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When someone tells you that your vote doesn’t matter, quietly say, “Montana.” Or if someone says that politicians don’t listen and that nothing will change, smile, and then say “Montana.” And, when you want proof that the Native vote works, well, there is evidence to be found in Montana.
This is Trahant Reports.
American Indian voters are registered to vote in Montana at a higher rate than any other ethnic group. And, more important, especially during presidential years, Native American voters are more likely to turnout and vote.
Montana Democrats have figured this out and acknowledge that the Native vote is the key to their success s a party, in recent elections winning five of the six statewide offices. There are eight American Indians serving in the state Legislature, a number that’s nearly equal in percentage terms to the population.
In Helena, At theMontana Democratic Party’s Mansfield-Metcalf dinner, several state officials, legislators, and party activists referenced the importance of Native people to the state’s future. The Democrat’s message in Montana is clear: Native votes matter.
Gov. Steve Bullock pointed out that the expansion of Medicaid in Montana never would have happened without the Native vote. Seventy-thousand people are now eligible for Medicaid insurance, including some 15,000 Native Americans. That’s important because Native patients with insurance have access to medical care that would not be immediately available through Indian Health Service funding alone. He also cited the success of a new water compact with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. He said he has appointed more Native Americans to state jobs, boards and commissions, and praised the idea of regular, government-to-government communications between tribes and the state of Montana.
But it was clear that the star was Denise Juneau. She is Mandan Hidatsa and of Blackfeet descent. She grew up in Browning. She currently is the state’s Superintendent of Public Instruction and has won two statewide offices. In that post, her initiative, Graduation Matters, has helped raise the state’s high school graduation rate from 80 percent to 86 percent.
Denise Juneau she would be the only American Indian Woman to be elected to Congress. Ever.
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Perhaps Juneau will be the first Native woman in Congress. And if that happens it’s because Native voters are being courted like never before. Just say “Montana.”
I am Mark Trahant reporting
