The First Native American Congresswoman in US History Could be Elected This Year

In the wake of Standing Rock, Indigenous activists have turned their attention to getting Native women elected. In all there are five Native women running for Congress, four running for governors’ offices and 46 running for state legislature, according to data  compiled by Mark Trahant, editor of Indian Country Today. These trailblazing campaigns mark the arrival of this nation’s first peoples—and particularly first women—at the doorstep of the halls of power. If Deb Haaland wins her  primary in her heavily Democratic district, she has a strong chance of becoming the first Native woman elected to Congress. If Paulette Jordan, a citizen of the Coeur d’Alene tribe in Idaho and descendant of the Yakama, Colville and Nez Perce wins her May 15 primary and then the election in November, she would become the first Indigenous woman governor in the U.S.