Historic win for Native American women
Two Native American women’s historic congressional victories add them to a record number of women elected to the US House, following an election cycle that also saw a significant boost in Native American female candidates at the state and local level.
The incoming Native American congresswomen Debra Haaland, of New Mexico, and Sharice Davids, of Kansas, are Democrats.
Haaland, a former New Mexico Democratic Party chairwoman, is a Laguna Pueblo member. Sharice Davids, who is HoChunk, and attorney and a former White House Fellow, beat US Representative Kevin Yoder to win her election for a district that includes suburbs of Kansas City.
As a girl, Haaland remembers joining her grandmother as she chopped wood and fetched water for her home in tiny Mesita, a Native American community situated in New Mexico’s high desert. Haaland, an enrolled Laguna Pueblo member, is certain it was these early experiences and her grandmother’s work ethic helped her win a seat in the US House Representatives on Tuesday — a political victory that until this year had been beyond reach for Native American women. Haaland’s district covers Albuquerque, and a handful of rural communities that include tribal communities. Davids, meanwhile, in addition to being one of the first Native American congresswomen, will also be the nation’s first LGBT Native American to serve as a federal lawmaker. On election night, Davids highlighted her life story of being raised by a single mother, being a first-generation college student and working while she was in school. Haaland and Davids’ wins marked an emotional high point for Kalyn Free, a citizen of the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma and former district attorney in southeastern Oklahoma, who has been part of a decades-long push to get Native American women elected.
“l always say little Indian boys and little Indian girls cannot be what they cannot see,” Free said. “Now, there are going to be two male Republicans and two very outspoken two talented, Indian Democrat women.”
In the past, Free said Native American women she supported faced a “double barrier” along race and gender lines in winning over donors who doubted their abilities. But Haaland and Davids proved to topple it.