WOMEN RUN FOR POLITICAL OFFICE in RECORD NUMBERS

Women have dominated political headlines since the  beginning of 2018 as this year

has seen a record number of females vying for political seats. One group of women is

setting out to transform 2018 from “Year of the Woman” to

the “Year of the Native Woman.”  

Forty-eight Native American women representing 17 states are running for

state and congressional offices. Three of those women are running for U.S.

Congress: Sharice Davids, D-Kansas; Debra Haaland, D-New Mexico;

and Amanda Douglas, D-Oklahoma. The three candidates represent the Ho-Chunk,

Laguna Pueblo and Cherokee tribes, respectively.

Sharice Davids  – Democratic candidate for Kansas’ U.S. House District Three

Sharice Davids is a member of the Ho-chunk Nation of Wisconsin and spent the

majority of her life in Kansas. There, she was raised by her mom, who also served in

the U.S. Army for 20 years. Davids’ political career started after she graduated with

her law degree from Cornell University.   Seeking to focus on equity and fighting for

underserved communities, she completed a year as a White House Fellow as the

administration transitioned from Barack Obama to Donald Trump.

Debra Haaland

Democratic candidate for New Mexico’s U.S. House District One

Debra Haaland is a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe and was the Lieutenant

Governor nominee of New Mexico in 2014 after serving for one year as the Native

American caucus chair for the Democratic Party. She was the first Native American

woman in the U.S. to chair a state party.  Haaland was also the first Chairwoman

elected to the Laguna Development Corp. board of directors, overseeing the business

operations of the second largest tribal gaming enterprise in New Mexico. She has

worked on many “get out the vote” efforts and volunteered full time for President

Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign. Haaland is a single mother who was raised in a

military family. She earned her law degree at the University of New Mexico School of

Law in Albuquerque, N.M.

Amanda Douglas

Democratic candidate for Oklahoma’s US House District One.  

Amanda is a member of the Cherokee Tribe and has spent her entire

life in Oklahoma, where she now resides with her husband and daughter.

Originally a business analyst and consultant, she broke her way into politics after

her daughter was born in 2016 as a way to help prepare a better future, specifically

regarding education, for her child.

The “Seminole Tribune”  http://seminoletribune.org/female-native-american-politicians-

set-out-to-diversify-representation/   PHOTOS  & INTERVIEWS