By Ryan Heinsius, Arizona Public Radio

Some tribal leaders in the U-S are expressing concern following last week’s election of Republican Donald Trump. They worry some of Trump’s plans for his first hundred days in office could negatively impact Indian Country.

Trump has vowed deep federal spending cuts after he takes the oath of office in January. But some tribal leaders say that could threaten education, housing, healthcare and family service programs that benefit Native Americans. Some of those are protected under federal treaties. Wenona Benally is the Democratic representative-elect for Arizona’s 7th legislative district, which includes the Hopi Tribe and the Navajo Nation.

“When you start to see massive cuts across the board to these types of programs, well that is equivalent to ending the federal trust responsibility with Indian tribes,” Benally said.

Trump has also promised to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act in his first 100 days. The ACA renewed the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, and Benally is concerned that could deprive more than 2 million Native Americans of coverage they receive under the law.

Not all Native Americans, however, agree on the federal government’s role in tribal affairs.
A group called the Native American Coalition supported Trump during the campaign and is made up of more than two dozen tribal members. They want to limit the federal government’s reach in Indian Country, and say more local control will enhance tribal sovereignty and economic opportunity.
Markwayne Mullin is the chair of the Coalition and a Republican Oklahoma representative from the state’s Second Congressional District.

“There’s not going to be any changes to the treaty or the trust,” Mullin said. “There’s an agreement that’s been made with the federal government that this administration isn’t going to try to change.

Mullin says some officials and members of Trump’s transition team are working on a way to repeal and replace Obamacare while retaining the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. The details of that plan have yet to be worked out.

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The close race for Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District has focused largely on jobs and the connection each of the candidates has to the presidential contenders. Neither of the candidates–Democrat Rick Nolan and Republican Stewart Mills–has directly addressed Native American issues.

One of those issues, said Ray Skip Sandman, is among the top environmental threats in the region’s history. Sandman is a member of the Fond du Lac Band, which falls within the Eighth District. He’s also a former Green Party candidate for the district seat. He says neither of the main candidates is an adequate watchdog for the proposed PolyMet open-pit copper nickel mine.

“It kills it. There has never been a mine like this anywhere in the world that has been safe,” Sandman said. If it leaked to the north – what would happen is that the Boundary Waters Canoe Area would become polluted – and if it leaked to the South – down the St. Louis River Basin – it eventually hits Lake Superior. Polymet scientists say it would be polluted for 50 years, but other scientists say it would be polluted for 4,800 years.”

The Native American vote is relatively small in the District – so the candidates have little incentive to speak directly to Native American issues. Sandman says it is a toss up when it comes to who he plans to vote for.

“A lot of Native American people are Democratic,” He said. “They’ve been raised that way – and Mr. Nolan – he seems like a fairly good guy – I think he’s trying to do his best. Mills – he’s from the Brainerd-Baxter area. That’s where Nolan comes from too. To be honest with you – the only tribe there that maybe they have a little bit of insight to is Mille Lacs.”

Five reservations fall within the Eighth District, another is on the border. The district is the epicenter of several big issues that relate directly to Indian Country, including  wild rice harvesting and treaty fishing rights.

Paul DeMain is the managing editor and CEO of The News From Indian Country and a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. He says Native American voters are often drawn to environmental issues.

“When it comes to issues about fossil fuels, when it comes to issues of uranium mining, we’re finding that Indigenous people are utilizing the political process to impact those policies,” Demain said. “We know how to preserve clean water and clean resources, and we can maybe answer whether or not this environment exists so that our grandchildren and great grandchildren have a place to survive on this earth.”

DeMain ran a campaign for the 29th State Senate seat in northern Wisconsin in 2014. He was the first Native American to run for Wisconsin’s Senate. During his campaign, he spoke out against the proposed Gogebic Taconite open-pit iron mine in the Penokee Hills – which he says brought in many Native American votes. He says the support by both candidates for a similar mine in Minnesota could mean Native voters are feeling left out. But he encourages voters to access other pieces of the political pie by turning their votes toward the candidate that has the most to offer Indian Country overall.

By Nicky Ouellet, Montana Public Radio

In all but a small handful of states, Native Americans are elected at a rate that falls well short of their percentage of the population. And there are only two Native American members of Congress. But Native Americans living in Montana have some of the best representation at the state level in the country.

Enough Native Americans are running unopposed or even against other Native Americans that tribal members are guaranteed eight of the 150 seats in the House or Senate. Ten tribal members are running for office.

The racial make-up of Montana’s legislature started resembling the state’s population demographics in 2003, right around the time the state redrew its House districts to boost the Native vote.

Longtime legislator Jonathan Windy Boy, a member of the Chippewa Cree Tribe, says be believes a robust yet diverse Indian Caucus means Native American issues garner more attention.

“Even in the caucus, we’re not going to agree on everything,” Windy Boy said. “So we try to address some of the issues we all come to a consensus on.”

Recently those issues include tribal water compacts, Medicaid expansion and a language preservation bill the Indian Caucus pushed for that passed 2013.

