PINE RIDGE, S.D. – If Bruce Whalen is elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November he will be only the second American Indian to serve from South Dakota.

The late Ben Reifle, Rosebud Sioux, served in the U.S. House from 1961 to 1971 as a Republican, and Whalen, Oglala Lakota, is also running for Congress on the Republican ticket.

South Dakota’s Indian country is mostly considered to be a Democratic stronghold but, interestingly, the Republican Party has endorsed two American Indians for Congress.

Whalen is running an uphill battle against Democratic Congressman Stephanie Herseth. Polls show Herseth with a formidable lead over Whalen, but Whalen claims to not trust the polls.

“I will concede that we have name recognition problems and we have until Nov. 7 to correct that. Coincidentally, we are correcting that within the tribes and we are correcting that in the general public,” Whalen said.

At the beginning of Whalen’s campaign when he attended gatherings he would tell people who he was and that he was running for U.S. House. He said he got very little attention.

“Now I tell people I’m the Republican candidate for U.S. House, and they stop to talk,” he said. “And they are just thrilled they have a Republican candidate.”

An American Indian living on a reservation and running for national office in South Dakota would appear to be at a disadvantage, given the racial climate the state is accused of, especially concerning voting rights issues.

“The breakdown I’m receiving, and it will sound partisan, is the Democrats say I’m running for office just to serve Indians. Republicans are not coming back with those comments, they say we know you are running as a family man and just happen to be from a reservation.

“Democrats and the press are trying to make it a one issue race,” Whalen said.

“When they say I’m going to work with Indian issues, yes I will work with Indian issues. I say that’s a federal responsibility, but I’m not going to be a lobbyist for Indian issues. The nine reservations [in South Dakota] have their idea of how they want to conduct their business.”

Whalen is very much a Republican, and a conservative. He talks the party line and promotes the Republican platform. He is quick to point out that what the Republican Party stands for is very much in line with traditional American Indian vales, especially with family values.

“The major issue is abortion,” Whalen said.

“It’s a hot topic for the entire nation,” he said.

South Dakota recently passed the strongest anti-abortion legislation in the nation. The bill will come up for public vote in November. The Pine Ridge Reservation also imposed a strong abortion ban that does not even include provisions for protecting the life of the mother.

“I remember when [Sen. John] Thune was campaigning, he said we need to capture back the Supreme Court and move away from the rogue judges and basically when we watch the confirmation hearings everything was in a circle around abortion. That’s a huge national issue,” Whalen said.

Whalen also supports the permanent repeal of the inheritance tax and continuing efforts in Iraq to support those millions of Iraqis who voted in the last election.

“Why would we turn our back on the people of Iraq and cut and run. I won’t do that,” he said.

Whalen wants people to remember that it wasn’t until in the 1950s that American Indians in South Dakota were allowed to vote; “We are learning to vote ourselves.”

Whalen has served with the state Republican Party as the American Indian outreach coordinator for more than a year. He has also campaigned for Republican candidates in the last election cycle.

But he admits that he, like others, is not fully up to speed on all the issues because they are changing rapidly.

“What we found is everyone is catching up to speed. I’m not going to sit here and say I know everything that is going on in South Dakota.”

South Dakota is divided in two parts by the Missouri River and political issues many times carry different weights in different parts of the state. The state has only one U.S. Representative.

Whalen is a lithographer by trade. His wife, Carol, is the director of Head Start programs at the Oglala Lakota College. They and their three children live in Pine Ridge on his family’s farm.

Whalen was born and raised on the Pine Ridge Reservation. When he was 14 he moved to Salt Lake City with his mother. He served in the Utah National Guard for 16 years. He returned to Pine Ridge to attend Oglala Lakota College where he was on the student senate for three years and also on the college board of trustees.

“I think we are going to win this race and I look forward to accomplishing one of my goals – bringing racial harmony to South Dakota,” Whalen said.