AFP, Albuquerque :
No native American woman has ever served in the US House of Representatives. But a trio of female candidates running in New Mexico and Kansas are looking to erase that statistic.
Two are Democrats. The third is a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump. But all three hope to make a difference on Capitol Hill – and do their tribes proud.
“I’m a woman, a woman of color. That seems to be who we need in office right now to really push the issues that we care about,” Deb Haaland, who is running in New Mexico, told AFP in an interview.
The 57-year-old single mother also says she wants to be a “strong voice” for native Americans, other minorities and the poor.
Haaland is a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe in New Mexico. So is Yvette Herrell, who is running in a different district – and is a dyed-in-the-wool Republican.
The two women have little in common, beyond their ethnic background.
Haaland supports abortion rights, Herrell is against them; Haaland supports immigration reform that would provide so-called “Dreamers” with a path to citizenship, while Herrell wants to boost border security.
In Kansas, Sharice Davids – a lesbian lawyer and former mixed martial arts fighter who is a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation – is running for Congress as a Democrat.
Seven native American men are also running in the 2018 midterm elections -the total of 10 is double the number of indigenous candidates who ran in 2016.
On November 6, all 435 seats in the House and a third of the 100 Senate seats are up for grabs. The polls are seen as a key litmus test halfway through Trump’s first term in the Oval Office.
The increase in the number of native American candidates is not only in the Congressional races – more are also vying for seats in local and state legislatures, as well as governorships.
Mark Trahant, the editor-in-chief of Indian Country Today, a specialized digital news platform, says that 100 candidates are seeking office nationwide on all levels of government, including 52 women.
Both figures are a record.
For Trahant, Trump was certainly a motivating factor in leading more native Americans to try their luck at the polls.
“It certainly was the inspiration for people to say this time, ‘I’m actually going to run and not just talk about it’.”
Paulette Jordan and Andria Tupola are hoping to win the governor’s mansions in Idaho and Hawaii, respectively.
Among the men, Kevin Stitt is running for governor in Oklahoma, which is home to the only two native American congressmen currently serving – Tom Cole and Markwayne Mullin, both Republicans.
