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.
Jesse Bartley Milam (1884–1949) was best known as the first Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation appointed by a U.S. president since tribal government had been dissolved before Oklahoma Statehood in 1907. He was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941, who reappointed him in 1942 and 1943; he was reappointed by President Harry S. Truman in 1948. He died while in office in 1949.
The Cherokee Nation, formerly known as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is the largest of three federally recognized tribes of Cherokees 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 Cherokees 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.
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.
Shane David Jett is an American politician from the state of Oklahoma, who is the state senator from Senate District 17, which includes northern Pottawatomie County and eastern Oklahoma County. He was a member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 2004 to 2010, representing House District 27. He also serves as chairman of the U.S. Treasury CDFI Fund Community Development Advisory Board.
William Charles Rogers was born in the Cherokee Nation near present-day Skiatook, Oklahoma, USA, on December 13, 1847. A Confederate veteran and successful farmer, he entered tribal politics in 1881.
Thomas Mitchell Buffington was born October 15, 1855, in Going Snake District of the Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory, now in Adair County, Oklahoma. His parents were Ezekiel Buffington, who was born in Georgia in 1807 and settled in Oklahoma Territory in 1835 as part of the Cherokee diaspora. His mother was Louisa (Newman) Buffington, who was born in Tennessee in 1817 and died in 1898. Buffington was one of eight children. Buffington married Susie Woodall in 1878 (b.1857-d.1891); she was a school teacher. Four years after his first wife's death, he married E. Gray, a teacher in the Cherokee schools.
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 2020, she was named by Time as one of 16 activists fighting for a "More Equal America."
Bill John Baker is a Native American politician who served as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. First elected in October 2011, Baker defeated three-term incumbent Chief Chad "Corntassel" Smith. Prior to his election as Chief, Baker served 12 years on the Cherokee Tribal Council. In 1999, Baker unsuccessfully ran for Deputy Chief of the Cherokee Nation.
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.
Chuck Hoskin Jr. is a Cherokee Nation politician and attorney currently serving as the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation since 2019. He was re-elected to a second term in the 2023 Cherokee Nation principal chief election.
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 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.
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.
United States