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List of Native Americans who were first state legislators
Native Americans have served in state legislatures, with several interruptions, since
Greenwood LeFlore was elected to the Mississippi lower house in 1841. Twenty-one states (out of 50) have yet to elect or appoint any Native American state legislators. This list does not include
Native Hawaiians .
Legislator
Nation
Legislative achievement
Seat held
Took office
Left office
Party
Note
Greenwood LeFlore
Choctaw
1st Native American man to be elected to any state legislature
Mississippi House of Representatives
1841
?
Whig
Cora Reynolds Anderson
Ojibwe
1st Native American woman elected to any state legislature
Michigan House of Representatives
1924
1925
Republican
John Oceguera
Paiute
1st Native American to serve as speaker of any state lower house
Speaker of the Nevada Assembly
2000
2013
Democratic
first
Alaska Native men elected to the
Alaska House of Representatives :
John E. Curtis (Iñupiaq), Charles E. Fagerstrom (
Inupiaq ), James Hoffman (
Yup'ik ), Axel C. Johnson (Yup'ik),
John Nusunginya (Iñupiaq) (1959)
[1]
first Alaska Native men elected to the
Alaska Senate :
Bill Beltz (Inupiaq),
Frank Peratrovich (
Tlingit ),
Eben Hopson (Iñupiaq) (1959)
[2]
first Alaska Native man to serve as Alaska Senate President:
Bill Beltz (Inupiaq) (1959)
[3]
first Alaska Native woman elected to the Alaska House of Representatives:
Brenda Itta (Iñupiaq) (1974)
[4]
first Alaska Native woman elected to the Alaska Senate:
Georgianna Lincoln (
Gwich'in ) (1993)
[4]
first Alaska Native to serve as
Speaker of the Alaska House :
Bryce Edgmon (Yup'ik) (2017)
[5]
first Native American man elected to the
Arizona House of Representatives :
Lloyd House (
Navajo ,
Oneida ) (1967)
[4]
first Native American man elected to the
Arizona Senate :
Arthur J. Hubbard Sr. (Navajo) (1972)
first Native American women elected to the Arizona House of Representatives:
Debra Lynn Norris (Navajo,
Tohono O'odham ) and
Sally Ann Gonzales (
Yaqui ) (1997)
[4]
first Native American woman elected to the Arizona Senate:
Jamescita Peshlakai (Navajo) (2016)
[4]
first Native American man elected to the
Arkansas House of Representatives :
Jeremy Hutchinson (
Blackfoot ) (2000)
[4]
first Native American woman elected to the
Arkansas House of Representatives :
Donna Hutchinson (Blackfoot) (2007)
[4]
first Native American elected to the California State Assembly and first openly gay Native American California legislator:
Todd Gloria (
Tlingit ) (2016)
[4]
first California Native American elected to the
California State Assembly :
James Ramos (
Serrano ,
Cahuilla ) (2018)
[4]
first Native American elected to the
Colorado House of Representatives :
Ben Nighthorse Campbell (
Cheyenne ) (1983)
[4]
first Native American elected to the
Colorado Senate :
Suzanne Williams (
Comanche ) (2004)
[6]
first Native American man elected to the
Idaho House of Representatives : Joseph Garry (
Coeur d'Alene ) (1956)
[4]
first Native American woman elected to the
Idaho House of Representatives :
Jeanne Givens (Coeur d'Alene) (1985)
[4]
first Native American elected to the
Illinois General Assembly :
Donne Trotter (
Choctaw ) (1988)
[7]
first Native American elected to the
Illinois Senate : Donne Trotter (Choctaw) (1993)
[7]
first Native American woman elected to the
Kansas House of Representatives :
Ponka-We Victors (
Ponca ,
Tohono O'odham ) (2010)
[4]
first transgender Native American state legislator:
Stephanie Byers (
Chickasaw ) (2021)
[4]
first Native American elected to the
Kentucky House of Representatives :
Reginald Meeks (
Cherokee ) (2000)
[4]
first Native Americans appointed to the
Maine House of Representatives (non-voting tribal representatives): Francis Loran and John Neptune (
Penobscot ) (1823)
[4]
first Native American elected to the
Maine House of Representatives (non-voting):
Henry John Bear (
Maliseet ) (2013)
[4]
first Native American elected to the
Massachusetts Legislature :
Watson F. Hammond (Montauk) (1837)
[4]
first Native American to be elected to the
Michigan Legislature :
