Kadin Mills
ICT
WASHINGTON — Nine Indigenous political candidates are running for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2024 election cycle.
All candidates will be on the ballot in the Nov. 5 general election, including four incumbents — Josh Brecheen, Tom Cole, Sharice Davids and Mary Peltola. Former Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez is also running in a tight race to be the first Native American person to represent Arizona in Congress.
Dennis Baker
Muscogee Nation citizen and Euchee descent
Oklahoma, 1st congressional district
Democrat
Dennis Baker is a citizen of the Muscogee Nation and of Euchee descent, running to represent Oklahoma’s first congressional district as a Democrat. He is challenging Republican incumbent Kevin Hern who was first elected in 2018.
The district serves the Tulsa metropolitan area, and includes portions of the Muscogee and Cherokee Nations.
Baker says the biggest issue for him is improving the lives of Oklahomans. “My campaign is all about wanting to move Oklahoma forward,” he says. “Address the problems that we have, which is poverty, education, the affordability crisis — people can’t afford homes. Their rents are too high.”
Baker is a former FBI Special Agent, having spent time in both the violent crimes taskforce and the counterterrorism division. He is a strong advocate for responsible gun ownership. He said he would support a national red-flag law. “It’s just common sense,” he said, arguing everyday citizens should be able to report behavior they fear poses a threat to public safety.
He says people should be empowered to intervene before violence occurs. “And then have a legal proceeding to determine whether that person should be allowed access to a deadly weapon,” he added.
Baker is also concerned about fentanyl entering the country through legal points of entry. He says he believes in a secure southern border.
Other top issues for Baker’s campaign include supporting access to safe abortions as well as gender affirming care. He says these are personal healthcare decisions and supports codifying these protections at the federal level.
Baker says he also wants to see Congress pass the Protect the Right to Organize Act, legislation he says is, “the most pro-union bill in a generation.” It would close loopholes in federal labor law and expand collective bargaining power.
Baker also supports raising the minimum wage and implementing a national free student lunch program. Baker says he also wants to see Congress pass the Protect the Right to Organize Act, legislation he says is, “the most pro-union bill in a generation.” It would close loopholes in federal labor law and expand collective bargaining power.
Baker also supports raising the minimum wage and implementing a national free student lunch program.
Josh Brecheen
Choctaw
Oklahoma, 2nd congressional district
Republican
Rep. Josh Brecheen, Choctaw, represents Oklahoma’s second congressional district. The district comprises almost entirely tribal land, including nearly all of the Choctaw and Cherokee Nations. It is also home to a large swath of the Muscogee Nation. Rep. Brecheen was first elected to federal office in 2022, succeeding Markwayne Mullin, Cherokee, who ran for U.S. Senate in a special election.
Rep. Brecheen previously served in the state’s Senate from 2011 to 2019. Brecheen did not run for reelection, instead self-imposing an eight-year term limit, according to NonDoc Media. “We must reduce Washington’s influence in our daily lives,” his campaign website reads. “The most effective way to do that is to pass term limits on members of Congress.”
He says he will hold himself to an eight-year term limit in the U.S. Congress, as he did in the state legislature.
In Congress, Brecheen is a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security as well as the House Budget Committee. He believes in a strong national defense, the right to bear arms, and the electoral college.
The representative is a staunch opponent of abortion, and he introduced two bills in November 2023 to stop federal tax dollars from funding abortions. The Hyde Amendment has banned taxpayer funded abortions since 1977. The Indian Health Service, which serves 2.56 million American Indians and Alaska Natives as of 2020, falls under the amendment’s jurisdiction. Brecheen’s legislation would clarify the existing ban.
In a video on his campaign’s YouTube channel, Brecheen says, “I know that Roe v. Wade was overturned because of the prayers of the people and the decisions that President Trump made.”
He has also worked on legislation to pull Oklahoma out of national Common Core standards in 2014. He advocates instead for state and local education standards. “There’s no role,” he says, “for the federal government in education.” Brecheen believes this necessitates dismantling the Department of Education.
Rep. Brecheen has also advocated for “sealing” the U.S.-Mexico border, referring to record numbers of immigration as an invasion. “Build the wall and any other discussion about what we do about those who have flooded in comes second,” he said.
Rep. Brecheen did not respond to repeated requests from ICT for comment.
