How American Indians Could Save the Democrats' Senate Majority

[applegrove]

How American Indians Could Save the Democrats' Senate Majority

By Tim Murphy at Mother Jones

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/10/south-dakota-senate-shannon-county

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Earlier this year, Kevin Killer collected 1,193 signatures to put a referendum on the ballot to change the name of Shannon County, South Dakota. The county, which includes much of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, is named for former Dakota Territory Supreme Court Chief Justice Peter Shannon, who was instrumental in the passage of the Dawes Act, which separated American Indians from their land. The proposed new name: Oglala Lakota County, after the tribe that calls Pine Ridge home.

The initiative needs a two-thirds majority to pass. In a county where 93 percent of voters are American Indians, Killer, a Democratic state representative, believes the name change could be a boon for turnout. That would be good news for Democrats in Washington, DC, who see South Dakota as the place where they could save their Senate majority. Rick Weiland, a progressive Democrat, is locked in a tight three-way race against former Republican Gov. Mike Rounds and former Republican Sen. Larry Pressler (who is running as an independent). Weiland is banking on Native Americans—and a string of new reforms that make it easier to vote on reservations—to push him across the finish line.
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It wouldn't be the first time American Indians have come through for Democrats in South Dakota. In 1996, after Pressler pushed through a law that stopped the transfer of federal lands back to tribes and forced the tribes to pay taxes on any new land they acquired, a group of tribal leaders held a conference to formally denounce Pressler and endorse Tim Johnson, his opponent. Johnson won, and six years later, amid a GOP wave, he was reelected by 524 votes. It wasn't until 5 a.m., when Shannon County became the last part of the state to report its votes, that Democrats felt comfortable declaring victory.

Weiland, a former aide to Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) who has campaigned on reservations and made his opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline a central part of his outreach efforts, needs to run up huge margins among American Indian voters this time around. Killer believes the Shannon County referendum could give voters a reason to show up.



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[Blue_In_AK]

1. The Alaska Native vote will determine the outcome here,

no question, and they are fired up, mostly Begich supporters.