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ANDARKO, Okla. - INDN's List founder and Choctaw Nation member Kalyn Free spent election night Nov. 7 in Vinita, at the watch party of Oklahoma State House District 6 candidate and Cherokee Nation member Chuck Hoskin. She observed Hoskin and his wife, Stephanie, receive the results of their work throughout the evening in between her receiving cell phone calls from throughout the country, where she learned of election results for many of her other Democratic Indian candidates.
By 3 a.m. Nov. 8, she learned that 16 of her 22 endorsed candidates won their elections. Although feeling sad for her candidates who did not win, she said she was pleased with the results of INDN's List's first election cycle.
"I was thrilled beyond belief," Free said. "We worked so hard at INDN's List to support these candidates."
Members of INDN's List, otherwise known as the Indigenous Democratic Network, "are dedicated to electing Native American men and women to office across America," according to the list's Web site, indnslist.org. "We believe in the power of Indians as candidates, as contributors, as campaign professionals, and as voters to bring about great change in our country."
"Our candidates have worked really hard," Free said about the success of the INDN's List candidates. "They've had to. We always say that Indian people have to work double-hard than other folks about whatever they set out to do. In campaigns, they have to work harder than the average non-Indian candidate. Our candidates were the key to their own successes."
Since INDN's List...