Story by Hannah Benitez | Photos by Phoebe Mather

During the upcoming election cycle, Montanans can expect to see an even higher number of Indigenous representation on the midterm ballots. This follows a trend that started a decade ago with increasing numbers of Native Americans running for Montana office. 

According to the Montana American Indian Caucus, 2025 saw a historic number of 13 Indigenous citizens appointed into the Montana legislature. This year, there are at least 19 Indigenous candidates on the Montana state ballot seeking public office. 

This number includes Montana Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy, who had dropped out of the House race in April following sexual abuse allegations. Windy Boy, denying the allegations, resumed his candidacy in May. 

The 2026 primary election is scheduled in Montana for June 2 and will determine which candidates will move forward in the November race.

It’s difficult to tell the exact number of Indigenous candidates on the ballot since election paperwork does not require candidates to provide ethnicity information. However, at least 19 candidates have been confirmed to be affiliated with tribes, mostly in Montana. It’s also difficult to determine how Indigenous representation in Montana measures up against other states.

Even if most of those candidates don’t make it past the primary, Montana has already established a high watermark for Indigenous representation. Montana’s 13 Indigenous legislators make up 11.5% of the legislative body, which is higher than the estimated 6.5% of the state’s population that Native Americans make up, according to the 2020 Census.

Other states with high Indigenous populations are noticeably lacking in comparison. Alaska, which has a 16% Indigenous population has only 2% representation in its Legislature. Arizona’s population is 6% Indigenous with 4% of its Legislature representing the community. 

“When someone tells you that your vote doesn’t matter, quietly say, ‘Montana,’” wrote journalist Mark Trahant in a Substack post in March. He was quoting himself from an analysis he wrote 10 years earlier. “Or if someone says that politicians don’t listen and that nothing will change, smile, and then say ‘Montana.’ And, when you want proof that the Native vote works, evidence can be found in Montana.”

Trahant has been following the growth of Native Americans seeking public office. He noted, in that decade-old analysis that the Montana Legislature had reached ‘parity’ with the state’s Indigenous population, that the Native American percentage of the lawmaking body was at least equal to the population.

“The thing about having that many Native Americans serving in the Legislature is that you are building a bench,” wrote Trahant in March. “This is the training ground for Congress, even the presidency.”  While this year’s candidates might be running for different aspects of change, they are still fighting for one common goal: Bringing the rights of Native Americans to the forefront.

An issue that many Indigenous citizens are battling and advocating change for is Senate Bill 490, which reduced the time that Montanans could register to vote on election day to a four-hour window from 8 a.m. to noon.

The bill was met with frustration from first time Native American voters, since it will make it harder for those living on reservations or in rural areas to vote in the election.

Likewise, in 2024, the Montana State Supreme Court struck down two state laws, as passed by the Legislature, that tribes argued disenfranchised Indigenous voters.

One candidate that is running for Senate is hoping to change the future of Montana through better access to healthcare and mental health services.

Juggling it all

In a small chapel just outside Browning, the interor is decorated with paintings depicting the last day of Jesus along beaded feathers hanging from crosses. Community members gathered to hold a quick service before starting the eight-mile trek to another church.

Within the members sitting in the pews is Jade-Heather Ackerman, along with six of her seven children. Ackerman commits to the walk every year, but this year is different.

After the father of her children was murdered in 2023 and after she filed for a civil suit against the United States, Ackerman has turned her attention to helping those around her.

Ackerman hopes to be one of the representatives sworn into the American Indian Caucus in January 2027.

However, as she interacts with friends on the walk her senatorial campaign is not a main topic. “I’m laying a little bit low right now,” Ackerman said.

Though Ackerman is waiting to share her opinions with the rest of the world, her followers reassure her that she’s got their vote. “I’m with you because you follow the word of God,” one of the walkers said.

