With a little over a month before the November election, Native advocates are hard at work to ensure Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris wins the race for the White House.

Though American Indians and Alaska Natives represent less than 1 percent of the United States population, they account for significant numbers in states that the Harris campaign sees as critical to victory. So the Democratic nominee and her running mate, Tim Walz, are reaching out to Native voters in places like Arizona, Minnesota, Nevada and Wisconsin.

“Our campaign is taking no vote for granted and is ramping up outreach efforts to tribal communities to mobilize Native voters to turn out for Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz,” Jade Begay, the newly hired Native American Engagement Director for the campaign, said on a press call on Wednesday.

According to Begay, who is from the Pueblo of Tesuque and the Navajo Nation, Harris and Walz are paying particularly strong attention to Arizona, where Native people make up about 4.5 percent of the population. She described the operation in the state, which is home to nearly two dozen tribes, as the “most expansive tribal organizing program ever,” one that includes outreach in Native languages and in Native publications.

“With 22 organizers hired so far, the team will eventually grow to 31 organizers before the election,” said Begay. “These organizers are active in all tribal areas of the state, including the Navajo, White Mountain Apache, and Tohono O’odham tribes.”

Begay credited Native people for sending Democrat Joe Biden to the White House in 2020. In one county on the Navajo Nation, for example, 66 percent of the vote went to the incumbent U.S. president, who dropped out of the race in July, paving the way for Harris to launch her campaign.

According to results from Apache County, Biden’s margin of victory was even higher in precincts with larger Native populations. In and around Window Rock, the capital of the Navajo Nation, Republican Donald Trump, who was the incumbent at the time, secured barely 16 percent of the vote.

“The choice for Native Americans is clear,” Begay said on the press call. “In 2020, we helped defeat Donald Trump once, and this November, we will stand with Vice President Harris and make Donald Trump a loser once again.”

The press call was accompanied by an in-person launch of “Native Americans for Harris-Walz” in Minnesota, another key state in the presidential election. Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan (D), a citizen of the White Earth Nation, took part in both events as the highest-ranking Native woman in executive office.

“Governor Walz has always shown unwavering support for Native people,” said Flanagan, who stands to become the first Native woman governor in history should Democrats win the presidential vote.

“Governor Walz and I codified government-to-government relationships with all 11 tribal nations who share their geography with Minnesota, invested in Native language revitalization grants, implemented Native education for all students, Native and non-Native, transferred land back to tribes, established the Minnesota Office on American Indian Health and expanded our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office,” said Flanagan, ticking off a long list of achievements from the last five years.

“And there’s only one ticket in this election that will fight for the Native vote in Indian Country. And that is Vice President Harris and Governor Walz,” added Flanagan, who rallied the crowd at the in-person event, which took place on the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community near the Twin Cities of Minnesota.

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So far, Trump has not publicly announced Native vote efforts although his campaign took part in the Navajo Nation Fair in Window Rock in September. He has spoken about the Catawba Nation and the Lumbee Tribe during rallies in North Carolina, another key state in the presidential election but otherwise does not talk about Native issues.

The Republican National Convention in August, when Trump accepted his party’s nomination for president for his third run for office, featured just one Native presenter on the main stage. The speaker, however, did not mention Trump or his running mate, J.D. Vance, by name.

Yesterday, we celebrated the launch of Native Americans for Harris! With just 33 days to go until the election, we caught up with the Honorable @debhaalandnm and @AllieYoung13 to discuss why your voice matters now more than ever! pic.twitter.com/qdw0pRT9gm

— Kamala for Arizona (@KamalaForAZ) October 3, 2024