Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribe Chairwoman Cathi Tuni said the tribe has had a positive experience with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ administration.
She points to the tribe acquiring roughly 10,000 acres of land back through federal legislation.
“We are five miles from the Naval Air Station Fallon, and we have been in a quandary with them for many years over the land, the bombing ranges,” Tuni said. “So, coming to the table with the Biden Administration, Department of Interior, we were able to protect one of our last sacred mountains, which is the Monte Cristo Mountains, so the bombing range expansion went pretty much around that.”
Because of this, the chairwoman wanted the entire tribe to endorse Harris, not just her. So, Tuni discussed it with the politically divided tribal council and asked what qualities they wanted in a leader. She said they discussed how former president Donald Trump talks.
“What if I came into the meeting and talked just like he’s been talking? What would you guys think of your Chairwoman? You would think, ‘Gosh, is this our leader?’ There’s got to be at least a fine line of respect somewhere, and this guy does not have it at all,” Tuni said.
She said the decision was unanimous.
In a recent interview for KUNR’s Purple Politics Nevada, Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Chairman Steven Wadsworth said as an elected official himself, he knows there’s no such thing as a perfect candidate. But the Democratic party reached out this election, and earned his support.
“Two of the main things that I think about are women’s rights, women’s health, and the mining. When it comes to the Democrats, they’re all about the mining. They just want to mine Nevada until it’s a husk of what it normally was, which is bad. But at the same time, the other party, how much do they care about women? I’ve got strong female influences all around me,” Wadsworth said.
And like Tuni, he didn’t make the decision on his own. The tribal council voted, and it wasn’t unanimous. But Wadsworth said it was necessary for the tribe to be recognized, and to have a voice.
According to Native News Online, more than 70 tribal leaders have endorsed Harris. These include the chairs of the Yomba Shoshone Tribe and Yerington Paiute Tribe, as well as the chair and vice chairwomen of the Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone Tribe.