Sharon Clahchischilliage
Navajo
New Mexico, 3rd congressional district
Republican
Sharon Clahchischilliage, Navajo, is running to represent New Mexico’s third congressional district. She previously represented district four in the state House, and she is currently serving on the New Mexico Public Education Commission. Clahchischilliage, a Republican, hopes to unseat Democratic incumbent Teresa Leger Fernandez, who was elected in 2020.
District three includes most of northern New Mexico, as well as some western parts of the state. It encompasses a majority of the state’s tribal nations, as well as large fossil fuel and mineral reserves. Clahchischilliage says these are vital to economic development.
Clahchischilliage lives in the Navajo Nation, near the San Juan Basin. She wants to see improved access to services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service in particular. “There are so many issues we have with water, land, and services. And we live on federal lands, yet we’re not represented,” she said.
She says her district needs a representative who can fight on the behalf of tribal nations, including standing up for water rights. “I’m passionate about sovereignty,” she said. “Who’s up in DC vouching on our behalf? Who is bringing these issues to light?”
Bills like the Indian Child Welfare Act and the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act need to be updated to better serve Native peoples, according to Clahchischilliage. She says understanding sovereignty is at the heart of the issues.
Some of the biggest issues on top of mind for the congressional candidate include improving infrastructure and education for rural constituents in her district. She says strengthening the economy is her priority.
Another issue on her mind is gun control. “It doesn’t fit all of us,” she said, stressing the importance for ranchers and farmers to be able to protect their livestock from predators. Clahchischilliage says it is not a black-and-white issue. “To me, bottom line, it’s a mental health issue,” she says. As a representative, she would defend her constituent’s Second Amendment right to bear arms.
Clahchischilliage said she is not concerned about climate change. “My belief is that we’re going through a very natural process of Earth cleansing,” she said.
Tom Cole
Chickasaw
Oklahoma, 4th congressional district
Republican
Rep. Tom Cole, Chickasaw, is a prominent member of the Republican party and a foremost expert on Native American issues in government. He has served since 2009 as Republican co-chair of the Congressional Native American Caucus. Cole also serves on several other committees, including as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. He is the former chairman of the House Rules Committee.
First elected in 2003 to serve Oklahoma’s fourth congressional district, Rep. Cole is the longest-serving Native American congressman in the U.S., a title formerly held by Charles David Carter, Chickasaw. Carter served from 1907 to 1927.
“It’s a great honor, frankly, it’s something that I never thought would happen,” Cole said.
Cole descends from a long line of public servants, from his great-great grandfather who in the 1860s was the clerk of the Chickasaw Supreme Court to his mother, the first Native American woman elected to the Oklahoma state Senate.
For Cole, representing 11 tribes within his district (including his own) has been a dream come true. “It’s a very proud Native American district and Native Americans have always been big contributors,” he said.
He spends a lot of time teaching non-Native legislators, on all sides of the political aisle, about tribal sovereignty. He advocates for tribes to be able regulate their lands in the ways they see fit. That means allowing tribes to make decisions about land management, including conservation and extraction.
“That’s been a huge part of their prosperity and they need to have the right to regulate and to do what they want on their lands,” he said.
At the same time, he emphasized the importance of self-determination. “If a tribe makes a decision it doesn’t want to allow traditional fossil fuel extraction, that’s certainly their right.”
Cole said tribes have the right to protect sacred lands. He criticized the 2015 land transfer that would allow mining under the Apache’s sacred Oak Flat site. “I mean, it was shameful the way in which it was done, quite frankly,” he said.
Additionally, Cole says Congress must work to reauthorize the Farm Bill and the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, two pieces of legislation that recently expired. Cole says the Farm Bill is especially important for rural constituents.
He says working across the aisle to pass bipartisan legislation is gratifying. Rep. Cole is particularly proud of reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act alongside Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids – “a great Ho-Chunk from Kansas,” he said.
Sharice Davids
Ho-Chunk
Kansas, 3rd congressional district
Democrat
Rep. Sharice Davids, Ho-Chunk, is the Democratic incumbent representing Kansas’ third congressional district, which includes parts of Kansas City and its southwest suburbs. She was first elected in 2018, unseating Republican incumbent Kevin Yoder.
Rep. Davids was one of the first two Native American women elected to U.S. Congress, alongside Deb Haaland, who was later appointed as Secretary of the Interior. Davids is also the first openly 2SLGBTQ+ Native American elected to the legislative body.
“It was almost too big to conceptualize when I first got elected,” she said.
She owes her success to the sacrifices of her mother, a U.S. Army veteran, who raised Davids and her two brothers by herself. “Just seeing how much work and effort she put into making sure that if I wanted to do something, I felt empowered enough to even try,” she told ICT.
