Native Vote, Native Voice: Battleground States

This podcast explores the critical role of Native American voters in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. It features insights from experts like Dr. Aaron Payment, Levi Rickert, and Neely Bardwell, who discuss the significant proportion of Native American voters in key swing states, the policy platforms of the candidates, and the strategies being employed to mobilize this important voting bloc. The podcast delves into issues like tribal sovereignty, environmental protection, and the impact of Native representation in government, highlighting how the Native vote could be the deciding factor in determining the next U.S. president.

This podcast is produced by Native News Online, with funding support from the MacArthur Foundation, the National Congress of American Indians, and Four Directions.

Follow us on Facebook, X, Linkedin, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok! For all of our coverage visit www.nativenewsonline.net

Transcript

This is the native vote. Native voice Podcast. I'm Sean Griswold. Today we're going to find out why this voice from the Sioux Sainte Marie tribe in Michigan matters to the 2024 presidential election.
The proportion of American Indians in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Carolina, Arizona, is sufficiently large that it's multiples greater than the poll margins right now. So it would behoove either candidate to have a solid policy platform as it relates to American Indians,
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Need Native American voters in order to win key swing states in Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, North Carolina and Nevada. Polls have these races in these states at a dead heat, nearly split between the candidates. It's so close that the small population of Native American voters in these states are a large voting block that will help determine who goes to the White House. We saw it in 2020 when Joe Biden won Arizona with significant turnout by Native Americans there. That's why in 2024 We're seeing massive ad buys from the Harris campaign targeting native voters. And in part, it's why forest county potawato Chairman James Crawford took center stage on the second night of the Republican National Convention. In short, the road to be the next US President goes through Indian country. In this podcast, we are talking with Native American voters in these states to understand the issues that will bring them to the polls, why they vote or don't, and what they hope to see if their votes can do to sway policy in a Harris or Trump administration. We're also going to understand how tribal governments are working in a non partisan way to ensure people are knowledgeable about the candidates and the voting process, to make sure their ballots are cast and counted securely. We start with Dr Aaron payment, a citizen from the Sault Ste Marie tribe, one of 12 federally recognized tribal nations in Michigan that could deliver the state's 15 electoral votes to the next President of the United States. Aaron is an elected official with the Sault Ste Marie tribe and has worked with governments at the local, state and federal level, on top of the policy work he does with tribal nations across this continent, recently, he's had conversations with the White House and the Harris campaign about continuing investments for tribes on things like internet, health care and education. He spoke with us last week after a recent visit with that campaign. Aaron is a quantitative social scientist, numbers and people are his interest, which is how he noticed how vital Native American votes are in the US electoral politics, and why he thinks the native vote will determine who is going to be the next US President.
I've been involved in tribal politics and civics and reminding the federal government to uphold the treaty trust obligation. And for those who don't know what that is, tribes negotiated over 2 billion acres of ceded Indian lands in exchange for health, education and social welfare into perpetuity, and so as long as others are on our land, we expect that the federal government will uphold the treaty and trust obligation. I was actively engaged to mobilize tribal people to vote all across the country, and in 2016 I recognized that the polls weren't looking too good for the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, and I tried to impact the election during that cycle, to get them to have a policy platform that related to tribes. There wasn't one. And as you know, Hillary lost, and she lost primarily in the Midwest. One of the things I tried to explain to them is the proportion of the total population that are American Indians is multiples greater than the margin of victory in the 2016 election, and then in 2023 of us worked as a team in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota to mobilize the native vote. So the work that tribal leaders do is non partisan, but we focus on policy issues, and generally, one candidate more than the other has pushed tribal issues and supported tribal issues and had platforms. So in 2020 the Biden Harris campaign put out the Biden Harris plan for tribal nations. As we look at the election. It's tightening up right now, where we had a, you know, a big boost when we switched candidates on the Democrat side from Biden Harris, that margin has tightened up and we're back to ground zero, and we're back to dead heat, and the proportion of American Indians in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Carolina, Arizona is sufficiently large that it's multiples greater than the poll margins right now. So it would behoove either candidate to have a solid policy platform as it relates to American Indians, like in Michigan we are. Are almost 2% of the population, and right now the margin, the poll margins, are really tight, so we could be the margin of victory. Same is true in Wisconsin and Minnesota and in Arizona. Arizona is a big example, because the American Indian population, so it'd be Navajo Hopi and some pueblo. They are 4% of the total population, and Biden beat Trump by three tenths of 1% and right now, Trump is ahead of Harris by, I think, just over 1% and so there's 4% American Indians. And so, you know, it's a race to see who's going to get the native vote. Nobody should take the Native American vote for granted, because we can be the determinant. We can be the margin of victory in this election. And in
your conversations with people explaining the significance for that margin of victory for either candidate, in talking to people on the ground and in native communities, specifically in Michigan, how is that message related to voters, are people understanding that, in fact, they can not only swing a state like Michigan, but the general election overall.
