http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/opinion/editorials/Wins-losses-and-the-work-ahead-106760223.html
The conservative tidal wave that carried Republican candidates to victory across the nation on Nov. 2 appears to have swept away many Native American candidates as well.

Nowhere could that loss be seen more vividly than in the largely unsuccessful efforts of the Indigenous Democratic Network, or INDN’s List, to get Native candidates elected to state offices.

“Last night’s election results were devastating for Indian country,” said Kalyn Free, president and founder of INDN’s List. “In January, we will have far fewer Indians holding office than we do now.”

This fall, the grassroots political organization devoted to recruiting and electing Natives to local, state and national office endorsed 27 Indian candidates. Of those candidates, just 12 won their races Nov. 2, and all of them were incumbents. However, seven incumbent Native candidates endorsed by INDN’s List lost, while all eight Native candidate challengers lost their races.

Nationally, Native American-supported congressional candidates fared only slightly better, as Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska appeared to have kept her seat after a gutsy write-in campaign. However, Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin – though winning heavy Native support in South Dakota – lost her seat to Republican Kristi Noem.

The conservative tidal wave

that carried Republican candidates to victory across the nation on Nov. 2 appears to have swept away many Native American candidates as well.

In North Dakota, GOP candidate John Hoeven easily defeated Democrat Tracy Potter for the seat left open by retiring Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Chairman Byron Dorgan, a Democrat.

Meanwhile, the shift to a Republican majority in the House of Representatives means Republicans now take control of the House committee that handles Native issues. That committee’s chair will be Rep. Doc Hastings of Washington, who opposed adding the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to last year’s health care bill.

We can only hope House Republicans will see the importance of passing Native legislation, including the Cobell trust fund settlement.

Within tribal elections, Indian voters elected former chairmen in North Dakota and South Dakota, while declining to elect a first female president for the Navajo but choosing to elect the first female leader for the Ponca of Nebraska.

In North Dakota, the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation elected a former chairman, Tex Hall, who beat incumbent Marcus Levings for the post. It will be Hall’s third term as chairman. In South Dakota, former President John Yellowbird Steele defeated incumbent Theresa Two Bulls for president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, according to unofficial election results.

Meanwhile, the Navajo Nation elected Ben Shelly over New Mexico State Sen. Lynda Lovejoy for president, despite charges of conspiracy, fraud and theft against Shelly. Lovejoy would have been the tribe’s first woman president.
Cecilia Fire Thunder, the first female president of the Oglala Sioux, portended Lovejoy’s loss when she told USA Today on Oct. 28: “White women face a glass ceiling. Indian women face a buckskin ceiling.”

In Nebraska, Rebecca White broke through her tribe’s “buckskin ceiling,” beating former Chairman Mark Peniska Jr. and Robin Bair to become her tribe’s first woman leader.

In New York, the Seneca Nation elected a Harvard-educated attorney whose experience many hope will help the tribe in its ongoing legal entanglements with the state over cigarette taxes. Robert Odawi Porter beat Maurice John Sr. for the post.

As Indian country takes stock of this election season’s results, we must learn from our losses and find ways to better support qualified Indian candidates for local, state and national offices. The most obvious method for getting Indian candidates elected – funding. And that’s exactly where Kalyn Free says Indian country failed this year.

“This cycle, Republican special interest groups and corporations spent more on elections than ever before. Unfortunately, INDN’s List had less money than in past cycles. We tried to help more

For Free, getting Indians elected to office is about more than just winning elections.

“It is about inspiring people who have no hope for a better tomorrow, it is about showing our Indian boys and girls that they can be what they can see, that they too can and should dream big dreams.”