Richard Arlin Walker
Special to ICT
Early into President Donald Trump’s second term, more than 100 tribal leaders and Native organizations surveyed by the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development said they were optimistic about several administration policies: removing harmful additives from food; the potential for expanded business opportunities resulting from “America First” policies; the reduction of regulatory red tape; and more efficient allocation and use of federal tax dollars.
Native American voters surveyed by the First Nations Development Institute and partner organizations said the rising cost of living, tribal sovereignty, land rights and cultural preservation were their top concerns in the 2024 election. Trump won the support of 47 percent of Native American men and 39 percent of Native voters overall, the Institute reported.
Whether that optimism remains in 2026 will be proven Nov. 3 in the midterm elections, when all 435 U.S. House seats and 33 U.S. Senate seats will be on the ballot. The Republicans have a 218-214 majority in the House and a 53-47 majority in the Senate.
At stake: Trump’s legislative agenda and Republican control of Congress.
If the Democrats win the majority in the House and/or Senate, “It’ll definitely make things more difficult for his agenda,” Republican strategist Michael Stopp, Cherokee, told ICT in an earlier interview. “But we have seen something out of this president we haven’t seen from many others, in the way that he’s willing to push presidential power and executive power. So he may become more brazen without a Congress that works with him.”
Trump’s impact on Indian Country
The Trump administration did recognize the Lumbee Tribe, which shares geography with North Carolina, and returned 680 acres to the Spirit Lake Nation, which shares geography with North Dakota.
On the other hand, Trump changed the name of North America’s tallest peak, Mount Denali — a Koyukon Athabascan name — back to Mount McKinley. His administration suggested that programs for tribal nations were race-based rather than a fulfillment of treaty and trust obligations; made arguments in court that questioned the scope of Native American birthright citizenship; reduced the size of Bears Ears National Monument; and opened protected areas to oil leases and mining. Indigenous people have also been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as suspected undocumented immigrants.
Trump continued to use offensive language and racist tropes, and to demean immigrants and those he considers adversaries. Several prominent Republicans condemned Trump on Feb. 6 after he shared an online video that depicted former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as apes.
The economy may be a significant factor in the midterms, however, as it was for Joe Biden in 2020 and Trump in 2024.
Job growth slowed during Trump’s first year back in office, and manufacturing employment was down a half-percent, according to Business Insider. The jobless rate is expected to tick up to 4.5 percent this year, according to Stanford University’s Institute for Economic Policy Research. And health care premiums have increased as much as 114 percent, the institute reported.
Revenue collection is also up, according to the U.S. Treasury — $5.23 trillion in 2025, up from $4.9 trillion in 2024. That includes $195 billion in tariffs, a tax paid by U.S. import companies on foreign products they bring into the United States. Tariffs can be costly downstream because they are generally passed down to consumers in the form of higher prices, increasing the cost of living.
Trump has said tariff revenue could be used to pay down the national debt, but the national debt is now $38 trillion, up from $36 trillion in 2024, according to the U.S. Treasury. And the Congressional Budget Office estimates Trump’s signature legislation in 2025 – the “Big Beautiful Bill” – will add about $3 trillion to the national debt through 2034.
Overall, a growing number of Americans surveyed — including Republicans — say their confidence in the Trump administration is eroding. “Last year, 67 percent [of Republicans polled] said they supported all or most of Trump’s plans and policies,” the Pew Research Center reported on Jan. 29. “Today, 56 percent do.”
Among all Americans surveyed, Trump’s approval rating has dipped to 37 percent, down from 40 percent in the fall, Pew reported. Trump won 31 states in the 2024 election, but today has a favorable rating in only 16, according to Pew.
A different way of doing things
But Trump has defied the polls before. Dino Rossi, Tlingit, believes Trump’s policies will ultimately prove to be correct.
Rossi, a Republican, represented a Seattle-area district in the Washington state Senate for eight years, and in 2004 came within 130 votes of becoming Washington’s governor. He also owned and managed commercial real estate, and said he gets Trump’s negotiation style.
“If you understand the experience and pay attention to what he says and does, you realize that everything he says and does is to the max and then, as a negotiator, he’ll bring it to somewhere in the middle, usually on a deal,” Rossi said.
“Being a Seattle real estate guy is different from a New York real estate guy. A New York real estate guy, especially a developer, is a bare-knuckled bear,” Rossi said. “And that’s just who he is. They’re not polite, but you know exactly where you stand. He comes out with the most extreme volley right out of the gate, and then both sides figure things out. And he usually wins.”