I think so. I think, Well, four years ago, we were very successful in it, and we had a number of initiatives, like I did a direct mail to all 24,000 adult members of my tribe in Michigan. And again, it was a nonpartisan letter, but it hit on those policy initiatives. And then I encouraged people to go look at the platforms and make up your own mind. And I think by and large, my tribal citizens voted for one candidate over the other that benefited the victor. I just like I said, I came from mass to Midwest Alliance, and the Oneida Nation had a had a rally last night, and they had over 500 people. 500 American Indians came to the rally very excited. And again, that was a nonpartisan but they did hit on a number of policy initiatives. And tomorrow, Vice President Harris is going to be visiting that very reservation, and so it's my hope that the policy platform that we voted on today at Midwest alliance of sovereign tribes, it's my hope that they share that policy platform with the with the campaign, and see if we can get some pledges and some promises out of it. You know, we know that when a candidate prompt pledges and campaigns, there's not a guarantee that any of that's going to happen. But you got to ask yourself, if a candidate does advocate and another candidate doesn't at all. That says that speaks volumes.
Yeah. And also the you know, you talked about the significance of a platform and just talking about the issues, understanding the issues that are important for for Native people in this country, that is a start right there, but also visiting the locations where Native people live, meeting them in their communities, meeting their leadership. What's the significance going to be for Harris when she does make that visit?
Yeah, I think she has made inroads and made trips to Michigan in the last, what, six weeks to eight weeks, and tribal leaders have met with her at the general events. And so the way that works is they campaign will put out an announcement of a rally, and then they do special invites, and they usually have, like, like, a round table discussion with the candidate, and I know that she's had those with tribal leaders in Michigan for the last several weeks, and I think it goes over really well. It's very positive with tribal people. But what I'm looking for is something a little more concrete, and I believe the reason why there isn't a solid platform out yet is because we switched candidates. I do know that just before Biden stepped down from running that tribal leaders were meeting with the campaign to help formulate what that platform would look like, and then she went into overdrive and trying to pick up votes. And so I think that, I think it's a it's something that just hasn't happened yet. Whoever can put out a platform. And I'll tell you one thing, it's not enough to rest on your laurels. So while campaigns have done in administrations, have done wonderful things, we need to see what's coming, not what's in the rearview mirror. And so the Well, I think that the Harris campaign has done a really good job with meeting in tribal communities and doing drive bys and drop ins and meeting with key tribal leaders. We have to get individual Indian people motivated to vote. And how do you do that? As you put things out like full funding for IHS, eliminating the means test for the ACA Medicaid expansion, that way American Indians will get that health, education and social welfare part of the treaty obligation no matter where they live, and they don't have to be low income to get it. So there's a whole number of issues. But, but the campaigns have to push those issues if they want to get individual voters.
Voting is already underway. Do native people in Michigan vote early? Yes,
I voted. All of my family members have voted, probably because I cajoled them and twisted their arms until they did so I would say, yes. I think something really fundamental happened four years ago with with mail in ballots. So my tribe has had a mail in ballot system since we've existed, so since 1972 so our elections are all mail in ballots, and so we're already accustomed to voting that way. Some people, older people are a little old fashioned. They like the ritual of going and, you know, talking to the voter volunteers. It's the same ladies that have been there since I've been involved since I was old enough to vote. They're still there. And so I vote in person, because although this year, I knew I was going to be out of town, so I voted early and I voted through the mail. We're now
going to get into a conversation with Levi Rickert. He's the founder, publisher and editor of native news online. He's prairie band of Potawatomi Nation, and has been following not only tribal government, but its impact to the state, local in Michigan, in the greater lakes region, but also nationally. He helps us give a large view about what the Harris and Trump campaign need to do to actively attract native voters from his conversations on the ground at campaign rallies, but also being in the rooms with tribal leaders who are looking to understand what they're going to do to have to work with either the Trump or Harris administration. We met in Milwaukee at the Republican National Convention, and we were some of the only native people there, looking for other Native Voices, trying to understand just sort of what the native viewpoints were going to be considered in this in this campaign for president and and even being there, there was a lot of a lot of clawing on our part to just try to find people, to just understand, in fact, Native issues are relevant. Native people are here, and then having conversations with people about what those issues are. We're, you know, almost just over two weeks away from the election happening, and some of those issues are still present for us, and you've been all around the country as well, tracking both campaigns, seeing how the elections are going to be affecting native voters, the targeted outreach for native voters, from registration to getting people to do early voting, we've seen a lot, but now that we're at this point, now what do you what's the most thing that stood out for you when it comes to How the Donald Trump campaign and the Kamala Harris campaign have been doing outreach for native voters.
