Joe Biden, Kamala Harris meet with tribal leaders in Phoenix

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Joe Biden, Kamala Harris meet with tribal leaders in Phoenix

Vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, and Cindy McCain visit the Heard Museum in Phoenix on Thursday. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Election 2020

Oct 8, 2020

Updated: 'It could have been a lot of organizations they could have met with, and they decided to meet with us, which I think is pretty huge' #NativeVote20

Dalton Walker
Indian Country Today

PHOENIX — How important is the Native vote? It could play a serious role in Arizona come Nov. 3.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris met with five tribal leaders Thursday during a visit to Phoenix:

• Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez
• Gila River Indian Community Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis
• Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Ned Norris Jr.
• San Carlos Apache Tribe Chairman Terry Rambler
• Hopi Tribe Chairman Timothy L. Nuvangyaoma

The roughly half-hour meeting took place at the Heard Museum. Biden and others also toured the museum's American Indian Veterans National Memorial, which features several sculptures by acclaimed Native artists.

Tohono O'odham Nation Chairman Ned Norris Jr., Gila River Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis, Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez, San Carlos Apache Chairman Terry Rambler and Hopi Chairman Timothy L. Nuvangyaoma met with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris at the Heard Museum on Thursday. (Photo by Carina Dominguez, Indian Country Today)

Video taken at the memorial and shared on Facebook by the Navajo Nation showed Nez asking Biden to say hi to the Navajo people. 

“Navajo Nation, stay strong; we need you,” Biden said. “We need you, we need you, we need you because you’re going to have a seat at the table if we get elected.”

Not long after, Harris shared similar words: "Navajo Nation, we are going to always fight for sovereignty. We are going to work together on the climate and what we know the original people always knew, which is that we have to protect this Earth, and we have to be smart about it. We will take your lead, and you will always have a seat at the table.”

Lewis showed Biden an image at the memorial of Gila River citizen and World War II veteran Ira Hayes, who helped raise the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima in Japan and appears in the iconic photo. Lewis asked Biden to take a photo with him next to the image.

Also with Biden and Harris was Cindy McCain. Joining the tribal leaders were Lorencita “Cee” Murphy, a Navajo Nation citizen and U.S. Army veteran, and Alfred “Fred” Urbina, a Pascua Yaqui citizen and army veteran.

Gila River Indian Community President Stephen Roe Lewis, Joe Biden, Sen. Kamala Harris and Cindy McCain take a photo next to the American Indian Veterans National Memorial at the Heard Museum. (Screenshot photo courtesy of Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and Vice President Myron Lizer Facebook page)

Nuvangyaoma told Indian Country Today that the meeting needs to be a “stepping stone” to a larger conversation, not just a photo op with Biden and Harris. 

“Today was a pivotal point in them finding some time,” he said. “It could have been a lot of organizations they could have met with, and they decided to meet with us, which I think is pretty huge.”