Davids is the Democratic co-chair of the Congressional Native American Caucus, and also serves on the Transportation and Infrastructure, Small Business, and Agriculture Committees. Her district has a small Native American population, but Davids says she has worked to uplift contemporary Indigenous issues.
“A lot of people around the country and members of Congress don’t always know the specific issue affecting Indian Country,” she said. “The fact that there is a crisis around missing and murdered Indigenous people is still not as widely known as it needs to be.”
Rep. Davids worked with Rep. Tom Cole to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, adding provisions for tribal governments to address the MMIP crisis. The duo also introduced legislation establishing a Truth and Healing Commission to investigate the policies of U.S. Indian Boarding Schools.
In her district, Davids secured more than $1.5 billion in federal funds through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to improve the state’s infrastructure. This will fund over 115 projects, from rebuilding bridges and highways to replacing lead pipes.
Davids is committed to lowering the cost of living for those in her district by reducing reliance on foreign oil and reducing the costs of prescription drugs. She supported the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, which capped the cost of insulin for Medicare recipients and expanded certain tax credits.
Rep. Davids says she will strengthen local economies by supporting small businesses, bolstering domestic manufacturing, and improving agricultural supply chains. Davids has also pushed to pass a long-term reauthorization of the bipartisan Farm Bill, and recently introduced legislation to make the American Rescue Plan’s Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program permanent.
Yvette Herrell
Cherokee
New Mexico, 2nd congressional district
Republican
Yvette Herrell first ran to represent New Mexico’s second Congressional district in 2018 after serving in the state House representing District 51. Herrell lost to Democrat Xochitl Torres Small, but went on to flip the seat in 2020. She lost her reelection campaign to current Rep. Gabe Vasquez in 2022 by little more than 1,300 votes. Now, she is attempting to reclaim the seat once again.
Herrell is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation and was the first Native American, Republican woman to be elected to Congress. In a recent interview with The New Mexican, Herrell said she doesn’t believe in identity politics, referring to her tribal citizenship. She describes herself instead as, “a Christian, Republican woman who’s pro-God, pro-life, pro-gun, pro-business and pro-America.”
On the issue of reproductive rights, Herrell says she, “greatly empathize(s) with the many women who find themselves with an unintended pregnancy, which is why I support exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother,” according to her campaign website. Herrell said she will not support a national abortion ban. She maintains, however, she will oppose any attempts to fund abortions with federal dollars. The Hyde Amendment has restricted funding abortions with federal tax dollars since 1977 but has been an issue of contention in recent years. Again, IHS falls under the Hyde Amendment.
The second congressional district, which spans the southwest portion of the state, shares 180 miles of border with Mexico. As a result, immigration and border security are top priorities for Herrell. She has advocated for increased border security agents, as well as the completion of the border wall, as was championed by former President Donald Trump.
In 2021, as representative, Herrell was the only Native American in the U.S. Congress who voted no on the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, introduced by Reps. Tom Cole, Republican, and Sharice Davids, Democrat.
Herrell did not respond to repeated requests from ICT for an interview.
Madison Horn
Cherokee
Oklahoma, 5th congressional district
Democrat
Madison Horn, Cherokee, is attempting her second bid for a congressional seat. Running to represent Oklahoma District five in the U.S. House, she previously ran to represent the state’s first congressional district in 2022, losing to Republican James Lankford.
Horn is the founder and CEO of RoseRock Advisory Group, a cybersecurity firm based in Oklahoma.
During her first run for office in 2021, Horn told 102.3 KRMG (AM), a talk-radio station in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She is a proud conservative Democrat. She said, “I don’t believe that our government is working for us. I don’t believe there’s bipartisan conversations happening.” She told the radio station she hopes the use of these labels will allow her to reach across the political aisle to get meaningful work done.
Horn believes Oklahoma needs a congressional leader who will fight for a secure southern border and policy reforms such as addressing what she calls a humanitarian crisis, according to her campaign website. She also advocates for expanding pathways to citizenship.
Her website also says she will, “Advocate for federal legislation that defends a woman’s right to reproductive healthcare.” It makes no mention of abortion, but proposes expanding childcare and parental leave, increasing sexual education and family planning services, as well as improving the Women Children and Infants program. Her campaign also advocates for the expansion of Medicaid.
Horn believes these initiatives are vital to improving prenatal and postpartum care and reducing teen pregnancy. She says they will also address “racial disparities in maternal and infant health among diverse communities.”