Well, in my understanding, there's been meetings that have taken place. When the vice president flies into a location, she'll meet with tribal leaders, and I understand that there was a group of tribal leaders went down to mar a Lago just last week, and they were he was three hours late for the meeting, and he came in and kind of rambled, from what I understand, but he did give them an audience. And so it looks like both sides are really so soliciting the support of Native Americans and I, but more importantly, I think tribal leaders are telling me they want to know what these campaigns they're if election, if elected, what the administration's will do for Native Americans in Indian country. That is the key right now, is to find out what the campaigns are going to issue in terms of the plan to deal with Indian country in their administration, whenever whoever gets elected, from
where you're from, from your home, from what's going on in Michigan, what you've seen and then, what are the issues that people in tribal, people in Michigan want to hear and talk
About? Well, there are 12 federally recognized tribes in Michigan, and the needs are very vast, and some of the conversations I'm having is economy, as with the general public, high concern to Native Americans in Michigan. However, also there are certain things that Native Americans are looking for in terms of how tribal sovereignty will be upheld in any future administration. So tribal sovereignty is a big thing in Indian country, and
I think that's why it's significant for us to understand what are the plans from each candidate. And you know, we have some recent history when it comes from Harris even Donald Trump, with how his prior administration worked with tribal nations. Is there any conversations you're having with people that kind of, look at the what have you done for me lately? Or
what did you do for me in 2016
in Michigan, we were kind of proud. The Assistant Secretary of the Interior, Brian Doolin, came out of Bain. Hills Indian community up in Brimley, Michigan. And so if a Harris administration is in place in January, we're looking to see, will she elevate Brian Newland even maybe be considered for Secretary of the Interior. So he's kind of our favorite son, as we can say it that way. He's done a great job as the assistant secretary. So maybe I'm putting a little plug in for Brian at this point, but, but he has, because of his being in high places, we've seen a lot of money coming into Michigan in terms of tribal support financial and Bay Mills is one of them, he's helped help bring some money back to them, and for some environmental issues. And so it's, it's a lot of times representation matters. And I know that's kind of a cliche these days, but representation really does matter. And Brian is our favorite son, so I'm gonna concentrate on him right now. And
that's, that's an interesting tie that you and I have there with, you know, looking at the interior, and the Secretary, Deb Haaland, is from Laguna Pueblo, where I'm from, and that's another prominent native person. People in the southwest always point to as that's one of ours in the administration. You know, even if you're not Laguna, you take in the kinship to knowing that, yeah, there's a native person in those roles. And to know Brian is similar up there in Michigan, speaks a lot to how the administration pays attention to what Native people are asking for. And then the other thing you hear about when it comes to Donald Trump is a lot of people are considering the litigious nature of what we saw during his first administration, where some tribal nations were in court with the Trump administration over various executive orders or even directives from for his administration. So you know that there could be people preparing for that if that's what comes out of this election.
And it's fascinating, too. I
think I recall when we were in Milwaukee at the back to the Republican National Convention, and there was a conversation we had with the congresswoman Lauren Bobert, who's running for re election in Colorado, talking about even taking on the interior. And we were live with Native America Calling at the time. And what that did is that once that kind of position brought got brought up, I just recall the native listeners on on the radio at the time, called in, lit up the phone lines, and the election race became, you know, not the presidential race, which, at the time was Joe Biden versus Donald Trump. It became Deb Haaland versus potentially Lauren boebert for interior. Like people started looking at the impact of how the administration is more than just the executive it's Department of Health. You know, it's the things that run IHS, it's the environment stuff. It's stuff that helps economic building small businesses.
