Kadin Mills
ICT
WASHINGTON — In the final days before the Nov. 5 general election, Democrats and Republicans alike have courted Native voters in seven key battleground states where they will have a large say in the outcome of the election. While Native Americans tend to vote for Democrats, there is a strong coalition of Natives supporting former President Donald Trump this year.
Native Americans for Trump recently hosted a counter rally during Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s visit to Window Rock, the capital of the Navajo Nation. Among the demonstrators was Myron Lizer, the former vice president of the Navajo Nation. “We can’t be doomed again,” Lizer told the Navajo Times. “Our people have been voting Democrat for over five decades and nothing’s changed. We love President Trump. Please, make sure he sees this. We need Trump here on the Navajo Nation!”
Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin has also been campaigning for the former president, making appearances in North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada. “If you can win the vote or increase your percentages from last time, that could be enough to put you over the top,” Mullin told Politico, highlighting the power of Native voters. “And so I feel like in these battleground states, Native American voters can be the deciding factor,” he said.
Sen. Mullin and other surrogates for the Trump campaign have rallied citizens of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina in support of the former president, who promised he would sign legislation granting the state recognized tribe federal recognition. In 2020, President Joe Biden also said he would also sign the legislation, but it has not made it out of the Senate.
About 61 percent of Native Americans said President Biden and the Democratic party do not care about issues important to Native peoples, or they are outright hostile to Native communities, according to a 2022 Midterm Voter Election Poll by the African American Research Collaborative. Seventy percent of Natives said the same about the Republican party. Sixty percent of Native Americans reported voting for Joe Biden in 2020, according to the Latino Decisions Election Eve Survey.
Lizer, Navajo and Comanche, told ICT he and other conservative Natives are working to get Trump elected a second time. “We’re doing everything,” he said. “We’re walking the streets, knocking on doors, we’re putting up signs, and we’re just doing the work here in Indian country.”
He is a business owner and a former pastor. A proud Christian, he says his faith is a guidepost.
“God wants us to prosper,” he said. “Our creator created us to develop a good heart and he gives us that ability to have a good heart. And when everybody has a good heart, he gives us leadership we deserve.”
He says former president Donald Trump is the leader Indian Country deserves, noting he thinks Trump would “do well to bring some good Native American leaders to the forefront and let us all work together for the greater common good of these great United States.”
Lizer says this includes supporting Israel and staying out of the war in Ukraine. “Psalm 122:6 – Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: those that love her will prosper. Hey, I want to prosper and much more I want Indian Country to prosper,” he said.
In 2022, The International Court of Justice denounced what it called “Israel’s system of apartheid against Palestinians,” and in January, 2024, said some of Israel’s recent actions in Gaza may be in violation of the Genocide Convention.
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For Lizer, Operation Lady Justice was one of the most important actions taken by the former president. Created by an executive order under former President Trump, Operation Lady Justice established a two-year task force to investigate missing and murdered Indigenous women. Lizer said it set the tone for the Biden administration to continue to represent Native issues. Some tribal nations, however, refused to work with the task force, calling it a political ploy.
Both Lizer and Sen. Mullin have also praised Trump’s historic investment in Indian Country to address the COVID-19 pandemic. In an exclusive opinion piece published by ICT, Sen. Mullin touts the former president’s $8 billion investment in Indian Country through the Cares Act. Reporting from the New Republic uncovered the Native American Caucus initially requested $20 billion, to which the White House offered an initial $3 billion, saying Trump “low-balled” Indian Country.
Lizer says the Biden Administration has done a great job at advancing Native representation in federal government, but wants to see change. Oklahoma Sen. Shane Jett, Cherokee, agrees with this sentiment.
Jett previously served as an appointee to the U.S. Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund under the Trump administration. He says the former president was very inclusive of Native Americans in economic policy.
“You have capitalism on one side and socialism and control on the other side,” Jett said. “That’s a no-go for Indian Country, that’s a no-go for America.”
He says Trump’s proposed tariffs on imports will give American business a competitive edge against foreign companies. Jett says he wants to see the president lower the costs of everyday goods for U.S. consumers. Some experts say Trumps proposed tariffs would likely raise prices of those goods which are imported, particularly those from China.
The former president promises energy independence, meaning the U.S. would not need to import foreign fossil fuels, or electricity. He says he will live up to this goal through increased oil and gas exploration. Trump has rallied his supporters behind the mantra, “drill, baby, drill.” This has included Native leaders like Mullin and Lizer.