The growth of the Indian Caucus has also attracted allies who add heft to the caucus’s vote. “When you take a look at rep as far as the legislature, there has to be a point and time of the recognition of tribal people and the caucus as well,” Windy Boy said. “That shouldn’t be taken for granted or overlooked.”

Windy Boy is looking to November 9th, when legislators will begin jostling for leadership positions. He’s hoping his and other tribal members’ long track records in the Senate and House will win them key positions.

Equal representation, or parity, is relatively easy in a state like Montana, where Native Americans account for roughly seven percent of the total one million people living there. Nearly 100 tribal members across the country are running for state office. Oklahoma and Arizona both approach parity, with nine and eight tribal members running, respectively.

By Allison Herrera

As a group, Native Americans traditionally vote Democrat. Their economic status and views on environmental issues, among other things, tend to align more with established democratic ideals. President Obama helped solidify that support by actively reaching out to tribes during his two terms in office. But there are significant pockets of conservative Native voters, most notably in Oklahoma, the home of the only two Native American members of Congress. Both are Republicans.

Presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign recently pieced together a new group called the Native American Coalition. Rep. Mullin is one of the conservative leaders guiding the group.

“When you look back as far as history goes with Indian Country versus the government, it’s kind of similar to what we’ve been fighting for, for many many years–getting the government out of our way,” Mullin said. “You know, let us live our lives and don’t make us ask permission every time we want to do something.”

Mullin is Cherokee and believes the Republican ideals of strong family, self-sufficiency and less government regulation resonate with Native voters and will garner more votes for Trump.

But Trump himself has made some missteps in his campaign. He offended many Native Americans by repeatedly insulting Senator Elizabeth Warren, calling her ‘Pocahontas’. He was referring to Warren’s earlier disputed claim that she has Native American ancestry. Many Native American voters are also well aware of video of Trump’s testimony in front of a U.S. House of Representatives in 1993. He was complaining about tax breaks given to Native-run casinos. Referring to the ownership of the casinos, he complained, “They don’t look Indian to me…”

Someone who shares Rep. Mullen’s optimism for appealing to Native American voters is Neal McCaleb, the former secretary of Transportation in Oklahoma.

“One of the things that Donald Trump said to Black people that I think applies to Native Americans–especially in remote areas that are economically deprived that have traditionally voted Democrat: ‘What have you got to lose’ by switching to a more individualistic concept?” McCaleb said.

McCaleb is a member of the Chickasaw Nation. He said Native people fare worse under Democratic administrations. He acknowledges the very real problems prevalent in Native communities like alcoholism, poverty and high suicide rates. But he insists those have never been solved by liberal programs that he claims are intended to redistribute wealth. He says Native American communities do best when they pull themselves up by their bootstraps, a key Republican philosophy.

By Allison Herrera

A ballot measure in Alaska would automatically register residents to vote. Alaska Native groups are lining up in favor of Ballot Measure One which aims to increase voter participation among people who are often left out of the political process. It enjoys support from Republicans and Democrats alike. But some conservatives are now speaking out, bringing up the specter of voter fraud.

The proposed ballot measure works like this: when Alaskans register to get their annual Permanent Fund Dividend check, they’ll automatically be registered to vote. It’s something Sarah Obed says will save time and bring in almost 70,000 new voters. Obed works for the Alaska Native corporations, Doyon Limited, which is working with other organizations to improve voting among Alaska Natives. She attended the Alaska Federation of Natives conference, where Alaska Natives, state political leaders, and heads of corporations all spoke up publicly in favor of Ballot Measure One.

“We want every Native Alaskan and every Alaskan to feel empowered to get to the polls,” Obed said.

Obed is also excited to see voter guides in Alaska native languages like Inupaiq,Gwich’in and Yupic. It’s the result of a recent lawsuit. She and others are using this ballot measure to encourage Native voters.

The ballot initiative has drawn almost no opposition. But that doesn’t mean it’s not without its critics. Paul Jenkins is a conservative columnist and the editor of the online news site, the Anchorage Daily Planet. He said it could lead to voter fraud and he’s suspicious of all the outside money the ballot measure has drawn.

“What the initiative backers are not saying is the drive appears aimed simply at advancing the political left’s agenda while letting you pick up the tab for boosting voter registrations, especially in rural Alaska where Democrats hold sway,” Jenkins said.

The ballot measure will cost nearly $1-million to implement, but supporters like Obed say it’s worth it. If people vote yes, she says, it will be a permanent win for Alaska Native who go to the polls every election, and, she says, she and others can focus on other things.

“We can help people get to the polls,” Obed said. “Tell people how to vote, when to vote. We can basically focus our efforts on voter education especially for Native Alaskans.”

By Ramona Marozas and Kate Harrison

Northern Minnesota is home to seven Anishinaabe reservations. But the Native turnout is typically low. The Native communities are less politically organized than unions and other groups in the traditionally blue-collar mining area of the state. Ramona Marozas gives this snapshot of one person’s vision to get Native Americans more engaged.

Renee Van Nett feels many Natives have little incentive to go to the polls.