All throughout her life, Ackerman felt like she was born to be in a leadership role, during the walk she shared stories about her life. After growing up on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, taking care of her younger brother, she moved to the Blackfeet reservation with her grandmother.

While she doesn’t describe her childhood as perfect, she knows that it’s what drove her to become a mother and a licensed therapist on the reservation.

“I just want to help people,” she said. “We’ve all come from some level of trauma from what our ancestors had to live through.” 

Ackerman not only has put a lasting impact on her local community but also on her family.

Cadyn-Rae Hinman, Ackerman’s 18-year-old daughter, was inspired by her mother. While she grew up loving the arts, through both drawing and writing comic books, she recently found a love for giving aid to people.

“My friends would come to me when they’re having a bad day and I would just talk to them, not knowing that I was giving them advice,” Hinman said, who has now decided to pursue a degree in general psychology.

Ackerman puts her children first, putting any conversation aside the second she hears one of her children call her name. She wants to protect them from the troubles she has faced.

“They are my number one responsibility, I don’t want them to think I don’t hear them or care about them,” Ackerman said.

It was after the murder of the father of her children that made her want to run for the Montana State Senate.

Now, she wants to focus her attention on those across the Blackfeet reservation that need help.

“We need representation in the government, after years of not being listened to, it’s time for us to make our voices heard,” Ackerman said.

So, she contacted her good friend Lona Running Wolf.

Ackerman asked what it was like for Lona’s husband, Tyson Running Wolf, to run his senatorial campaign. Lona Running Wolf told her it would probably take around three years to prepare for that race and to wait for the 2026 election cycle. So she did.

Ackerman looked forward to getting her campaign on the road but was met with surprise and sadness when she saw who she would be running against in the midterms.

“It’s difficult to see one of your good friends [Tyson Running Wolf] up against you,” Ackerman said.

But for Tyson Running Wolf it was a no brainer to move from the Montana State House to the Senate.

Running together

If they win, Lona and Tyson Running Wolf could become the first Indigenous couple to each have a seat in both the Senate and the House. But this wasn’t always the plan.

They have been together for 20 years, married in 2014, and after their seven children had left, they felt as though their journey had yet to end.

“I wanted to get an all-around experience in the legislature,” Tyson Running Wolf said.

Meanwhile for Lona Running Wolf, after helping Tyson Running Wolf with drafting some of his arguments and bills, she knew she was ready to run after her husband switched to the Senate.

“A long time ago, we made an agreement that once he finished out his House campaign, I would run in his position,” Lona Running Wolf said.

Both hold the people on the Blackfeet reservation important to them. The couple shows up to powwows and local events.

“Especially in today’s climate, people are feeling so hopeless that we really need to listen to people. So that’s our kind of strategy,” Lona Running Wolf said.

Recently Running Wolf was given an honorary headdress, in honor of her graduating with a doctoral degree from the University of Montana. She said her college experience was an important time for her to grow and develop.

“When I was in high school I didn’t feel smart, but once I was in college, I realized my real potential,” Lona Running Wolf said at the local powwow.

Lona and Tyson Running Wolf both started a nonprofit, the Blackfeet Eco Knowledge, in 2021. The nonprofit focuses on connecting citizens of the Blackfeet tribe with the land after their ancestors lost their lands.

Through both their nonprofit and their potential Senate and House seats, they hope to help not only the citizens of the Blackfeet tribe but also those that reside on the seven reservations of Montana.

“I think that Native Americans in Montana have been poorly represented in every administration. Having that representation could help us on the tax structure bills and on affordable housing,” Tyson Running Wolf said.

While the Running Wolfs are drawn to their own policies of change they want to enact when they gain a position in office, Lona Running Wolf hopes to focus on education, meanwhile Tyson Running Wolf hopes to focus on the environment, they are still able to come together.

Both are looking forward to getting into session in order to change some of the issues that citizens on the reservation are having to face given the current federal administration 

“How much [the American Indian Caucus] impact was at the state level in fighting against a lot of the policies that were coming from the Trump administration,” Lona Running Wolf said. “I think the American Indian Caucus at the state level really helped keep that attitude at bay.”

