Record number of native women to run for US midterm polls

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 ofice right now to really push the issues that we care about,” Deb Haaland, who is running in New Mexico, said in an interview.

In Kansas, Sharice Davids -- a lesbian lawyer and former mixed martial arts ighter who is a member of the Ho-chunk Nation -- is running for Congress as a Democrat.

Mark Trahant, the editor-in-chief of Indian Country Today, a specialised digital news platform, says that 100 candidates are seeking ofice nationwide on all levels of government, including 52 women.

Both igures 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.

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.