They argue federal protections on land are unnecessary, and that tribes should be allowed to exercise their sovereignty without U.S. paternalism. Sen. Jett believes these protections are put in place to block tribal development of oil and gas. He says it also blocks job growth in Indian Country.
Sen. Mullin has also advocated for tribes to have greater autonomy when it comes to development and management of natural resources. In his opinion, he praised the former president for amending the Indian Tribal Energy Development and Self-Determination Act in 2017.
Wes Nofire, Cherokee, is also excited about a potential second Trump presidency. Nofire currently serves as Oklahoma Native American Liaison, and previously served on the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council. He says Trump would work to cut the red tape preventing access to services and stifling economic development in Indian Country.
“We have a presidential candidate who is taking on that aspect of saying, Hey, we are here to deregulate the federal government,” Nofire said, “which then gives you your individual rights to choose a path forward.”
Nofire said federal regulations have limited Native Americans’ ability to grow by limiting construction and infrastructure projects. He said obtaining federal funding is especially cumbersome for Native peoples living on trust lands. “A lot of the reason why large amounts of reservations are in an impoverished state is there’s not really an ability to develop those lands, largely because of federal regulations,” he said.
Should Trump be elected again, Nofire says he should eliminate red tape. In a text message to ICT, he said, “As Native people, we should consider aligning with leaders like President Trump who also stand against overreach that could, if left in that of the hands of Kamala Harris, threaten our liberties.”
Lizer agrees, saying regulations and bureaucracy “stymie growth in Indian Country.” He wants to see the U.S. increase oil and gas production. When asked about actions taken by the former president to reduce Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments, Lizer said the U.S. should focus on becoming energy dominant by pulling out of the Paris Climate Accords and increasing fracking.
Neither Lizer nor Nofire mentioned concern about reduced environmental protections or climate change, two key issues demonstrated by many Native Voters. Oklahoma Sen. Jett, however, said he doesn’t buy into the “climate change ideology.”
“We’re completely opposed to pollution,” he said, “but we know that our creator made oil, our creator made gas, our creator made clay, made all these things for our use.”
Sen. Jett said he is interested in development of alternative energy sources to solve economic problems, but said climate change should not be a top priority, despite overwhelming scientific evidence suggesting global warming and climate change are real and caused by human activity.
Trump claims U.S. petroleum production has floundered under President Biden’s leadership, insisting the nation was “energy independent” during his administration. This is not entirely true, according to FactCheck.org. The former president also insists he will halve energy prices for Americans, but experts doubt this is possible.
In 2020, the U.S. became a net exporter of crude oil and petroleum for the first time since 1952, with the trend beginning under President George W. Bush and continuing under Obama and Trump.
Additionally, data from the Energy Information Administration shows daily U.S. crude oil production under the Biden administration has surpassed that of former President Trump, at an average of more than 13,000 barrels produced per day. This is more than any other nation globally at any point in time.
Both President Biden and former President Trump have increased oil and gas production when compared to their predecessor. However, the U.S. still imports energy and is not considered to be energy independent.
Lizer says a second Trump administration should also pull the country out of the World Health Organization, as well as the United Nations. He proposed the savings could be used to advance every aspect of social and political life in the U.S., as well as fund the completion of the wall on the southern border.
During his first term, Trump pulled the U.S. out of both the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the United Nations Human Rights Council. He also withdrew from the Paris Agreement and announced U.S. withdrawal from the WHO. President Biden reversed all four actions.
It is unclear whether the president has the authority to make the unilateral decision to pull the U.S. from organizations like the World Health Organization or United Nations.
Overall, Lizer says he hopes Native Americans will be open to working with Trump if he is elected to a second term. “You have to be willing to work both sides, right? I think we say that in terms, but do we really walk it?” he asked. “Do we believe it? Who’s out there willing to work with the other side? Anything that ever happened in Indian Country has always happened at a bipartisan clip or a bipartisan approach,” he said.
Both presidential hopefuls have spent the weeks leading up to election day campaigning in states like Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona. Despite making up a very small percentage of the national electorate, Native Americans make up key voting blocs in these states. They also have the power to decide the outcome of races in Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Alaska and Montana.
While Indigenous peoples tend to vote Democrat, many Native issues are largely non-partisan. In addition to tribal sovereignty, Native voters largely care about the same issues other U.S. voters do: from legislation like the Farm Bill and the Violence Against Women Act to broader topics like healthcare, immigration and economic development.
ICT reached out to 13 former and current members of Congress, former advisers to Donald Trump, tribal leaders, and experts in matters of law and conservative policy who either declined, did not respond or were unable to make time for an interview.
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