Last Tuesday, the American people roundly rejected federal political elitism. It appears typically Democratic-voting Indigenous people joined those who rejected the liberal worldview of Washington, DC elites.
There were early signs of the Indigenous populism reflected at the polls.
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.”
An NPR story, also in August, chronicled Indigenous people’s concerns about Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s failure to block and tackle on behalf of missing and murdered Indigenous women. “A lot of people are hesitant to criticize her,” NPR explained, but many “say their confidence in her ability to champion Indigenous needs is slipping.”
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:
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.
The through-line of these mainstream election news stories is that ordinary Indigenous people’s needs and fears were not heard by the Biden Democrats and are generally not being heard by DC political elites.
That Indigenous people would express even muted criticism about this country’s first Indigenous cabinet Secretary suggests populism is rising in Indian country.
In my own observation, DC political elites—including so-called DC Indians—increasingly ignore the fundamental rights and basic needs of ordinary Indigenous people.
When’s the last time an everyday Indigenous person testified before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs about an existential individual concern? When’s the last time an Interior Secretary took a meeting with a Tribal human rights victim?
Ordinary Indigenous people who don’t wield Indian gaming money, or who express Tribal human rights concerns, are denied access to federal law and policy makers.
They don’t get meetings with U.S. officials, no matter who’s in the White House. They aren’t allowed to testify before Congress, no matter which party is in the majority. They don’t get audiences with DC political elites.
Why? Because there is simply no political or financial incentive to allow ordinary Indigenous people access to the federal political establishment.
There is, however, enormous incentive to allow Tribal gaming politicians and gaming-allied “Tribal sovereignty” advocates federal access. The $42 billion Indian gaming industry is highly incentivizing to folks serving in presidential administrations and on Capitol Hill.
Ordinary Indigenous people simply don’t have the cash needed to compete for federal political attention.
But what ordinary Indigenous people can compete with is their votes, especially in swing states amid an increasingly divided nation. If DC elites don’t contend with rising Indigenous populism, it may cost them future control of the country—if not their careers.
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.