Rossi believes Trump’s economic policies will ultimately make life more affordable and be more empowering for the individual.
“Look at what he’s trying to do with health care. Instead of giving all the money to the big insurance companies, he wants to give you the money and you actually go out and find the insurance program that you like, which will mean more options, which is better for the consumer,” Rossi said.
“The idea of trying to create opportunities in America should appeal to everybody, and that’s exactly what he’s trying to do and, you know, he is doing it,” he said. “He does it in a different way than people have done in the past. Most people in the past have just talked. He ‘does’.”
Trump also enjoys the support in Congress of three Indigenous Republican members, all from Oklahoma: U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, Cherokee; U.S. Rep. Josh Brecheen, Choctaw, who represents Oklahoma’s 2nd District; and U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, Chickasaw, from Oklahoma’s 4th District. (A fourth Indigenous member, U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, Ho-Chunk, of Kansas, is a Democrat.
Mullin is out in front in his defense of Trump’s foreign and domestic policy agendas, including immigration, border security, finishing the southern border wall, and accelerating asylum processing. On social media, Mullin credited Trump for a secure southern border, lower inflation, tax cuts, wage gains, and lower drug prices.
“We have a lot more work to do, but … it’s been 365 days of promises made, promises kept,” Mullin wrote. “I’m humbled to be in this fight alongside the Trump administration to Make America Great Again.”
Rick Lewis, a descendant of the Bridge River Indian Band in British Columbia, is a Republican who represents portions of Clackamas and Marion counties in the Oregon House of Representatives.
He sees a commitment to Indian Country in this administration, with a number of Native Americans in key roles in the administration.
Mark Cruz, Klamath, for example, who served as a congressional and legislative chief of staff and as a deputy assistant secretary of the Interior, is senior adviser to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“I kind of look at it like, there’s a big improvement when it comes to interaction with the tribes, and it comes fully from knowing Mark and knowing the commitment that Secretary Kennedy and the Trump administration have for healthcare issues,” Lewis said.
“I know Secretary Kennedy and Mark have traveled to a number of the tribes around the United States and listened to their concerns, all related to health care,” he said. “But listening to them, right? That, to me, is encouraging.”
In addition to Cruz, two other Republican Native Americans have significant roles in the administration. Former U.S. Rep. Yvette Herrell, Cherokee, of New Mexico, is awaiting confirmation as an assistant secretary of Agriculture. Former North Carolina state Rep. Jarrod Lowery, Lumbee, is senior adviser to the U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs.
‘A lesson here’
Trump’s return to the presidency has been empowering for those Americans who’ve felt like their voices weren’t being heard, Lewis said. And there’s a lesson there for the majority party, whether Republican or Democrat.
“The urban/rural divide in this country is real,” Lewis said. “I think there’s a level of frustration, particularly in the more rural communities: ‘What difference does it make if we vote? We can’t change anything.’ It’s this notion among leaders of the party that has the majority: ‘Because we’re the majority, we can do pretty much anything we want and you can’t stop us.’ Now they’re starting to find out that the people can stop them.”
Stopp said a course change in the midterms could result in a new commitment to bipartisan work in Congress.
“There is bipartisan work being done in Congress, but you don’t really hear about it,” said Stopp, a former chief of staff for Mullins. “What surprised me when I got there was, in fact, that the majority of members are elected because they love this country and they want to see good things. We may disagree on how we get there, but most of them want to see the best for this country.”
MIDTERMS AT A GLANCE
Primaries: Each state sets its own dates for candidate filing deadlines and primary elections. The first primaries are scheduled for March 3 in Arkansas, North Carolina and Texas. The last primaries are scheduled for Sept. 15 in Delaware and Massachusetts.
General election: Nov. 3, 2026.
Terms begin: Jan. 3, 2027. Members of the House are elected to two-year terms. Senators are elected to six-year terms. Representatives and senators are paid $174,000 a year.
House authority: The House has the constitutional authority to begin the process of creating and passing bills that raise revenue, or taxes. The House has the constitutional authority to impeach federal officials. An impeachment is the political equivalent of an indictment; impeachments are tried in the U.S. Senate. The House also has the constitutional authority to elect the president should the Electoral College be deadlocked.
Senate authority: The Senate has the constitutional authority to try impeachments, approve presidential appointments, approve or reject treaties, and elect the Vice President in the event of an Electoral College tie. The Vice President serves as president of the Senate and votes in the event of a tie.