Overview:
Native candidates could make history in the midterms as Indian Country weighs federal funding cuts, rising costs and the power of its vote.
Opinion
The 2026 midterm elections are here, with Election Day on Nov. 3. Although voting ends Tuesday, millions of Americans have already cast their ballots across the country. For Indian Country, the election offers the prospect of greater Native representation at a time when federal funding cuts threaten tribal priorities.
Several Native candidates are running as Democrats in competitive races for offices that no Native person has held before in their states. Among them is former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo), who is leading by seven percentage points in New Mexico’s gubernatorial race and could become the first Native American woman governor in U.S. history.
In Minnesota, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (White Earth Ojibwe) is leading her Republican opponent, Michele Tafoya, in the polls. A late-October Survey USA/KSTP-TV poll showed Flanagan ahead by seven-and-a-half points (51.6% to 44.1%). If elected, she would become the first Native American woman to serve in the U.S. Senate.
The optimism continues in Alaska, where former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola (Yup’ik) is leading the state’s Senate race in a close contest against incumbent Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan.
Native Americans are also competing for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. In Arizona, former Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez has a slight lead over Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Eli Crane in the state’s 2nd Congressional District. In my home state, state Sen. Sean McCann, a Citizen Potawatomi Nation citizen, is locked in a neck-and-neck race against his Republican opponent, Bill Huizenga, in Michigan’s 4th congressional district.
Victories would expand representation in the federal government.
During a discussion on Native News Online’s Energizing the Native Vote livestream on Oct. 29, Native Organizers Alliance Executive Director Judith Le Blanc connected the emergence of Native candidates to years of organizing. She pointed to organizing efforts that took place when Native Americans came together to oppose the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines. She specifically cited Standing Rock as a pivotal moment that brought people together.
“The beautiful thing about the political arena is that there are many paths going parallel and coming together at different points. I think where we are has to do with Standing Rock and the opposition to the Dakota Access pipeline,” Le Blanc said.
During the same livestream, Holly Macarro, a longtime political strategist, referenced Flanagan’s two years of organizing.
“This is an extraordinary year. I look at the other candidates, such as Mary Peltola in Alaska and Rep. Sharice Davids in Kansas, they have worked very hard,” Macarro said.
O.J. Semans Sr., co-executive director of Four Directions Native Vote, also credited voting-rights litigation with helping Native candidates compete.
“It has taken a lot of hard work…and it took lawsuits to show that we had the right to vote,” Semans said. “We have to keep reminding non-Natives their democracy came from us.”
The prospect of electing more Native leaders gives Indian Country a reason for hope. But representation is only part of it.
Midterm elections often serve as a judgment on the president’s performance, and dissatisfaction with the economy can hurt the president’s party.
This year, affordability is a major concern. Americans are feeling the financial pressure every time they go to the grocery store or the gas station.
Yet, President Donald Trump continues to publicly dismiss concerns about affordability as a “hoax invented by Democrats.” Meanwhile, he’s bragging about the fact that oil profits are soaring: “I don’t give a damn, I’m going to say it — we’re making a freaking fortune,” Trump said.
Praising oil company profits while families struggle to fill their gas tank shows a disconnect between his billionaire allies and ordinary American families, which have reportedly spent an average of $1,000 more in household expenses this year.
For Indian Country, the second Trump administration has been harsh, with massive cuts to funding for tribes and Native organizations across the country. Last month, the Brookings Institution reported that tribal nations and Native organizations lost nearly $470 million in federal funding through grant and contract cancellations attributed to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
These midterm elections carry a different weight because of what many see as an apparent lack of concern for ordinary Americans by the Trump administration and his GOP supporters in Congress.
Concerns about the administration’s use of executive power add to the stakes.
Many polls suggest Democrats could gain ground in Congress, putting a check on the Trump administration. But polls do not elect government officials. Votes do.
If you have not yet voted, please exercise your hard-fought right to vote by Election Day.
Thayék gde nwéndëmen – we are all related.