“Indigenous people – they just don’t care – because they don’t feel like their vote counts,” Van Nett said. She lives in Duluth and is from the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. She tried—and failed—to win a Duluth School Board seat last year. Renee says she wants to get her people to make voting a tradition – in order to have influence in politics. The Anishinaabe believe everything comes full circle. Van Nett says she wants the predominant tribes of northern Minnesota to return to their roots of being participants in the political sphere.

“I try to talk to them about that but they just don’t care,” she said. “There’re a lot of us. And we do not vote in high numbers, so that needs to change.” Building that tradition, Van Nett said, is all the more difficult when candidates don’t address issues that are important to Native communities, like substance abuse, historical trauma, the environment, and the Indian Child Welfare Act, to name a few.

“Nobody speaks to them about it,” she said. “I think it’s an under-represented voice.”

In Minnesota, motivation is a big barrier for Native voters, says Mark Trahant, a journalism professor at the University of North Dakota. He came to the Duluth American Indian Center to speak about Natives in politics. He noted Minnesota is not among the very few states with positive voting tradition.

“Two states –Montana and New Mexico —Native Americans actually vote at a higher percentage than the population,” Trahant said. That’s something I’d love to see spread to other states.”

Other obstacles for Native voters include geography. Polls could be as far as 100 miles away. Van Nett, who’s also an employment liaison with Community Action Duluth, puts the time and mileage in to get Native voters to polling places.

“If someone needs a ride, we will go get them, bring them there, show them what’s going on–just get them there,” she said.

Van Nett said Native voters often benefit from basic education about who’s on the ballot and where they go to vote.

By Allison Herrera

Minneapolis Minnesota has one of the largest Urban Indian populations in the country. Native people make up between 2 and 3 percent of the city’s population. For some races, that’s a make-or-break number. One organization hopes to improve Native voter turnout by talking about issues important to them, like the protests against the oil pipeline at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservations.

Jenn Hall is busy working the voter registration table at the Indigenous People’s Day pow wow in Minneapolis. She’s part of a campaign called Make Voting a Tradition through the Native American Community Development Institute, or NACDI. Since National Voter Registration Day on October 4th, Hall has registered hundreds of voters and even recruited some election judges.

“The system affects our lives whether we vote in it or not,” Hall said. “We need to recognize our own influence and elect our own leadership.”

One of those undecided voters is Stuart Perkins. He says candidates don’t pay enough attention to Native issues.

“Horrible stuff has to happen to us before anyone pays attention,” Perkins said. “Obama says keep the dream going. But what does that mean for Indian people?”

Make Voting a Tradition isn’t a new campaign. Since 2013 NACDI has worked to get people to the ballot box. They take credit for helping elect Native leadership at the city and state levels.

Robert Lilligren, NACDI’s director says President Obama energized a lot of Native people and his engagement with Native communities continues in the next administration. He acknowledges there’s work to do just to get people to the polls.

“The state of Minnesota has historically high voter turnout in federal elections–right around 80%,” Lilligren said. “But then there’s a huge dropoff when you get to Native communities and Native voters. And so this is an effort to close that disparity.”

Lilligren points to issues like clean water, the environment and the activism at Standing Rock pipeline construction as issues that people relate to right now. acknowledges that more work needs to be done

The City of Minneapolis praised NACDI for their get out the vote efforts. But, they know if they want really close that disparity, they need to be knocking on doors all the way up until election day-and that’s exactly what they plan on doing.

By Nicky Ouellet, Montana Public Radio

A one-word change in the Montana state Republican Party platform is leaving some tribal members confused about how the party sees them. Depending on who you ask, it’s either a clarification or chipping away at tribal sovereignty. The Native American Affairs platform plank used to say: “The Montana Republican party supports American Indian Tribal nations and their treaties with the Federal Government.” It now reads “…American Indian Tribal peoples.”

Representative Bruce Meyers, the only Republican Native American in the Montana legislature, says the change SHOULD clear up how the state sees it’s tribal citizens.

“American Indian people actually have a double status, and that’s created a lot of confusion,” Meyers said.”So we were hoping that the platform clearly outlined that we were only dealing with tribal people as citizens of the state of Montana and not citizens of the united states of America.”

A Montana GOP spokesperson added that the party wants to address the individual rather than what he calls “group identity politics.” The Montana GOP platform echoes the party’s national plank calling for tribal people to self-determine development of natural resources and create economic self-sufficiency.

But where GOP representatives see a point of clarification, others see potential for a breakdown in the government-to-government relationship between tribes and the state.

“If it represents a change in the way a Republican governor or Republican led government would interact with individual tribal citizens to the exclusion of tribal nations, then I think it could have an effect on state-tribal relations, particularly where tribal nations see a real need for government-to-government relationship with the state government,” said Monte Mills is a law professor who specializes in Indian Law at University of Montana.

In contrast, the Montana Democratic Party’s platform says it recognizes Montana’s American Indians as Montanans and members of sovereign tribal nations. The party’s national platform includes a robust “Honoring Indigenous Tribal Nations” section that outlines tribal sovereignty, land restoration and the federal trust responsibility.