Meanwhile, 126 miles away on the Flathead Indian Reservation, another candidate prepares for the upcoming election.

For the love of family

As she sits at a table, Shelly Fyant places her laptop on the desk. With the help of her son, she’s able to download family pictures and pictures of her mom onto the computer.

Pointing to a black and white picture from the early 1900s, Fyant tells her son about her great-grandmother and her grandmother located on the left side of the photo.

While her great-grandmother died when she was only a couple of months old, Fyant feels as though she carries her memory with her.

Shelly Fyant grew up on the Flathead reservation and was elected to represent the tribe in 2024 as a House District 91 representative.

She now spends her time traveling to Missoula in order to take care of her mother who was placed in hospice care.

For Fyant, it was hard to balance running a campaign and taking care of her mom, but she knew it was her duty as a daughter to be there.

Before leaving the reservation and joining the House, she led the community as the Chairwoman of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. During this time, she helped her local tribal citizens through some of the food insecurities the reservation faced.

Fyant created a program that taught how to create healthy foods on a small budget, even cutting out things like milk and dairy since it wasn’t originally included in the Indigenous diet.

But when it came to running for a Montana House seat, it was a no brainer.

“I believe that if you don’t have a spot at the table then you’re on the menu,” she said.

Fyant wants to bring issues like healthcare and environmental sustainability to the table if she gets re-elected.

“Maintaining fisheries, hunting habitats, clean air and water should be a priority for the state,” she said.

Fyant also hopes to bring the issue of climate change to the docket. She said the tribes of Montana have developed adaptation plans to minimize the impact caused by climate change.

In her last session, Fyant made sure to create a secure backup plan if the current federal administration cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, or SNAP.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2022, around 87,500 people in Montana used SNAP benefits and the American Indian Caucus recognized this.

So at the start of the 2025 legislative session, the caucus put money into a special account which would only be tapped into once the food program was cut.

“We had raised all this money and were prepared to use it. So we went to the governor [Greg Gianforte] to distribute the funds but he refused to let us,” Fyant said.

While Fyant has put her campaign on pause since her mothers passing, she is still running confident.

Back on the ballot

Working in government positions is not something new for Lance FourStar, who has spent 10 years in Helena in the position of District 31 House representative.

FourStar felt drawn to government positions at a young age after he left the Fort Peck Indian Reservation at 16 to join Sen. John McCain in Washington D.C..

However, he knew that he needed to take the experience back to the reservation. So he returned and joined the Senate committee on Indian Affairs.

Before joining the Montana House, FourStar spent 20 years volunteering in his local community in Wolf Point, which allowed him to create a special bond with the community.

When he decided to join the ballot in 2016, he thought about the next generation of Native Americans including his nine children and 16 grandchildren.

“Seeing all the challenges that Native Americans face, being in a system and in an institution that historically wasn’t created for Native Americans to be representatives, or to serve in office,” FourStar said.

When FourStar ran for office during the last election cycle, he felt that he lost after voters living on reservations did not have sufficient resources for ballot casting.

“They didn’t put polling stations in the communities that my family comes from on this side of the reservation,” FourStar said.

But now that he’s on the ballot again, FourStar is looking forward to getting back to being an advocate for Indigenous citizens throughout the state.

With the rise of Indigenous candidates, FourStar sees this as a calling for Indigenous citizens to get their own representation.

“If you do not demand a seat at the table, you will be on the menu,” FourStar said. “So, if you don’t demand a seat at their table, they can say whatever, they could do anything they want.”

---

A SPECIAL PROJECT BY THE UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM

ADDITIONAL FUNDING SUPPORT FROM THE GREATER MONTANA FOUNDATION

READ MORE:

Previous

A Fresh Foundation

Next

Resolving HUnger, Nurturing Tradition