On November 5th, typically Democratic-voting Indigenous people joined those who rejected the liberal worldview of Washington, DC elites. They voted for Donald Trump in significant numbers even though his administration poses an existential threat to Tribal nations.
There were early signs of this rightward shift.
As an August New York Times story explained: “Despite President Biden naming the first Indigenous cabinet secretary, some Indigenous voters said they still felt voiceless in Washington, and ignored by a federal government that they say has inflicted centuries of harm.”
That Indigenous people would express even muted criticism about Deb Haaland, this country’s first Indigenous cabinet Secretary, proved foretelling.
By the end of October, “dozens” of Indigenous people “who spoke to the AP in the final weeks before the election expressed frustration with Democratic-leaning tribal governments…and politicians in Washington, who they say rarely use their seat at the table to push for them.”
As the dust now settles on the election, the New York Times reports “there were shifts to the right in counties with large populations of…Native American residents.” That is consistent with what is being reported from reliably blue greater Seattle-King County:
In King County, the place that moved the most toward Trump compared to 2020 is on the plateau just east of Auburn, in and around the Muckleshoot tribal lands. The core precinct where Muckleshoot tribal headquarters is located shifted nearly 15 points to Trump….
In a post-election briefing, analysts for AAPI Data, a group that monitors Asian American and Pacific Islander trends, said both Asian and Native American voting margins for Democrats have been dropping.
Likewise, Politico reports:
In Montana, the four counties that reported the sharpest shifts to the right had Native American majorities. In South Dakota, all nine counties with Native American majorities shifted rightward. The same trend held true in neighboring North Dakota, where Sioux County — which is 81 percent Native American — showed the biggest rightward shift of any of the state’s 53 counties, at 10 points.
Elsewhere — in states with large or small Native American populations — the story was much the same. New Mexico’s McKinley County, which is 81 percent Native American and home to members of several different tribes, shifted 14 points to the right. Minnesota’s Mahnomen County, which is 43 percent Native American, moved 7 points — the biggest shift of any county in the state.
As Politico explains, “public safety and economic concerns appear to have rated high among many of those [Trump] voters,” especially as “inflation imposed severe hardships on many Native American families.”
These assessments are corroborated by a poll of 865 Indigenous people conducted by Native News Online in collaboration with Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism and Qualtrics.
According to that survey: “Donald Trump received 51% of Native American votes in the presidential election, while Kamala Harris garnered 45% of the votes,” with Indigenous Trump voters citing “inflation (21%), immigration (16%) and jobs/economy (14%) as their primary concerns.”
Only time will tell if these election results signal a rise in Indigenous populism.
It is worrisome that so many Indigenous voters would support a presidential candidate whose party threatens economic, environmental, and cultural harm to Tribal nations. By voting for Trump, those voters may end up in a worse condition by way of their Tribal nations, which will almost certainly face slashed federal program dollars and aggressive mineral extraction from sacred ancestral homelands.
It is also worrisome that the Democratic-Indigenous political media apparatus remains in denial that Donald Trump won Indigenous America in 2024. If influential folks don’t get right, and course correct, it will be Tribal nations who suffer the existential consequences.
Gabe Galanda is an Indigenous rights attorney and the managing lawyer at Galanda Broadman. He has been named to Best Lawyers in America in the fields of Native American Law and Gaming Law from 2007 to 2024, and dubbed a Super Lawyer by his peers from 2013 to 2024.
