In 2020, a record-setting six Native American candidates secured seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. This year, nine Native candidates ran for Congress, including four incumbents.
Former Oklahoma state Sen. Josh Brecheen, Republican candidate for U.S. House, pictured at a rally in support of Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, Nov. 1, 2022, in Oklahoma City.
Confirmed winners
Representative Josh Brecheen, a Choctaw Republican representing Oklahoma's 2nd District, retained his seat, securing 74% of the vote. He thanked his supporters afterward, promising "to continue our work to secure our borders, rein in deficit spending and put a stop to our currency devaluation driving inflation."
Republican incumbent Representative Tom Cole, Chickasaw, was reelected to serve Oklahoma's 4th District for an 11th term.
Kansas Democrat Representative Sharice Davids, a Ho-Chunk citizen, retained the House seat she won in 2018.
"We are going to keep up our fight. We are absolutely going to keep up our fight," Davids told supporters. "To do things like expand Medicaid, making sure that we have good public schools, making sure we're funding public education including special ed, making sure we have a Kansas that actually works for everyone."
FILE - Then-Rep. Elect Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, poses for a portrait at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Sept. 12, 2022.
Incumbent Representative Mary Peltola (Yup'ik), a Democrat, has represented the Alaska district at large since 2022. The race has not yet been called, but as of Friday evening, she was behind her Republican opponent. Alaska uses ranked-choice voting, by which voters rank candidates in order of preference. Election officials are still waiting for incoming ballots that have yet to be counted and hope to certify results by the end of November.
Results are still pending on whether former Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez will win his bid to represent Arizona's 2nd District in the House.
"We're still waiting for some votes to come in, especially in the counties that are more highly Democratic, so it will be interesting to see how those votes look," Nez told local news outlet InMaricopa.
FILE - Navajo presidential candidate Jonathan Nez speaks during a presidential forum at Arizona State University, July 12, 2022, in Phoenix.
How Natives voted
As VOA previously reported, experts indicate that Native voters are not strictly partisan; instead, they prioritize issues that best address tribal needs. While they have traditionally leaned Democratic, recent statistics reveal a shift of the Native vote toward the right.
The exact number of Native Americans who voted on November 5 remains unknown. This year saw expanded efforts by organizers to mobilize Native voters, especially in swing states such as Arizona and New Mexico. However, barriers to voting persist for many Native communities, including limited access to polling locations and mail services on reservations, which can make casting ballots challenging.
FILE - Voter registration materials are displayed at City Hall in Kaktovik, Alaska, Oct. 14, 2024.
"Indian people are microcosms of society," Aaron Payment, former chairperson of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa in Michigan, commented on the Native America Calling podcast Wednesday. "A lot of Indian people live in rural areas … so people voted based on what they heard."
He cited the impact of Christian missionaries, as well as the pro-life movement and the National Rifle Association.
Supporters of President-elect Donald Trump in Indian Country include Myron Lizer, former vice president of the Navajo Nation.
"Our people have been voting Democrat for over five decades and nothing's changed," he told the Navajo Times in late October.
Cherokee citizen Senator Markwayne Mullin and Representative Cole, both of Oklahoma, also backed Trump and stand to play key roles in the new administration.
FILE - This Feb. 26, 2015, file photo, shows an oil well on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation near Mandaree, North Dakota.
Project 2025
The conservative Heritage Foundation in 2023 released Project 2025, a mandate for a future Republican administration. It proposes some substantial changes that directly affect tribes.
"His Project 2025 plans will centralize power in the executive office, an extreme threat to Tribal-federal relations and our rights as sovereign nations to make decisions about policies that impact our lands, resources, and people," Judith LeBlanc (Caddo), director of the Native Organizers Alliance, wrote for Native News Online Thursday.
The plan proposes to reverse Biden/Harris climate change policies and prioritize coal, oil, gas and mineral mining.
FILE - Caribou graze in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, on June 1, 2001.
"Project 2025 specifically calls for expanding the Willow Project, drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, mining in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters, and shrinking Bears Ears National Monument," said Gussie Lord, managing attorney for Earthjustice’s Tribal Partnerships Program.
"Historically, these kinds of activities have resulted in negative impacts to tribal resources, such as serious long-term pollution and destruction of sacred sites and cultural resources. The tribes we work with at Earthjustice are fighting to preserve natural areas so they can continue to be used," Lord said.
FILE - Calvin Tom, the tribal administrator, stands along the eroded coastline in the Yu'pik village of Newtok, Alaska, the first Alaska community to begin a full-scale relocation made necessary by climate change, Aug. 16, 2024.
While unwelcome news for some tribes, the plan could be good news for others.
"There are some tribes, I think energy [producing] tribes, that are probably going to be pleased with the outcome because they didn't quite jump on board on the clean energy [agenda]," Payment noted during the Native America Calling discussion.
Trump has vowed to launch unprecedented deportation operations and continue work on the southern border wall. The Tohono O'odham tribe, whose members straddle the U.S.-Mexico border, have complained that wall construction damaged cultural sites and restricted free movement across the border.
FILE - Amy Juan, a resident of the Tohono O'odham Nation in Arizona, speaks out against the military's presence at the U.S.-Mexico border in Phoeni, Nov. 8, 2018.
The Heritage plan calls for restructuring or abolishing some federal departments. It would eliminate the Education Department and shift its Indian education program to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). It would also eliminate the Head Start child care programs that currently serve tens of thousands of Native American children.
Project 2025 does not explicitly mention moving the BIA to the State Department, an idea that was reportedly floated during Trump's first term.
Levi Rickert (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation), publisher and editor of Native News Online, advises caution.
"Given the complexities of issues impacting tribal nations, more research and at least a year-long consultation should be conducted with tribal leaders and only after an agreement has been reached should such a drastic change take place," he told VOA via email. "Ideally, a separate department or federal agency called Indian Affairs should be created so that tribal nations can be afforded the due respect they deserve."
But Project 25 does propose restructuring the Interior Department (DOI); possible contenders to head DOI include Doug Burgum, governor of oil-rich North Dakota.
Looking forward
Tribal leaders are urging citizens to set aside differences and focus on the work ahead. After all, they've endured much over the centuries.
"Now is the time to come together as a Tribe and support each other and look out for one another as has been our way for generations," Jaison Elkins, chairman of the Muckleshoot tribe in Washington state, posted on the tribe's website. "There will be opportunities and obstacles in the upcoming months, as there always are, but together we can handle anything."