna Bergstrom, Red Lake, as the Republican nominee.
Yes … Native American women are making history this election. Next week we will dig into some numbers.
I am Mark Trahant.
McCain Legacy
Photo: John McCain at the U.S. Capitol. (credit JohnMcCain.com)
Arizona Senator John McCain died Saturday. He was 81. McCain leaves behind a rich and complicated legacy.
This is Trahant Reports.
McCain served with two of Arizona’s most well-known legislators, Sen. Barry Goldwater and Rep. Morris Udall. All three ran for president in their day.
Udall, a Democrat, was a close friend of McCain. He was eager to keep him informed about federal Indian policy and to work with him across the aisle. He often would ask McCain, then in the House of Representatives, to attend press conferences or meetings with tribes. The result was the two Arizonans were often allies on tribal issues and developed a personal relationship.
McCain and Udall were authors of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Back then tribal casinos and bingos were about a $100 million enterprise. Today it collects billions. Tens of billions. Of course not every tribe, nor even every tribal member, has benefited from the success of gaming. But without question the industry has changed the face of Indian Country.
McCain was always close with Native American veterans groups. He said: “From the Revolution through Desert Storm, Native Americans have served, suffered and died for the cause of American freedom … Native American Veterans bow to no one in depth of his patriotism and love of country.”
A statement by the National Congress of American Indians called the senator a “tireless champion.” McCain dedicated many years to Indian Country. Serving as longtime member and former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, he met frequently with tribal leaders on the Hill, in their community, and at our gatherings. In his last speech at NCAI Senator McCain said, “We must listen more to you, and get out of the way of tribal authority.”
Of course McCain was not perfect. He called himself “an imperfect servant.” And many objected to his part in transferring Apache sacred land to a mining company. A YouTube video of a polite controntation in Window Rock when viral when the senator asked a young man to leave.
McCain also advocated for tribal provisions in the Violence Against Women Act. He said: “Domestic violence is a national problem and not one that is unique to Indian Country. Yet, due to the unique status of Indian tribes, there are obstacles faced by Indian tribal police, federal investigators, tribal and federal prosecutors and courts that impede their ability to respond to domestic violence in Indian Country. This bill is intended to remove these obstacles at levels and to enhance the ability of each agency to respond to acts of domestic violence.”
Sovereignty is the answer, again and again. In his final speech at the National Congress of American Indians, McCain found his older theme. He said: ”We must listen more to you, and get out of the way of tribal authority.”
John McCain, the maverick.
I am Mark Trahant.
For more information look at Indian Country Today and Mark Trahant’s analysis of the McCain legacy.
Davids wins Kansas primary
Unprecedented. Amazing. And long overdue. Another Native woman is her party’s nominee for Congress.
This is Trahant Reports.
Sharice Davids won the Kansas primary with hard work, focus on what was important, and avoiding the distractions from outside influences. That sound like a practice that would work in Congress too. (You know … instead of grandstanding on legislation that has no chance of ever actually becoming law.)
Davids, Ho Chunk, was an unlikely candidate. She started late, just about four months ago, running against a candidate who had been working for a year on that race.
But in politics timing is everything. And those four months were exactly the right time.
This year is one where women across the country are coming together as candidates and as voters in an unprecedented way.
Native women, too. There are now two Native women, Davids and Deb. Haaland, Laguna Pueblo, as their party nominees for the November election. And Amanda Douglas in Oklahoma has a primary at the end of this month. So there could be three.
This is unprecedented. And so long past time. There have been some 12,000 people (mostly men) elected to Congress since 1789. So It’s time for new voices.
On Saturday Andria Tupola, a Native Hawaiian, won the Republican nomination for governor of Hawaii. So there are now two Native women campaigning to lead states as party nominees. (The other is Paulette Jordan, Coeur d’Alene, in Idaho.)
It’s not just Indian Country that is ready to listen to new voices. More women than ever are running for and winning primary elections. As the Brookings Institution pointed out: “If enough of these women get elected in 2018 to tip control of the House to the Democrats, we could see significant changes to the congressional agenda.”
You think?
And it’s not just the candidates. There is another trend at work, a growing gender gap of voters. This trend is what helped Davids win the primary. In states across the country the gender gap is widening to more than 20 points. The thing is it’s not just the gender gap, it’s the turnout. Women are showing up to the polls in greater numbers, too. And that’s defining the 2018 election.
This is the untold story of this election, that the country, thanks to women voters, is finally stepping up to the diversity that is already here.
The late Wilma Mankiller used to say that no government can function with only half its people. “Where are your women?” she said Cherokee leaders once asked the Americans.
There is a new answer to that very question.
For her part, Davids says she is humbled by the party nomination and she is looking forward to the November election. And she plans to win by staying focused on the issues … and outworking her opponent.
I am Mark Trahant.
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