Indigenous voters could give Harris-Walz an edge in "tribal wall" swing states

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Salon

Published October 14, 2024 5:45AM (EDT)


Native American leaders are drawing attention to their demographic as a potentially decisive group in the 2024 election, especially in what Stephen Roe Lewis, governor of the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona, calls the “tribal wall” — Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina and Michigan, states with relatively high proportions of Indigenous voters. On Oct. 9, Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz made a stop in Arizona to meet with tribal leaders about what they could expect if Kamala Harris wins next month's presidential election.

The Tucson Sentinel reports that Lewis stressed the importance of Indigenous voters in President Joe Biden’s narrow victory in Arizona in 2020. “Arizona, Wisconsin, Nevada, North Carolina and Michigan all have substantial tribal populations,” Lewis said. “And if we make our voices heard by voting, we can do in the rest of the country what we did here in Arizona in 2020: help elect the next president and vice president of the United States.”

There are roughly 4.7 million eligible Native American voters in the United States, and many of them are concentrated in some of this year’s most contested states. In Arizona, a state decided by less than 11,000 votes in 2020, there are more than 319,000 Native American voters, and leaders in the community have been warning the candidates that their votes could be decisive.

At the event with Walz last Wednesday, Lewis came out in support of the Democratic ticket, saying that the Minnesota governor “gets the importance of the Native vote.” Indeed, Walz's state is also home to the nation's highest-ranking Native American elected official, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who would become governor if Walz is elected vice president.

Read more: https://www.salon.com/2024/10/14/indigenous-could-give-harris-walz-an-edge-in-tribal-wall-swing-states/

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EVERY GROUP MUST STEP UP. People can't keep pointing at AAs while sitting on their asses expecting one community to go out of their way to "save everyone else".

[RTT]

1. Nice for MN if Flanagan becomes Gov./Dems Stepping Up to Vote

What happened to Native Americans in MN in the 1800's should never have happened. Lt. Gov. Flanagan's Tribe (White Earth Band of Ojibwe) had been strong in MN for centuries, from what history I learned. So, it would be nice to see her as Gov.

NBC News has been updating Voters and their Party Affiliates for 37 States who allow early voting/mail-in (just under 5M votes as of this morning).-1

I was surprised at how many Dems have stepped up, especially in battleground States. 5% of PA's voters have already voted, and 69% of those voters who registered as Dem voted vs. only 23% who registered as GOP. To-date, there are about 792K who voted, but didn't specify a party they were affiliated with, so I guess those are the wildcards.

But it's nice to see so many Dems already making sure their vote counts.

In summary, as of morning of 10/14/2024, for those who voted plus registered as Dem/GOP, Dems have 61% (or about 2.4M) of those votes so far vs. 39% (or about 1.6M) registered Republicans. There is also a large segment of people who voted who didn't register a party (792K).

1. Here is that link if anyone is interested:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-elections/early-vote