Horn’s campaign responded to an initial email from ICT but did not respond to further requests for an interview.
Jonathan Nez
Navajo
Arizona, 2nd congressional district
Democrat
Jonathan Nez is the former president of the Navajo Nation, having served from 2019 to 2023 until losing his reelection campaign to Buu Nygren in 2022. He previously served as vice president and has also been a member of the Navajo Nation Council, the Navajo County Board of Supervisors for District 1, and has held office as Shanto Chapter Vice President.
The former president is running as a Democrat to represent Arizona’s second congressional District, which includes Flagstaff and Casa Grande. If elected, he would be the first Native American congressman from Arizona.
Nez says his previous roles in government, as well as his upbringing, have prepared him to work across the aisle in the House of Representatives. The former president says he has what it takes to unite all sides of the political spectrum.
“My parents taught me conservative values,” he said. “They were Republicans, and they were the kind of Republicans who saw that Congress could be able to work together.”
During his presidency, he brought an historic amount of financial resources — more than $4 billion — to the people of the Navajo Nation. These funds include $1 billion to the Navajo Area Indian Health Service and another $1 billion to the Bureau of Indian Education. The former president also secured federal funds to expand access to clean running water and electricity, as well as provide high-speed broadband connectivity for more than 27,000 homes, according to the Navajo-Hopi Observer.
“Those are things that are important to everyone and to our future,” Nez said. “In rural Arizona, non-Native communities, they want broadband communication, they want better roads, they want clean drinking water.”
Former President Nez also says protecting sovereignty is paramount, but not only for Native nations. He also believes in the importance of individual inherent sovereignty.
“We delegate some of our sovereignty to leaders through a vote and they speak on our behalf,” he said. “No elected official should tell us what to do with our bodies.”
Nez says abortion and marriage equality are two issues that legislators should have their hands off of. During his campaign for president, then vice president, Nez advocated to repeal a 2005 law banning same-sex marriage, but legislation was never passed and the issue remains under debate.
Mary Peltola
Yup’ik
Alaska, At-Large
Democrat
Incumbent Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola, Yup’ik, is Alaska’s only U.S. House of Representative, serving the entire state. She is the first Alaska Native to have been sworn into Congress, succeeding former Rep. Don Young after his death in office. Young was first elected in 1973. She won a special election in August 2022 to serve the rest of his term, and she was reelected in November 2022.
“I am humbled and deeply honored to be the first Alaska Native elected to this body, the first woman to hold Alaska’s House seat,” Peltola said on the House floor after she was sworn in. “But, to be clear, I’m here to represent all Alaskans,” she continued.
Peltola has introduced numerous bills to defend Alaska fisheries and habitats, including the Fisheries Improvement and Seafood Health Act which addresses the impacts of foreign seafood producers on Alaskan communities. She has co-led legislation to streamline the disaster relief process for coastal fishing communities, as well as a bill that would address collisions between whales and shipping vessels.
Rep. Peltola has also advocated for workers and fought to uphold their right to unionize. In Congress, she opposed legislation that her campaign says undermined rail workers’ ability to strike in December 2022. Peltola believes Congress must pass the Protect the Right to Organize Act, an issue she has pushed since first elected.
Alaska’s economy is dominated by fossil fuel extraction. As a result, Rep. Peltola has had to balance energy exploration and investments in low-carbon alternatives. She has pressured President Joe Biden to approve the Willow Project, a controversial oil and gas drilling project on Alaska’s North Slope. Her campaign says the project will create union jobs for Alaskans.
On the other hand, Rep. Peltola has also secured record investments in renewable energy. “By 2035, 75 percent of Alaskans can be powered by 85 percent renewable energy,” according to her campaign website. Overall, she has brought in over $2 billion in infrastructure investments, including $48 Million to protect Alaska’s waterways by maintaining culverts.
The representative supports the right to bear-arms, and she co-sponsored legislation that would allow tribal citizens to purchase firearms using identification issued by tribal governments. There are 229 Alaska Native villages in the state. She also supports federal legislation to codify the right to abortion access.
Rep. Peltola did not respond to ICT’s requests for comment.
ICT is owned by IndiJ Public Media, a nonprofit news organization. Will you support our work? All of our content is free. There are no subscriptions or costs. And we have hired more Native journalists in the past year than any news organization ─ and with your help we will continue to grow and create career paths for our people. Support ICT for as little as $10. Sign up for ICT’s free newsletter.