That's very true. And I think what happens is there's a lot of concerns among Native Americans about the environment, and I think that that is something that I know in Michigan we we're real concerned about the Enbridge line five, and that's one of the topics. When you talk to tribal officials, what what can happen in a new administration? What are they going to do about these line five, coming down from Canada into Michigan? Michigan doesn't benefit from any of the oil, but, but the line five, that is a old, old pipeline that they say, if it bursts, it would be catastrophic to the Great Lakes for five to 10 years to actually remediate that. And so that's a high concern for tribes. And tribes have gone up on Labor Day weekend for many years now, and have protested at the Straits of Mackinac. They want the administration. They work with the governor of state of Michigan. What are you going to do about line five?
Lily? I want to ask, before we run out of time here, voting has started. There's votes being cast in a bunch of states, a lot of battleground states. I
voted here in New Mexico. We're
not a battleground state, but,
you know, I got to go in person to an early voting site in Albuquerque, where I live. The I went on a weekday and at 11 o'clock before lunch, and there was a line of voters who were trying to cast their ballots. The poll worker at the polls told me I was the 800th person to vote that week. It was Tuesday afternoon and and at that polling site. So there's there's enthusiasm here with people voting. We're seeing some pretty strong turnout in other states. I'm done now. I'm happy to have my ballot cast. Have you voted? Every report
I voted? I voted the absentee ballot. And I know there's a lot of discussion, a lot of apprehension, should you vote absentee ballot? And what I did, Sean, just make sure my my ballot was received. I went into the website, went to vote.org in a matter of seconds. Seriously. Let's listen a minute. I'm thinking. There like 15 seconds, I was able to determine that my ballot was received by our city clerk's office and it was recorded as being received. Made me feel good. And so I like to tell our listeners who listen to native news online, you do not have to be afraid of voting absentee ballot. And, you know, strong, not so much in Michigan, but a lot of places in Indian Country, transportation is a huge, huge problem, where people have, literally have to drive 40, 5060, miles to go vote one way, and then becomes cumbersome because lack of gas money, etc, and even time and some of the roads are not always that good. In Indian country, it could take up to three to four hours just to cast a vote. Hey, I did mine in matter of minutes, filled it out, took it to the post office. Boom, it's done. I feel good about it. It feels so
nice to be done with that. You know,
we have two weeks. We have more than two weeks left for the election, and to have the voting part, the most central part of the responsibility done, gives us more time to be out there covering the campaigns and see what they're doing. Levi,
we're gonna talk more next week. I
know you're in Wisconsin right now, back in Milwaukee, bringing it full circle. And so looking forward to look at, looking forward to some of the reporting that you'll be doing out there and and we'll be reporting on that next week as we take a look, you know, the lens from Michigan and how tribes are voting in this key battleground state, into what it's going to be like in Wisconsin, another one of those important states and electoral votes for both presidential candidates, and how the future of the United States is going to look and so you're in the heart of it. Hope you're having fun out there. How
are you doing? All right,
I'm doing fine, holding up. Well, thank God in heaven and the creators watching over. So I think the key is we need the native vote out, and our people need to vote very strongly this year. And it's exciting to watch the enthusiasm of Native Americans. We're
now going to take our conversation with Neely Bardwell. She's the descendant of the Little Traverse Bay bands of Ottawa Indian and is the editor for native news online political section. Neely has been on the ground in Michigan and in the greater Midwest region, talking to native voters, tribal leaders, as well as young voters, who may be participating for the very first time, understanding what their issues are. One of the most recent articles nearly wrote last week had to do with six figure ad buy by the Harris campaign that is targeting Native American voters in some of these key swing states. Neely is going to give us a breakdown of what that means, while also discussing some of the more significant issues and impact that we've seen on outreach by both Harris and Donald Trump in this presidential election.
Bucha man, odome, dish accounts, Lola, Don Chapa, logana, my name is Neely. I am the political editor for native news online. Neely
and you reported on something, a major ad buy that came from the Kamala Harris campaign recently that's targeting native voters. Why don't you describe a little bit about what this
is? Yeah, so this is the most expensive native focused ad campaign, which is has been dubbed the I will vote campaign, and that will air in Arizona, North Carolina, Montana and Alaska. It's going to be digital print and radio ads. Neely
talk a little bit about what some of the issues that do impact tribal nations in Michigan. Yeah.
