By Nicky Ouellet, Montana Public Radio

A one-word change in the Montana state Republican Party platform is leaving some tribal members confused about how the party sees them. Depending on who you ask, it’s either a clarification or chipping away at tribal sovereignty. The Native American Affairs platform plank used to say: “The Montana Republican party supports American Indian Tribal nations and their treaties with the Federal Government.” It now reads “…American Indian Tribal peoples.”

Representative Bruce Meyers, the only Republican Native American in the Montana legislature, says the change SHOULD clear up how the state sees it’s tribal citizens.

“American Indian people actually have a double status, and that’s created a lot of confusion,” Meyers said.”So we were hoping that the platform clearly outlined that we were only dealing with tribal people as citizens of the state of Montana and not citizens of the united states of America.”

A Montana GOP spokesperson added that the party wants to address the individual rather than what he calls “group identity politics.” The Montana GOP platform echoes the party’s national plank calling for tribal people to self-determine development of natural resources and create economic self-sufficiency.

But where GOP representatives see a point of clarification, others see potential for a breakdown in the government-to-government relationship between tribes and the state.

“If it represents a change in the way a Republican governor or Republican led government would interact with individual tribal citizens to the exclusion of tribal nations, then I think it could have an effect on state-tribal relations, particularly where tribal nations see a real need for government-to-government relationship with the state government,” said Monte Mills is a law professor who specializes in Indian Law at University of Montana.

In contrast, the Montana Democratic Party’s platform says it recognizes Montana’s American Indians as Montanans and members of sovereign tribal nations. The party’s national platform includes a robust “Honoring Indigenous Tribal Nations” section that outlines tribal sovereignty, land restoration and the federal trust responsibility.

By Ryan Heinsius, Arizona Public Radio

Native Americans from the Hopi, White Mountain Apache and other tribes make up a quarter of Arizona’s sprawling, mostly rural 1st Congressional District. It’s the district with the largest Native American population in the country. Republican Paul Babeu and Democrat Tom O’Halleran are competing for the district’s open seat. It also includes much of the Navajo Nation, where unemployment is nearly 50 percent. Both candidates have campaigned in the traditionally Democratic-leaning area, and have focused largely on economic issues and job creation.

Babeu is an Army veteran and the current sheriff of southern Arizona’s Pinal County. He proposes expanding loans for Native American businesspeople, but says sustaining the coal industry is his top priority for the Navajo economy.

“Coal is a significant source of revenue for the Navajo Nation and I’ve communicated not just to them, everyone, that coal is a top priority, preserving coal as an energy source for the state of Arizona and our nation,” Babeu said.

O’Halleran is a former Arizona state senator and a retired police officer. He supports coal, but says investment in job training and education is vital for Indian Country’s economy.

“A better workforce, a more intelligent workforce is going to help with worldwide competition and it’ll help Native American tribal lands and populations be able to have the resources necessary to have an economy that’s vibrant,” O’Halleran said.

Control of Arizona’s CD-One has fluctuated between the two parties in the last decade. Statewide redistricting in 2012, however, made it more competitive for Democratic candidates.

By Ryan Heinsius, Arizona Public Radio

Arizona’s Seventh Legislative District is gearing up for a new direction. The outcome of the election was all but certain from the beginning. That’s because Democratic state senate candidate Jamescita Peshlakai is running for the seat without any opposition from a major party. The district covers much of the northern and eastern parts of the state that includes several tribal nations.

Peshlakai has deep roots in northern Arizona. Her family is originally from the area now designated as Wupatki National Monument, north of Flagstaff. Her great-grandfathers collaborated with President Theodore Roosevelt in annexing land that became the western portion of the Navajo Nation.

“I was born and raised in the area,” Peshlakai said. “I have a name that is synonymous with culture, tradition and the struggle of the Native American in the region. I’ve always dedicated my life to public service.” She is a U-S Army veteran of the Persian Gulf War who served with the 403rd combat hospital. She helped overhaul the Navajo Veterans Administration earlier this year and was recently appointed the agency’s interim executive director. Peshlakai is also the former state representative of LD7.

