Chadwick "Corntassel" Smith is a Native American politician and attorney who served as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. He was first elected in 1999. Smith was re-elected to a second term as Chief in 2003 and a third term in June 2007 with 59% of the vote. He was defeated in his attempt to get elected to a fourth term in office by Bill John Baker 54% to 46% in the 2011 election and he lost again to Baker in 2015,receiving 28% of the vote. Prior to being elected Principal Chief,he worked as a lawyer for the tribe and in private practice.
The Cherokee Nation,also known as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma,is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It includes people descended from members of the Old Cherokee Nation who relocated,due to increasing pressure,from the Southeast to Indian Territory and Cherokee who were forced to relocate on the Trail of Tears. The tribe also includes descendants of Cherokee Freedmen,Absentee Shawnee,and Natchez Nation. As of 2023,over 450,000 people were enrolled in the Cherokee Nation.
Joe Byrd was the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1995 to 1999. Byrd is bilingual,with an ability to communicate in both Cherokee and English. He ran for re-election in 1999,but lost to Chad "Corntassel" Smith. He ran again in 2003,but again lost to the incumbent Smith.
David Cornsilk is a professional genealogist and served as the managing editor of the Cherokee Observer,an online news website founded in 1992. He founded of the grassroots Cherokee National Party in the 1990s,seeking to create a movement to promote the Nation as a political entity. While working as a full-time store clerk at Petsmart,he "took on America’s second-largest Indian tribe,the Cherokee Nation,in what led to a landmark tribal decision. Cornsilk served as a lay advocate,which permits non-lawyers to try cases before the Cherokee Nation’s highest court." Cornsilk had worked for the nation as a tribal enrollment research analyst and for the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a genealogical researcher. He also has his own genealogical firm. He ran in the 2023 Cherokee Nation principal chief election. He lost the election to incumbent principal chief Chuck Hoskin Jr.
Kimberly Teehee is a Native American attorney,politician,and activist on Native American issues. She is a Delegate-designate to the U.S. House of Representatives from the Cherokee Nation. She served as senior policy advisor for Native American affairs in the administration of President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2012. In February of 2020,she was named by Time as one of 16 activists fighting for a "More Equal America."
Chuck Hoskin Sr. is a Cherokee and American politician and former member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from the 6th district,which includes parts of Craig,Mayes,and Rogers counties. He served as a whip for the Democratic caucus. He is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation,and he served from 1995 to 2007 as a member of the Tribal Council,and in 2011 became Chief of Staff for the Principal Chief,Baker. In 2019 his son,Chuck Hoskin Jr.,was elected Principal Chief of Cherokee Nation.
John Kevin Stitt is an American businessman and politician serving as the 28th governor of Oklahoma since 2019. A member of the Republican Party,he was elected in 2018,defeating Democrat and former state Attorney General Drew Edmondson with 54.3% of the vote. Stitt was reelected to a second term in 2022,defeating Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister,a Republican turned Democrat,with 55.4% of the vote. A member of the Cherokee Nation,Stitt is the second Native American governor after former Oklahoma governor Johnston Murray.
The 2019 Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma principal chief election was held on Saturday,June 1,2019. Former Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. defeated Tribal Councilman Dick Lay in the election.
The 2022 Oklahoma gubernatorial election was held on November 8,2022,to elect the governor of Oklahoma. Incumbent governor Kevin Stitt was re-elected to a second term,defeating Joy Hofmeister.
John Wesley "Wes" Nofire is a Cherokee Nation and American politician and a former heavyweight professional boxer who has served as the Oklahoma Native American Affairs Liaison since 2023. During his boxing career Nofire fought under the name "The Cherokee Warrior". Nofire served on the Cherokee Nation tribal council between 2019 and 2023. He was a Republican candidate in the 2022 primary election for Oklahoma's 2nd congressional district and candidate in the 2023 Cherokee Nation principal chief election.
The Cherokee delegate to the United States House of Representatives is an office established via the Treaty of New Echota in 1835. The office was intended to represent the Cherokee people and was instrumental in negotiations of land transfer and sovereignty in the Treaty. The office went vacant until 2019,with the appointment of Kimberly Teehee of the Cherokee Nation. Teehee and tribal leadership attempted to get her seated in the 116th and 117th United States Congresses. In 2021,the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians designated their own delegate,lawyer Victoria Holland.
The 2023 Cherokee Nation principal chief election was held on June 3,2023,concurrently with the 2023 Cherokee Nation tribal council elections and 2023 Cherokee Nation deputy chief election,to elect the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. Incumbent principal chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. ran for re-election to a second term in office with incumbent deputy chief Bryan Warner as his running mate and was re-elected to a second term.
Joe Crittendon is a Cherokee Nation politician who has served as the Cherokee Nation Secretary of Veteran Affairs since 2019. He previously served on the tribal council,as deputy chief,and Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation in 2011.
Cara Cowan Watts is a Cherokee Nation politician. She served on the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council from 2003 to 2015 and was a candidate for Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation in the 2023 Cherokee Nation principal chief election.
Joseph Tali Byrd is a Cherokee Nation and Quapaw Nation politician who served as the Quapaw Nation Chairman from 2020 until his resignation in 2023.
The 2023 Cherokee Nation deputy chief election was held on June 3,2023,concurrently with the 2023 Cherokee Nation tribal council elections and 2023 Cherokee Nation principal chief election,to elect the Deputy Chief of the Cherokee Nation. Incumbent deputy chief Bryan Warner ran for re-election to a second term in office with incumbent principal chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. as his running mate. Warner won re-election with over 61% of the vote.
Bryan Warner is a Cherokee Nation politician who has served as the deputy chief of the Cherokee Nation since 2019 and who served as the Cherokee Nation tribal councilor for the 6th district from 2015 to 2019.
David Walkingstick is a Cherokee Nation politician who served on the Cherokee Nation tribal council between 2011 and 2019.
Mike Shambaugh is an American and Cherokee Nation politician,baseball player,and police officer who has served on the Cherokee Nation tribal councilor representing the 9th district since 2017 and as speaker of the Cherokee Nation tribal council since 2021.
Sara Elizabeth Hill is a Cherokee and American attorney who has served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma since 2024. She previously served as the attorney general of the Cherokee Nation from August 2019 to August 2023 and as the tribe's secretary of natural resources between October 2015 and August 2019.
