A century after Native Americans got the right to vote, they could put Trump or Harris over the top

RED SPRINGS, N.C. (AP) — Native American communities were decisive voting blocs in key states in 2020, and with the 2024 race remaining stubbornly close, both campaigns have sought to mobilize Native voters in the final weeks of the presidential election.

But when it comes to messaging, the two campaigns couldn’t be more different, many Indigenous voters said. It’s been a hundred years since Native Americans gained the right to vote, with the passage of the Snyder Act in 1924, and whatever campaign is able to leverage their power in these elections could sway some of the nation’s most contentious counties .

In swing states like Arizona, North Carolina, Michigan and Nevada, candidates — most notably Vice President Kamala Harris — have targeted Native Americans with radio ads and events on tribal lands with speakers like Bill Clinton and Donald Trump Jr.

Native American voters tend to favor Democrats, but they are more likely to vote Republican than Latinos or African Americans, said Gabriel R. Sanchez, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He said they are among the least partisan and youngest voting populations in the country, often motivated by issues that directly affect their communities, such as land rights and environmental protection.

In 2020, the Biden administration campaigned in several tribal nations in critical states like Wisconsin and Arizona, and districts in tribal areas there helped narrowly tip the election to Democrats. “Arizona was kind of a textbook example of what that could look like when you make those early investments,” Sanchez said.

As part of a $370 million ad campaign launched this month, including on several reservations, Harris said the U.S. must respect treaty rights and uphold tribal sovereignty. Crystal Echo Hawk, CEO of IllumiNative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the visibility of Native Americans, said these commitments, along with the economy and environmental protection, are the top issues Native voters have identified in the surveys from IllumiNative.

Echo Hawk said these investments could pay off again for Democrats. “I didn’t see the same kind of targeted messaging and outreach during the Trump campaign,” she said. Harris will also inherit some of the goodwill left over from the administrations of Barack Obama and Joe Biden, she said.

Obama increased consultation with tribes on issues such as land protection and criminal justice, and Biden appointed more than 80 Native Americans to senior administrative positions.

“The moment the announcement came that Harris was entering the race, you saw people organizing overnight,” Echo Hawk said. And Trump, she said, will have to deal with his 85% reduction of Bears Ears National Monument and his revival of the Keystone XL pipeline, both unpopular with indigenous peoples. “I think a lot of these people remember that,” she said.

On Friday, Biden formally apologized for the country’s support of Native American boarding schools and its legacy of abuse and cultural destruction. Although it was considered long overdue, it was received with praise by the tribal leaders. On Saturday, vice presidential candidate and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will campaign in the Navajo Nation.

The Trump campaign has not released ads targeting Native Americans, but U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican and citizen of the Cherokee Nation, has sided with the former president in native communities in North Carolina, a swing state that includes had been decided. by less than one point in 2020.

On a chilly evening earlier this month, Mullin sat next to Donald Trump Jr. and former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democrat who recently announced she is joining the Republican Party, on a small stage in front of several bales of hay to answer questions. for an audience of a few hundred people. They discussed issues ranging from the economy to tribal self-determination.

The event took place on a small farm in Red Springs, North Carolina, part of the traditional homeland of Mullin’s ancestors and the current home of the Lumbee Tribe, a state-recognized tribe with approximately 55,000 members.

Several tribal nations have opposed federal recognition of the Lumbee, including the nearby Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Mullin’s own tribe, the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. The Lumbee’s push for federal recognition has become a focal point for both campaigns and a rare issue on which both sides agree. Last month, Trump said he would sign legislation that would grant federal recognition to the Lumbee. Harris called the Lumbee tribal chairman last week to discuss the legislation.

“This is an injustice that must be righted when it comes to Lumbees,” Mullin told the crowd. “This is absolutely absurd. It must be done. I was so proud when I heard President Trump say he would sign it.”

But Mullin quickly touched on one of the many areas where the two candidates differ: energy policy. Highlighting the fact that he believed a second Trump term would mean a better economy and lower energy costs, Mullin laid out Trump’s policies in a recognizable phrase that was repeated by the audience: “Drill, baby, drill.”

Both the Biden and Trump administrations pushed to produce more oil and gas than ever, including extractive energy projects that indigenous peoples opposed. However, indigenous leaders have expressed concern that Trump is likely to further erode protections for tribal lands.

Mullin suggested that if tribal nations are truly sovereign, they should be able to extract energy without the burden of federal intervention. He said that, like the Lumbee’s fight for federal recognition, tribes’ rights to govern their own lands are victims of federal bureaucracy.

“Why is tribal land treated as public land?” Mullin wondered, questioning why the federal government should have any oversight over tribal nations extracting natural resources on their own lands. “Natural resources are being dug out of the ground from reserves across the fence. You have private landowners who are extremely wealthy and you have people who are literally starving on reservations,” he said, comparing some countries to Third World countries.

He promised that Trump would have a deep understanding of tribal sovereignty.

That message resonated with Robert Chavis Jr., a physical education teacher and Army veteran who attended the rally and will vote for Trump. Chavis, a member of the Lumbee tribe, said tribal nations are not only governments, but also corporations, and the U.S. is no different. ‘I feel like you don’t need a politician there. We need a businessman to run the country the way it should be.”

But other Lumbee voters are not so convinced. At her art gallery a few miles away in Pembroke, Janice Locklear said Trump had promised he would federally recognize the Lumbee the last time he was in office, and that she had no reason to believe he could do so this time to achieve. But looking broader than her community, she says what Trump did on January 6, 2021 poses a nationwide threat to democracy.

“He thought he could actually be a dictator, go there and take over. Even though he had lost the election; he knew he had lost the election. So what do you think he will do this time,” she said.

Locklear said that, as a woman of color, she trusts Harris will have a better understanding of the unique challenges Native Americans face. “I’m sure she faced the same issues we did,” Locklear said. “Discrimination, I’m sure she’s had to deal with it.”

– By GRAHAM LEE BREWER Associated Press