In 2018, a record amount of Native American candidates ran for office. Among the most celebrated historic wins include Sharice Davids, a Democrat from Kansas, and Deb Haaland, a Democrat from New Mexico. Another incredible win, but one that’s gotten less mainstream media attention, comes from North Dakota.
State Rep. Ruth Buffalo, a member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, made history as the first Native American Democratic woman to be elected to North Dakota’s legislature. Not only that, but she defeated a four-term Republican incumbent, former State Rep. Randy Boehning. And she won in the 27th District, which includes traditionally Republican Fargo. Nice.
As a quick review of what made her win especially delightful, let’s go over the oppressive voter ID law her opponent, Boehning, supported. In simple terms, the law required voters to have a residential address. On the surface, this might not seem like a big barrier. But for Native voters who live on reservations, it’s a huge issue because many have a post office box instead. Or they may technically have a registered residential address, but not know what it is or how to get that information. While supporters of the law claimed this was intended to reduce voter fraud, there was no documented evidence of that actually being an issue—it’s voter suppression, plain and simple.
What’s not surprising? The primary sponsor of that law was … Boehning.
Grassroots organizers and advocacy groups garnered an unprecedented turnout across the state in spite of this suppressive voter ID law. And as Rep. Buffalo tells Daily Kos in our exclusive interview, part of the Making Progress series, she feels confident that this energy isn’t about to fizzle out.
“I definitely believe that the energy from the mid-term 2018 election will carry forward generations to come,” she tells Daily Kos behind the scenes at Netroots Nation, the country’s biggest conference for progressives. “What we have seen as a result in North Dakota from the voter ID suppression law was almost a reawakening of our youth.”
Want to hear more about voter suppression, how the youth are getting involved, and why face-to-face contact while campaigning is so important? Check out the Making Progress interview with Buffalo below, as well as a written transcript of the interview.
Question 1: You just had a historic win in North Dakota. Can you tell us about it?
Yes, I am the first Native American woman Democrat elected into the North Dakota State Legislature. I also de-seated the prime sponsor of the voter ID law. In North Dakota there's 47 districts, 47 legislative districts, and each legislative district has two House seats and one Senate. The Senate seat was an open seat, and then, the two House seats were held by incumbents. The individual that I de-seated, he had been in the North Dakota Legislature for, I believe, eight terms. North Dakota, we're one of four states where our House of Representatives serve four-year terms.
Question 2: Anger over the efforts to suppress Native votes in North Dakota backfired, and led to record turnout in Native communities. Do you think that energy will continue into the next election, and beyond?
Yes, I definitely believe that the energy from the midterm 2018 election will carry forward generations to come. What we have seen as a result in North Dakota from the voter ID suppression law was almost a reawakening of our youth. You know, we saw in Turtle Mountain, Band of Chippewas, Standing Rock, MHA Nation, a lot of the youth leading the way in standing up for voter rights. And so, I'm pretty excited and I believe this momentum will carry forward. I'm super excited to see what the youth will do.
As a mom, I have a 16-year-old daughter who is very civically engaged. She was with me every step of the way in my 2016 statewide race for insurance commissioner. And so, she really continues to be engaged, but at a different level through her art. She's a young, up-and-coming budding artist, so I think just seeing what my children are doing, it really gives me a good snapshot of what our youth are going to do in moving us forward.
Question 3: What were the successes in your campaign? What was your biggest challenge?
The successes in my campaign really were at the grassroots level. I had people from all different walks of life join me in door knocking, in fundraising. We had different kinds of fundraising. We had like painting rocks at the picnic areas, and that was led by a trans lady in my district. We had parents, young people, even to this day I have different people from all different backgrounds who come up to me and whom I might just be meeting for the first time, and they're a constituent, and they say how proud they are of me and that they're thankful to have me representing them.
As an Indigenous woman, it really warms my heart, putting it mildly, because it really stands true to my values. I believe my values, you know; we talked about it a little bit this morning that Indigenous values really resonate with rural values. I grew up in a rural tribal community.
The value of visiting people versus technology, you know, just really kinda going back to those kitchen table values of having a cup of coffee, taking the time to visit with people, that's how I grew up and that's how I was raised. And so, I know there's a lot of North Dakotans out there who really hang on to those rural, country values.
Another success was having people, again, who might not have been involved in the political arena jump into the political arena with me. And so, a lot of people have shared with me that if it wasn't for my Facebook updates, Facebook Live videos, even throughout this past legislative session, they wouldn't of been as involved. They feel like they know a lot more of what the process is from the campaign, being a candidate, and now, elected into office. Learning more about the legislative process and following bills and testifying and all of that good stuff.
Some of the challenges, I would say, would be Donald Trump. President Trump did visit North Dakota three times during the campaign season. That was a little intimidating, but I just kept my nose to the grindstone and continued to knock doors and just continued to do the work and meet as many people, literally, where they were at, you know, at their doorstep, and trying to hear from them, you know, what issues mattered the most to them. And just really stayed true to my values, which include hard work.
I think the values of hard work really resonate with North Dakotans. Just being born and raised in North Dakota and being from the western side of the state, which is very rural, still resonated with a lot of people in my district of South Fargo.
Bonus question: If you could give advice to you teenage self what would it be?
I would say continue to be bold and to not doubt yourself. It's always a good idea, though, to pick up an extra speech class or a debate class because those things come in handy down the road. Don't let others intimidate you from joining the debate team or the speech team because you're just as worthy and capable to be in those circles. I would say just continue to believe in yourself.
Want to catch up on more Making Progress interviews? Don’t miss our interview with Prairie Rose Seminole on how to be a better ally to Native American communities and our talk with Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza on what to do if you support a progressive cause, but disagree with its tactics.
You can also catch up on the entire archive at the Daily Kos YouTube page.