If elected to the state senate for the district, Peshlakai said her priority will be to protect the state’s environment as well as tribal watersheds. “We consider this our home, not just physically but spiritually and emotionally as well,” she said. “There’s a greater duty to the district and to ourselves and to all that is pretty much permanent here: the earth, the water, the natural resources.” Tribal sovereignty, job creation, and the removing dark money from statewide campaigns are also of vital importance, she said.

LD7 includes eight tribal nations like the Havasupai, Hopi and Navajo, and spans seven Arizona counties. The district’s senate seat will be vacated by Republican Carlyle Begay who didn’t seek reelection this year. The 53rd Arizona State Legislature will convene in January.

Arizona’s First Congressional district has the largest number of Native American voters of any district in the country. With less than a month before the U-S general election, the two candidates vying for the office are appealing to voters on the Navajo Nation and other tribes.

By Ramona Marozas and Kate Harrison

Some Native American voters feel they’re being left out in the cold in the presidential election. Former Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders was the only one who routinely spoke about issues important to them. Now he’s campaigning for Hillary Clinton.

One family at a Sanders event in Duluth remain hopeful the other candidates will take Sanders’ lead. Ojibwe voters Andrea and Dennis Debungie took their daughter to see Sanders campaign for Hillary Clinton at an event at the University of Minnesota-Duluth in early October.

Dennis Debungie says Sanders was his first choice for president. Now he’s left with two candidates who have failed to speak up for Native people. The Standing Rock Sioux fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline is a key issue.

“One of the reasons I’m here is because I’m going to see if he talks about (the Dakota Access Pipeline) –you know–what’s going on in Standing Rock,” Dennis said. “Because he’s here to represent Hillary and I want to see if he’s on top of the topics.”

Sanders has publicly spoken against the pipeline construction before, but he didn’t mention it this night. He did address other issues related to Indian Country like climate change, clean water, education and racial equality.

Three months after Sanders lost the Democratic nomination to Clinton, Andrea Debungie holds up the former candidate’s comments as the standard she’s looking for in a candidate.

“Bernie Sanders has been the only candidate through this presidential campaign that I feel like has spoken to the audience of Native people like me, so I felt like he was someone I could really vote for,” she said

The Debungies say they wanted their daughter to see Bernie Sanders speak in person. They were originally locked out of the main event where Sanders was speaking because the venue was filled to capacity. Guards watching the front door eventually let them in. With Sanders out of the race, both Debungies say Clinton is their choice for president.

By Ryan Heinsius, Arizona Public Radio

Recent polls show Arizona is one of a handful of toss-up states in the U-S presidential election. That could give increased prominence to the Native American vote in the historically red state. Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye is now the most recent tribal leader to officially endorse Democrat Hillary Clinton. He is urging other Navajos to cast their votes for the former secretary of state. He says during her campaign, Clinton has committed to address issues like Indian healthcare and education, combating drug and alcohol abuse, and bolstering public safety. In addition, the Navajo president says he doesn’t think Republican Donald Trump would respect tribal sovereignty and treaties made with the federal government.

Navajo Vice President Jonathan Nez, who also endorsed Clinton, says she would continue tribal relationships fostered under the Obama administration.

“Eight years of that nation-to-nation dialogue with the U.S. and tribal communities have taken Indian Nations into the 21^st century, I believe,” Nez said. “Hillary has been to Navajo before as the first lady. We really believe wholeheartedly that she’ll do great things for Indian Country and the Navajo people.”

The tribal vote could also be also key in other Arizona races. Democrat Tom O’Halleran and Republican Paul Babeu are competing in the state’s First Congressional District. Each have appealed to Navajo voters during their campaigns.

“We have high unemployment rates on the Native American reservation lands,” said Fred Solop is a political science professor at Northern Arizona University. “So jobs and the economy are really critical. I think that’ll be a substantial focus.”

Solop said O’Halleran’s focus on economic issues could give him an edge.

The Navajo Nation will hold separate tribal elections November 8^th, and Solop says that’s likely to boost voter turnout. There are more than 130,000 registered voters on the Navajo Nation, who have historically favored Democratic candidates.