So in illuminatives and Native organizers Alliance indigenous futures survey that they did, they were able to take specifically people who were identified and identified to live in the Great Lakes region, and so they were able to give me that data. And one of the ish, one of the questions that were asked is their top issues in the 2024, election, and the one that received the most votes by far for the Great Lakes area were and was environmental protection and climate change, and so that is also the same thing that I am hearing in my reporting, in conversations with people from Michigan and in the Great Lakes area, is that environmental issues are one of the biggest issues for Native people in Michigan. So in Michigan, we have a pipeline that goes through the Straits of Mackinac, and that is line five. It has been operating illegally. Governor Whitmer has put measures in place to make to prevent them from operating. Unfortunately, as we know, and bridge doesn't always follow that, and so line five has been a very big issue for Michigan voters and non native and native alike for a while. That pipeline is 70 years old, and it goes through a fifth of the world's fresh water. Right? The Great Lakes is a fifth of the world's freshwater, and so line five is a huge threat to that access to freshwater. Tribes in the area use it for hunting, for fishing, for ricing. Ricing is really big in Michigan, Northern Michigan, and so if that pipeline were to burst or break or leak in some way that could be severely detrimental to all of the tribes in the Great Lakes area, Michigan, Wisconsin alike, as well as other smaller watersheds and basins in the area. And so that is something that native voters are carrying with them when they go to the polls or fill out an absentee ballot is which candidate is going to support. Eventually, the shutting down of line five.
Ultimately, no US president has ever met its treaty obligations to Native Americans and for people in Michigan, for really anybody across this country, they're going to have to work with this administration to get there. But it's been more consistent and more present with the Biden administration, you know, not only with Native people in cabinet positions, but there's a White House Tribal summit and, and even with what the Biden administration has done for tribal nation and its outreach over the past year, you know, Deb Haaland visited gun Lake and, and that was all about infrastructure, stuff the government has done. Do you, do you have any memories or thoughts about that visit? Just it's not a campaign stop. She's there in her official capacity as as the Secretary of Interior, and it's done as a way to promote this is what the Biden administration is doing. This is what I am doing at this cabinet post for native country. How was that taken? Do you have any thoughts on that visit?
You know, it is always exciting to have someone in a as high, in a position like Deb Holland, to come and visit Indian country. It is always a welcome thing. And, you know, having Deb Haaland come visit gun lake was honestly really special, because Deb Holland is native, just like us. And so when Deb Holland visits Secretary Holland visits, um, there's immediately that sense of relationality, in the sense that she's just another community member, just like the rest of us. She's kind of like an auntie, but she works in the federal government, working on the things that need to be addressed for Indian country to thrive. And so having Deb Holland come and visit is like having when Deb Haaland visits Indian Country specifically wake when she visited in gun like when she visited gun link is you're seeing the effects of having a president who respects Indian country in real time, right? Deb Holland would not be Secretary of the Interior if President Biden a didn't get elected and B, if he didn't have that basic level of understanding and respect for Indian country to where he, you know, nominated Deb Haaland, and so having her come visit Indian Country is like seeing those effects in real time
right now. That's the only campaign that has visible native people front and center out there stumping for them. It's Harris and Holland is just one of many Native people that are out there doing it, and you saw some of this when you were covering the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. You have any experiences you want to share about just being there as a not not just as a native reporter in that space, but being there focused on covering Native Voices, Native issues, native delegates, native electeds at the Democratic National Convention. That
was my first ever Democratic National Convention. You always hear things about it, but it's different being there. And so as a native person and as a native reporter specifically as well, when I go to a lot of these spaces that aren't necessarily native centered, you don't expect to see another native person. You don't expect to be more than the only native person there. And so going to the Democratic National Convention, it was actually really amazing to see like I was at the actual convention center. I was walking around the concourse, and it I was as I was walking, I saw multiple people women in ribbon skirts. So it was really cool to see ribbon skirts at the Democratic National Convention, which is a place that you don't necessarily expect other native people to be. And so I think that kind of demonstrated to me the the sheer not only the sheer resilience of our people to be able to exist in that kind of colonial space, but also it kind of shows the progress that American politics and the Democratic Party are making when it comes to in. Including Native people in these important conversations.
This has been native vote. Native voice podcast, I want to thank Neely Bardwell, Levi Ricker and Aaron payment for joining us and sharing their thoughts. We'll be back with our next episode that's going to take a look at Wisconsin, and we hope to see you there. Thank you. The native vote. Native voice podcast is produced by native news online with funding support from the MacArthur Foundation, the National Congress of American Indians and four directions.