For Immediate Release—October 31, 2024
New Ad Campaign Drops to Highlight Stark Difference Between Candidates
New York, NY—Dozens of Tribes, Tribal leaders, and national Native organizations have endorsed Kamala Harris for president, a showing of support that may mean the difference in key states where polling shows slim margins.
“In 2020, Native voters turned out in record numbers in key states and made all the difference,” said Judith LeBlanc (Caddo), executive director of the Native Organizers Alliance Action Fund. “In Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Michigan, Native voters made up a key constituency that pushed Biden over the line to victory.”
New ads are running on social media platforms that highlight the candidates’ backgrounds on issues of sovereignty and sacred site protections, including the accomplishments from Vice President Kamala Harris under the current administration. The ads also highlight the actions of former President Donald Trump to weaken Tribal sovereignty and protections of Indigenous sacred lands, as well as the controversial statement VP Candidate Vance made, calling Indigenous Peoples Day a “fake holiday.”
The Indigenous Futures Survey — the largest nationally representative survey led by Native peoples, for Native peoples — found that more than 80% of respondents plan to vote in the upcoming presidential election.
“Voters in the most recent Indigenous Futures Survey were clear: they want leaders who will support and uphold Tribal sovereignty, better protect sacred places by addressing climate change, and improve the economic disparities that exist for Native peoples,” said LeBlanc. “We believe that a Harris administration will move these issues forward.”
One of the first actions Trump took in office was to reduce the size of the sacred Bears Ears National Monument by 85%.
“He made it really clear that the will of our sovereign nations didn’t matter and that he was willing to trample on our rights,” said LeBlanc. “I’ve seen nothing in his rhetoric on the campaign trail that says he will do anything differently. If anything, he may feel emboldened to go even further and make good on his promise to seize federal lands for housing developments.”
Project 2025, a plan that conservatives have promised to implement, will effectively concentrate power in the White House, a move that concerns many Tribes and Native peoples.
“Project 2025 poses an extreme risk to our sovereignty,” said LeBlanc. “It is the strongest signal the GOP could send that their intent isn’t to strengthen the Tribal consultation process, as Biden-Harris has done, but to grab power at every turn. Native peoples understand the threat of another Trump administration, and have been proud of the progress we’ve made in the past four years. We’re not going back.”
With polling showing close races in many states, Tribes, current and former tribal leaders, and Native organizations are leveraging their power and using their platforms to encourage support for Harris. It has been reported that more than 70 Tribal and Native American leaders have endorsed Harris.
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