More than 100 Native candidates vying for statewide offices, state legislative seats

Amelia Schafer
ICT

Deb Haaland, Clara Pratte, and Katie Fire Thunder represent three different generations of Native women, but all have one thing in common: they’re all running for a state-level position. 

Haaland is running for governor in New Mexico, Pratte wants the Arizona Corporation Commission role to give Arizona families affordable services, and Fire Thunder brings along leadership that runs in the family to her Montana race. (Her grandmother, Cecelia Fire Thunder, was the first woman president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.) 

All three represent 56 percent of Native women running for statewide office and state legislature in 25 states across the country, according to the ICT and Advance Native Political Leadership database.

Across the nation, Indigenous people are running for office at unprecedented levels. 

The 2026 election year alone saw a record number of 363 Indigenous candidates, a 44 percent increase from 2024, according to the ICT and Advance Native Political Leadership database. 

State legislative races

Of the 363 Indigenous candidates nationwide, 130 ran for state legislative positions. Of those 130, 92 will advance to the general election on Nov. 3, meaning more than 70 percent won their primaries. 

The 92 state legislative candidates represent 122 different tribal nations. 

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, “a total of 6,139 seats are up for regularly scheduled elections in 2026, representing 83 percent of the nation’s 7,386 legislative seats.” That doesn’t include special elections. 

In 2024, New Mexico had the largest number of Indigenous candidates for state legislature, with 17 candidates followed by Oklahoma with 13 candidates. Montana held this position in 2026 with 13 candidates, followed by Alaska with 10 candidates.  

Of all 50 states, Montana has been the state with the highest Native representation of state legislators which led to the creation of its American Indian caucus.

Native state legislature candidates will appear on ballots in Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawai’i, Iowa, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wyoming.

This year has seen a 14 percent increase in the numbers of states where Indigenous legislature candidates appear on ballots – with the additions of four not previously seen states: Arkansas, Connecticut, Maine and Michigan. One Indigenous person ran for state legislature in 2024 in Kansas, however, Kansas saw no state legislative candidates in 2026.

Some state legislatures could see their first Indigenous elected officials. 

In Iowa, no American Indian or Alaska Native person has ever held a position in the state’s house of representatives or senate, according to data from the Iowa Legislature. 

Jessica Lopez-Walker is hoping to change that. 

“I think it’s important for Native people to be in public office because we are the original people of this land,” said Lopez-Walker, a citizen of the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. 

Lopez-Walker, a Democrat, is running in the general election for Iowa House of Representatives District 2. Lopez-Walker faces Republican incumbent Robert Henderson.  

Following the 1832 Indian Removal Act, Ho-Chunk or Winnebago people were forcibly removed from their homelands in Wisconsin and forced to walk through Iowa towards what is now the Crow Creek Reservation in central South Dakota. Crow Creek wouldn’t be the tribe’s final destination, they’d then be forced into present-day Nebraska just 19 miles south of Sioux City, Iowa. 

Today, one federally recognized tribe exists within Iowa, the Meskwaki Nation, but the Winnebago tribe does possess trust land within the state. 

“I have a different perspective, being a Native person,” Lopez-Walker said. “We take care of what is provided to us, and if we don’t, who’s gonna do that? 

For many Indigenous people, serving in state legislatures means having a seat at the table on lands their ancestors were once barred from. 

“[In doing so] you kind of take back the narrative,” Lopez-Walker said. “I’m all about having the truth of all history being told. A lot of people don’t even realize that there’s still Native Americans here, or why Sioux City has its name. There’s a lot of history that people don’t know and a lot are really interested in.” 

As a result of the 1832 Indian Removal Act, many Choctaw people were forcibly relocated to Oklahoma from their homelands in Tennessee by the order of President Andrew Jackson. In 2026, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma citizen and state Rep. Bryan Terry, R-Tennessee, hopes to continue to represent his people in the Tennessee legislature.  

“When I walk through those halls and I see the statues of Andrew Jackson, I realize the importance of me being in the General Assembly, and my voice that I can have for Native Americans is something that 22 centuries ago was not wanted, and now I’m there,” Terry told ICT in August after winning his primary election. 

Terry has held the position since 2014 and will face Democratic nominee Matt Ferry in November. 

Statewide races

In other state-level elections, there are 11 candidates running for statewide offices, including Haaland, Pueblo of Laguna, in New Mexico. 

If elected, Haaland would become the nation’s first ever Native American woman governor and New Mexico’s first Native American governor, home to 23 tribal nations. 

Indigenous candidates in statewide races across the country include:

• Clara Pratte, Arizona Corporation Commission (D) – Navajo Nation
• Kalei Akaka, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Oahu Resident – Native Hawaiian
• Kanekoa Crabbe, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, At-Large – Native Hawaiian
• Ke’eaumoku Kapu, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Maui Resident – Native Hawaiian
• Keoni Souza, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, At-Large – Native Hawaiian
• John Waihee IV, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, At-Large  – Native Hawaiian
• Angeline Cheek, Montana Public Service Commission, District 1 (D) – Hunkpapa Lakota and Oglala Lakota
• Sharon Clahchischilliage, New Mexico Public Education Commission, District 5 (R) – Diné
• Brad Boles, Oklahoma Corporation Commission (R) – Cherokee
• John Pfeiffer, Commissioner of Labor (R) – Cherokee
• Deb Haaland, New Mexico Governor (D) – Pueblo of Laguna