{"id":41518,"date":"2024-10-03T16:57:55","date_gmt":"2024-10-03T20:57:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=41518"},"modified":"2024-10-03T17:05:07","modified_gmt":"2024-10-03T21:05:07","slug":"kamala-harris-campaign-targets-native-voters-in-bid-for-white-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/10\/03\/kamala-harris-campaign-targets-native-voters-in-bid-for-white-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Kamala Harris campaign targets Native voters in bid for White House"},"content":{"rendered":" \"Kamala<\/a>
Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris take part in the Navajo Nation Fair in Window Rock, Arizona, on September 7, 2024. Photo courtesy Harris for President<\/figcaption>\r\n
Kamala Harris campaign targets Native voters in bid for White House<\/div>\r\n
Thursday, October 3, 2024<\/div>\r\n
By Acee Agoyo<\/div>\r\n
Indianz.Com<\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nWith a little over a month before the November election, Native advocates are hard at work to ensure Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris<\/a> wins the race for the White House.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThough American Indians and Alaska Natives represent less than 1 percent of the United States population, they account for significant numbers in states<\/a> 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.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n“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<\/a> for the campaign, said on a press call on Wednesday<\/a>.\r\n

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\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\"AUDIO:\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t\tAUDIO: Kamala Harris campaign announces launch of \u2018Native Americans for Harris-Walz\u2019\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t
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The campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris announces the launch of Native Americans for Harris-Walz on October 2, 2024.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

\n\t\t\"Native\t\tNative Vote\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nAccording 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<\/a>, as the “most expansive tribal organizing program ever,” one that includes outreach in Native languages and in Native publications.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n“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.”\r\n

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

<\/P>\r\nAccording to results from Apache County<\/a>, 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.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n“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.”\r\n

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