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Tawna Sanchez, Shoshone-Bannock, is a candidate for Oregon’s House of Representatives. (Campaign photo)
It’s tempting to see 2016 as a record year for Native American political candidates. After all there are at least nine people running for the U.S. House of Representatives and now more than eighty candidates campaigning for a variety of state offices.
This is Trahant Reports.
But the problem with calling this a “record year” is that no one has measured the totals before (at least not in any systematic way). So there is not enough data to compare this year with any previous year. It might be a record. It’s probably a record. But I don’t have numbers to back that up.
We just have stories and 2016 is already shaping up to be a great story.
Let’s explore candidates for state legislatures. There are three types of state legislative districts with Native American representation. The first is one where American Indians or Alaska Natives make up the majority of the district, such as on the Navajo Nation in Arizona. The second is a hybrid district where a reservation is included, but most of the voters come from the surrounding community. Washington’s Sen. John McCoy represents a district that includes the Tulalip Tribes as well as Marysville and Everett. The third type of district that’s entirely urban.
If you think about it: Native Americans living in urban areas might be the most underrepresented community. Nearly two-thirds of American Indians and Alaska Natives live in cities, yet most of the political conversations stem from reservation-based candidates.
But in this election cycle there is a lot of action on that front. At least 17 Native American candidates are running from both parties to represent citizens who live in cities.
Just last week LaRenda Morgan, a Cheyenne and Arapaho tribal member, filed her candidacy for House district 93 in Oklahoma. She has been her tribe’s social services director and has lived in Oklahoma City for 23 years. She cited her opposition to state budget cuts as one of the reasons why she is running.
What distinguishes urban candidates is that their pitch has to be to broad, reinforcing ideas about what people share in politics not what divides us.
Oregon’s Tawna Sanchez, a Democrat and Shoshone-Bannnock, campaigning in Portland, says: “I’m running for Oregon House District 43 because we share a common fate. *
A shared fate? Yes, but one that ties that experience to the many challenges facing Native Americans.
So is 2016 a record year? Perhaps. Across the country American Indians and Alaska Natives have had more success running for state legislatures than just about any office. Almost one percent of state legislative seats are held by Native Americans (the actual number is 0.948 percent). If that number seems small, consider this, Native Americans serving in Congress equal about one-third of one percent.
This is Mark Trahant reporting.