Cora Reynolds Anderson (
Ojibwe ) (1924)
[4]
first Native American man elected to the
Minnesota Senate :
Skip Finn (
Ojibwe ) (1991)
[4]
first Native American woman elected to the
Minnesota House of Representatives and first
lesbian and
two-spirit Native American state legislator:
Susan Allen (
Lakota ) (2001)
[4]
first Native American woman elected to the Minnesota Senate:
Mary Kunesh (
Lakota ) (2020)
[4]
first Native American in the
Mississippi House and
State Senate :
Greenwood LeFlore (
Choctaw ) (1841)
[4]
first Native American woman elected to the
Mississippi House of Representatives :
Carolyn Crawford (
Ojibwe ) (2012)
[8]
first Native American elected to the
Montana House of Representatives :
Dolly Smith Custer Akers (
Assiniboine ) (1932)
[4]
first Native American woman elected to the
Montana Senate :
Sharon Stewart-Peregoy (
Crow ) (2008)
first openly gay Native American elected to the
Montana Legislature :
Donavon Hawk (2020)
[9]
first Native American elected to the
Nebraska Legislature :
Tom Brewer (
Lakota ) (2016)
[4]
first Native American man elected to the
Nevada Legislature : Dewey Sampson (
Paiute ) (1938)
[4]
first Native American
Speaker of the Nevada House :
John Oceguera (Paiute) (2000)
[4]
first Native American woman elected to the
Nevada State Assembly :
Shea Backus (2018)
[4]
first Native American man elected to the
New Mexico Senate :
Tom Lee (Navajo) (1966)
[4]
first Native American woman elected to the
New Mexico House of Representatives :
Lynda Lovejoy (1988)
[4]
first Native American elected to the
North Carolina House of Representatives :
Henry Ward Oxedine (
Lumbee ) (1973)
[4]
first Native American elected to the
North Carolina House of Representatives in the 20th century:
Charles Graham (Lumbee) (2011)
[10]
first Native American elected to the
North Dakota Legislature : Arthur Raymond (Lakota) (1970)
[4]
first Native American woman elected to the
North Dakota House of Representatives :
Ruth Buffalo (
Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara ) (2018)
[4]
first Native American woman elected to the
Oklahoma Legislature :
Helen TeAta Gale Cole (Chickasaw) (1979)
[4]
first gay Native American elected to the Oklahoma Legislature and possibly nationwide:
Al McAffrey (Choctaw) (2006)
[4]
first Native American elected to the
Oregon House of Representatives :
Jackie Taylor (
Potawatomi ) (1991)
[4]
first Native American elected to the
Pennsylvania House of Representatives :
Barbara McIlvaine Smith (
Sac and Fox ) (2007)
[4]
first Native American man elected to the
South Dakota Legislature : Pat Flynn Jr. (
Lakota ) (1970)
[4]
first Native American woman elected to the
South Dakota Legislature :
Theresa Two Bulls (Lakota) (2004)
[4]
first Native American elected as
South Dakota Senate
Minority Leader :
Troy Heinert (Lakota)
[4]
first Republican Native American woman elected to the
South Dakota House of Representatives :
Tamara St. John (
Dakota ) (2019)
[4]
first Native American elected to the
Tennessee House of Representatives :
Bryan Terry (Choctaw) (2015)
[4]
first Native American woman elected to the
Utah Legislature :
Angela Romero (
Assiniboine ) (2013)
first Native American man to be elected to the
Washington Legislature : William Bishop (
Snohomish ) (1898)
[4]
first Native American man to be elected to the
Washington State Senate : William Bishop (Snohomish) (1919)
[4]
first Native American woman elected to the
Washington Legislature :
Lois Stratton (
Spokane ) (1971)
[4]
first
Alaska Native woman elected to the
Washington Legislature :
Debra Lekanoff (
Tlingit ,
Unangax̂ ) (2019)
[11]
first Native American elected to the
Wisconsin State Assembly :
Alonzo D. Dick (
Brothertown ) (1849)
first Native American man elected to the
Wyoming Legislature : Scotty Ratliff (
Eastern Shoshone ) (1980)
[4]
first Native American woman elected to the
Wyoming Legislature and first Native American elected to the
Wyoming Senate :
Affie Ellis (
Navajo ) (2016)
[4]
first Native American woman elected to the
Wyoming House of Representatives :
Andi Clifford (
Northern Arapaho ) (2018)
[4]