As a critical swing state, Arizona has already hosted many high-profile campaign events in the lead-up to November. The latest visitor was former Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
She’s aiming to energize Indigenous voters.
Abrams spoke during the Arizona Native Vote Forum at Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale on Monday. This nonpartisan gathering was organized by the South Dakota-based Four Directions Native Vote and Phoenix Indian Center. They invited candidates from both parties to greet voters face-to-face, defending their positions.
Despite Indigenous voters turning out to help elect Joe Biden as the first Democratic presidential nominee to win Arizona in almost three decades, the power of their vote was still downplayed.
Abrams recalled how CNN labeled Native voters as “something else” in a report the national television station aired about 2020 presidential election exit polling.
That demographic description upset Indian Country.
“Well, I’m here to tell you, you are something else, and you’re going to get something done,” said Abrams, as the crowd cheered. “I came from Georgia, because Arizona matters to me. I live in a country that deserves all of our voices, and I know that the Native voices are too often silenced, more often ignored.”
It wasn’t until 1948 when tribes in Arizona secured the right to vote through the courts, nearly a quarter of a century after the Indian Citizenship Act passed in 1924.
After her keynote address, Abrams privately met with tribal leaders, like Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis of the Gila River Indian Community.
“For her to come here, it shows how important the Native vote is, not just in Arizona but across the United States, and she talks about the commonalities,” Lewis said. “We can’t work in silos; we have to work together. She knows her audience and I think people see the urgency of her message.”
