Native Vote 2026: Now and Later — Like the Candy

Guest Opinion

I am looking at the 2026 election from two places at once: as a political operative who happens to be Native, and as a Native person who has spent decades inside American politics.

I was the first Native American Democratic national political director. I have served as a Democratic Party executive director, worked campaigns and executive committees, organized voters, raised money, recruited candidates and worked across tribal, state and national governments.

So I know how political parties work. I know how campaigns work. And I know Indian Country.

What I see happening in 2026 is different.

Native candidates are running for governor, U.S. Senate, Congress, state legislatures, and local offices across the country. They did not suddenly become political because they became candidates. Many have spent years organizing, building relationships, working inside political parties and developing political power.

They just happen to be candidates now.

And they can win.

In 2018, Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) and Sharice Davids (Ho-Chunk Nation) became the first two enrolled women from federally recognized tribes elected to Congress. Neither appeared out of nowhere. Haaland had served as chair of the New Mexico Democratic Party. Davids defeated a Republican incumbent and flipped her Kansas district.

Peggy Flanagan (White Earth Nation) worked for years in grassroots organizing before serving in the Minnesota Legislature and becoming lieutenant governor. She is now the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate. Mary Peltola (Yup’ik) became the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress and is now running for the U.S. Senate.

And the field goes all the way down the ballot, with Native candidates running for state legislatures, county and city offices, school boards and more.

These are not diversity footnotes.

They are political power.

Native Candidates Are American Candidates

The Democratic Party needs to stop looking at a Native candidate and thinking only, “Native voters.” That’s too small.

Native candidates are running on the economy, the cost of living, health care, education, housing, jobs, infrastructure, climate, democracy, public safety, and the future of our children.

They are running for America.

And they bring something additional to American political life: knowledge shaped by Native governance, sovereignty, stewardship and intergovernmental relationships.

Native issues are American issues. Native political knowledge is an American political asset.

Money. Votes.

At the Democratic National Committee, this was drilled into my head: Money. Votes. Money. Votes.

It is the first rule of politics.

Candidates need campaign money. Voters need registration, education and turnout efforts. Organizers need to be paid. Data, communications and campaign infrastructure require resources.

The money exists.

The question is whether we are willing to put it where the opportunity is.

And investment cannot end on Election Day.

I have seen what happens when it does.

In Wisconsin, I built a Native American caucus within the state Democratic Party and ran Native Vote. We raised money, worked with tribes to identify where the voters were, put people in the field and paid people to get voters to the polls.

The result was extremely strong turnout among registered voters in six of Wisconsin’s eleven reservations, plus Milwaukee.

That’s not theory. That’s what political infrastructure can do when it is funded and somebody knows how to run it.

Then the funding stopped. The caucus disappeared.

Wisconsin went back to lackluster turnout of the Native vote.

That is the warning. If you fund the infrastructure, you build political power. If you stop funding it, you lose what you built and have to start over.

Build Around the Win

We should not spend money simply to win one election.

If a Native candidate wins Congress, keep the organizers. Keep the relationships. Keep talking to the voters. Develop the next candidate.

If Native voters turn out, don’t thank them and disappear. Stay there.

If a Native candidate wins statewide, use that victory to build political capacity across the state.

Protect. Build. Flip.

Protect the candidates and seats that can be won. Build the candidates and organizations that can become competitive. Flip the races where Native voters and Native candidates can change the outcome.

And build the infrastructure that makes the next victory easier than the last.

We already know this works.

In 1997, I founded the Native American Caucus within the Democratic National Committee. Twenty-seven years later, at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, I walked into that caucus and saw Native Democrats from different states organizing, exchanging information and building relationships.

My dream was still there.

That’s what political infrastructure can do. It can outlive an election. It can outlive the person who started it. It can become something bigger than any one campaign.

Now and Later

I want both.

I want Democrats and Democratic donors to invest in the Native candidates who are running now, in the voters who can help decide these races, and in the organizers and infrastructure that can carry that work beyond Election Day.

Put real money behind the races where Native candidates and Native voters can make a difference. Keep the organizers. Keep the relationships. Build the next candidate. Measure success not only by who wins, but by what political capacity remains after the election.

We know what happens when that investment stops. Wisconsin showed us. Build it, fund it, and it works. Stop funding it, and we start over.

The opportunity is here. The candidates are here. The voters are here.

So let’s invest now—not for one election, but for the political power those victories can create.

Maybe the person who becomes the first Native American president is already running. Maybe they’re watching someone else run and thinking, I could do that.

Maybe somebody just needs to say: Yes.

Don’t make them start from zero again.

Win now. Build now. Win later.

Now and later.

Like the candy.

Gwen Leaffe Carr is a Cayuga Nation citizen, political strategist and government affairs
professional with more than three decades of experience in tribal, state, and national politics. She was the first Native American Democratic National Political Director and has spent her career building political organizations, developing candidates and strengthening Native political power.