Tribal voting rights victory shuffles legislative seats

New lines put legislators in different North Dakota districts

Some Republicans see it as court-ordered gerrymandering. For members of two Native American tribes, they see a chance at better representation in the state Legislature.

A judge’s order to put two Native American reservations in the same legislative district is putting six seats that usually would not be included in the 2024 election up for grabs.

The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and the Spirit Lake Nation won a lawsuit under the federal Voting Rights Act that puts both reservations in the same district – District 9. 

“We’re really, really pleased to see that the judge did see the value of having these two tribes in one legislative district,” said Nicole Donaghy, executive director of ND Native Vote. “Now, when it comes to finding candidates, I think that this process of having the ability to select somebody from your own community will certainly inspire people to want to run for office.”

Rep. Jayme Davis is a Turtle Mountain tribal citizen who said she was inspired to run for the House in 2022 when she saw a gap that needed to be filled.

“It wasn’t because hey, this is a dream of mine,” said Davis, who now plans to run for the District 9 Senate seat. “But the other side of it for me is also to educate and to get people involved and understand why it’s important that we have representation, why we run and how to run.”

The redistricting also means major changes for District 15, which had previously included the Spirit Lake Nation. 

Sen. Judy Estenson is a non-tribal member who lives on the Spirit Lake Reservation and is hoping to retain her state Senate seat, even though she is now in a district that is predominantly Native American, a group that has traditionally been more likely to vote Democratic.

“I think (the judge) did exactly what redistricting committees are told not to do and that is called gerrymandering and trying to intentionally put together a district that is going to be more one way than the other,” Estenson said.

“If you look up the definition for gerrymandering, you’ll see a district similar to that,” state Sen. Kent Weston said of the district connecting the two reservations.

Estenson said she thought America was past looking at race when drawing political boundaries.

“We all know that all white people don’t vote with the same political party. We know that all Black people don’t vote with the same political party. And I believe that all Native Americans don’t vote with the same political party as well,” Estenson said. “I hope that I can go out and really talk about values and ideals, and that people can make decisions about those rather than whether somebody has an R or D behind their name.”

Here’s how the court-ordered map affects current legislators:

• Sen. Kent Weston, R-Sarles, moves from District 9 to District 15.
• Sen. Judy Estenson, R-Warwick, moves from 15 to 9.
• Rep. Jayme Davis, D-Rolette, who represented 9A, a subdistrict that included the Turtle Mountain Reservation, is in District 9.
• Rep. Donna Henderson, R-Calvin, moves from 9B to 15.
• Rep. Kathy Frelich, R-Devils Lake, and Rep. Dennis Johnson, R-Devils Lake, remain in 15.

As odd-numbered districts, seats in 9 and 15 were not scheduled to be on the ballot in 2024, but the order from U.S. District Judge Peter Welte means the seats are up for two-year terms in November.

The changing lines means there are three sitting representatives in District 15 – Frelich, Henderson and Johnson – for just two House seats.

Henderson and Frelich will be asking for the Republican endorsement at the District 15 reorganization and nominating convention on Feb. 24 in Devils Lake.

Johnson, who served in his first legislative session in 1993, said Monday that he has decided not to seek reelection.

With younger legislators willing to serve, “It’s probably a good time to wrap things up,” Johnson said. 

Henderson said even while waiting for Welte’s ruling, “I feel like we’ve kind of been in limbo the whole time.”

Weston and Estenson both say they plan on running for the Senate seat in their new districts.

With Henderson moving to 15, there is an open House seat in 9 and the House seat held by Davis.

Two Democrats who are veteran lawmakers in District 9 are former state Sen. Richard Marcellais, a Turtle Mountain tribal member, and former Rep. Marvin Nelson, who is not a tribal member.

Nelson said he plans to run again for a seat he held for 12 years.

“I kind of think of it as my seat,” said Nelson, who lost to Henderson in 2022.

Marcellais also was voted out of office in 2022, losing to Weston.

He said the way the Legislature redrew district lines in 2021, as it was required to do after the 2020 census, put him out of office.

“I feel like I got railroaded,” he said of the 2022 election, adding that a tribal election a week before the general election likely hurt turnout from tribal members for the general election.

“Tribal membership never got out to vote that second time,” Marcellais said.

This year, the tribal election is on the same day as the general election, Nov. 5.

Marcellais said he plans to seek the nomination for the Senate seat. But Davis has decided to give up her House seat and seek the Senate seat.

“I’m all for having choice on the ballot,” Davis said.

Davis, a policy adviser for the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, said she switched to the Senate so she could be a mentor to new candidates interested in running for the House.

District 9 Democrats will have a reorganization meeting and nominating convention on March 3 in Leeds.

Estenson said no one has yet stepped up to run as a Republican for the two House seats in 9.

“I’m actually actively trying to recruit some representative candidates and I have no idea whether we will have one or three people running for the seats in District 9,” Estenson said.

District 9 Republicans will have a reorganization and nominating convention Feb. 24 in Cando.

District 15 Democrats had a reorganization and endorsing convention Thursday but did not endorse anyone for the legislative seats.

“We’re still working on candidate recruitment,” district chair Doug Goulding said.

Frelich said she hopes candidates step up from the Spirit Lake Reservation, which has less than half the tribal membership of Turtle Mountain.

“I would hate to see Spirit Lake go through this and then not have a voice at all,” she said.

This article was first published in the North Dakota Monitor.