Native American votes helped secure Biden's win in Arizona

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Voting rights advocates had long argued that if Native Americans and other minority groups were mobilized, they could be decisive in a tight race.

This year proved that.

Voter turnout on swaths of tribal land in Arizona surged compared with the 2016 presidential election, helping Joe Biden to victory in a state that hadn't supported a Democratic in a White House contest since 1996. Native Americans were among the difference-makers who swung the race to Biden in Arizona.

“It truly takes a village," said Clara Pratte, a political operative and Navajo woman who led national tribal engagements for the Biden campaign. “Could it have been done without a tribal vote? No."

That show of force is now translating into leverage for Native Americans seeking more representation in top levels of the federal government.

Biden is under pressure to appoint at least one Native American to his Cabinet. Among the contenders to oversee the Interior Department, which works with tribes, are New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo, and Kevin Washburn, a former head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs who is a member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma. Retiring Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico, vice chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, also is the list.

While it's difficult to determine exactly how many Native Americans voted because many live off reservations, a look at the turnout in key areas reveals a sharp rise in engagement.

Voters in precincts on the Navajo and Hopi reservations in northeastern Arizona cast nearly 60,000 ballots in the Nov. 3 election, compared with just under 42,500 in 2016, according to an Associated Press analysis of election data. Biden won Arizona by about 10,500 votes, according to unofficial results.

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