In Why the Native American Vote Could Win the Senate for Democrats in the October 22 Nation, the author explains that four Senate candidates are campaigning in states with enough Native Americans to have an impact: Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota, Jon Tester in Montana, Richard Carmona in Arizona and Martin Heinrich in New Mexico -- states where the tribal population ranges from 5.2 percent in Arizona to 10.1 percent in New Mexico. “In all of those four states, we have great tribal operations" says Jacqueline Johnson, executive director of the nonpartisan National Congress of American Indians, the largest tribal political organization. "Where elections are tighter, the voice of Indian Country has a better chance of participating in the debate.” This year, the registration and voter outreach effort of the NCAI included a Native Vote Action Week that featured 110 tribes, more than 135 events and more than 35,000 participants.
The importance of the Native American vote has been shown before. In 2000, when Maria Cantwell of Washington defeated incumbent Republican Slade Gorton by 2,229 votes out of 2.5 million, she had strong support from Native Americans because of Gorton's efforts against tribal fishing rights. In 2002 Janet Napolitano was losing the election for Arizona governor "until the Navajo vote came in." In Montana in 2006, "the Native vote was the swing vote that put [Senator] Jon Tester in his seat,” says state senator Sharon Stewart-Peregoy, a Crow. In 2010 in Alaska, where Native Americans are 14.9 percent of the population, their votes helped win GOP Senator Lisa Murkowski’s re-election.
Heinrich has been a big supporter of making sure the Democratic Party in New Mexico has a tribal plan and a tribal organization. Carmona's campaign director describes the range of issues among Navajo, Hopi and Apache voters in Arizona, especially gaming, energy and water. Energy is also important in North Dakota, where the oil boom is largely on Mandan-Hidatsa land, while Montana Blackfoot are concerned about natural gas fracking.
The article discusses other issues of concern to Native Americans:
A major issue sweeping across Indian Country this year is the prospect of a sharp reduction in federal spending, reflected in budgets pushed through the House by GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan; passage becomes much likelier if Republicans regain control of the Senate. The tribes may be the most federally dependent people in the country: most reservations have minimal private employment, and public education and health agencies provide many of the jobs that do exist. The idea of sharp cuts to the Bureau of Indian Affairs is unnerving.
The rest of the country is in an uproar over 8 percent unemployment, noted Stewart-Peregoy, but “for tribes, it would be great if we had 8 percent unemployment. We’re talking double digits, from 20 percent unemployment to 70, 80 percent.” Federal support is also vital for tribal colleges and for the Indian Health Service, which after years of battling budget problems was actually strengthened by Obama’s healthcare reform.
Senator Patty Murray of Washington, chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, points out the importance of the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act that "expands protection for tribal women abused by nontribal members, a situation that often falls into the gap between law enforcement on and off reservations." The Senate has passed the bill, but the House has refused to take it up. Murray says the tribes have "really rallied" over this.
The Senate is particularly important for tribal interests because of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee:
“The most important thing to the tribes in North Dakota,” said Diane Johnson, Native American director for the Heitkamp campaign, “is that their senators sit on the Indian Affairs Committee.” North Dakota, like Hawaii, has both of its senators on Indian Affairs, and all four states are represented on it. “It is so important,” said Jacqueline Johnson of the NCAI. “That is how things get done.”
The article concludes that the campaigns are about the basic nature of the federal government’s responsibilities. Looking at Ryan's proposed budget cuts, Stewart-Peregoy of Montana says: "The tribes will be hurting. The poorest will get poorer.”