"Each election season, Kalyn Free dives into the fray, making phone calls to political donors and Native American candidates running for state offices across the country.

She does so because she wants to protect tribal sovereignty and she knows the candidates her organization supports will do just that.

She does so because she wants non-Indians to take Indian candidates seeking local, state and national offices seriously.

But the main reason Free, president and founder of the Indigenous Democratic Network, or INDN’s List, fights for Indian candidates is this: She wants to give Indian children strong role models.

“These elected officials give our young Indian boys and girls hope that one day they can seek and win office,” said Free, who is Choctaw. “Little Indian boys and girls cannot be what they cannot see.”

This fall, INDN’s List, a grassroots political organization devoted to recruiting and electing Natives to local, state and national office, has endorsed 28 Indian candidates from 12 states. Those candidates come from a wide variety of tribes and backgrounds. They are seeking such offices as district attorney in Oklahoma and commissioner for a community college in California. Most are seeking seats within state legislatures."

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Editorial: Help lift Indian candidates (Indian Country Today 9/24)