Biden Native American visit/ Harris Native American outreach/ Arizona battleground/ Gila River Indian Community/ boarding school apology/ tribal engagement/ Newslooks/ PHOENIX/ J. Mansour/ Morning President Joe Biden is visiting the Gila River Indian Community near Phoenix, fulfilling a promise to visit Indian Country as president. Biden’s visit includes a formal apology for the U.S. government’s role in abusive boarding schools, and highlights his administration’s record with Native American communities. This outreach is expected to support Vice President Kamala Harris’ turnout efforts in Arizona, a crucial swing state for the 2024 election.
Biden’s Arizona Reservation Visit: Quick Looks
- Apology for boarding schools: Biden will issue an apology to Native Americans for U.S. boarding school abuses.
- Supporting Harris in Arizona: The visit aims to boost Native American voter turnout in a key swing state.
- Track record with tribes: Biden has allocated $46 billion to tribal nations for essential services.
- Democratic outreach: Both Biden and Harris have prioritized Native American engagement to strengthen voter support.
Biden Visits Arizona Reservation, Boosting Harris’ Appeal to Native Voters
Deep Look
President Joe Biden is fulfilling a long-held promise to visit Indian Country with a significant stop on Friday at the Gila River Indian Community near Phoenix, Arizona. The trip is seen as a strategic move to bolster Vice President Kamala Harris’ efforts to engage Native American voters in Arizona, a crucial battleground state. Biden’s visit also serves as an opportunity to formally apologize for the U.S. government’s historical abuse of Native American children through its boarding school system, a dark chapter in U.S.-Native relations that has left lasting scars on tribal communities.
This marks Biden’s first official visit to a reservation as president, a commitment he made nearly two years ago. During his visit, Biden plans to formally apologize for the U.S. government’s role in the boarding schools that forcibly assimilated Native children, often at the cost of physical and emotional abuse. The apology is part of Biden’s broader outreach to Native American communities, with his administration allocating nearly $46 billion to tribal nations to address critical infrastructure needs such as clean water, high-speed internet, and basic utilities in underserved tribal areas.
Biden’s trip is intended to reinforce Democrats’ relationship with Native American communities, which have historically leaned Democratic. In Arizona, Native American voters played a pivotal role in Biden’s narrow 2020 victory, helping him secure the state by a margin of just over 10,000 votes. As Harris faces a tight race against former President Donald Trump, her campaign sees Native American voter turnout as critical to winning the state again.
Arizona-based pollster Mike O’Neil emphasized the high stakes, saying, “The race is now a turnout grab,” as both parties work to energize core supporters in the final weeks of the campaign. Biden’s presence underscores the importance of Native American voters in Arizona, where Harris narrowly edged out Trump in 2020, making her the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the state since 1996.
This outreach extends beyond Biden’s visit. Both Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, have held recent meetings with tribal leaders in Arizona and Nevada, aiming to build on Biden’s commitment to Native American issues. The Democratic National Committee has also rolled out a six-figure ad campaign targeting Native American voters across Arizona, North Carolina, Montana, and Alaska via digital, print, and radio ads, amplifying outreach in communities that could help tip the scales in key races.
Harris has previously visited the Gila River reservation, where she became the first vice president to meet with the tribe’s leaders last year. At a recent rally in nearby Chandler, Arizona, Harris reiterated her commitment to upholding “tribal sovereignty” and honoring the U.S. government’s treaty obligations. She highlighted the importance of the government-to-government relationship between the United States and tribal nations, emphasizing that her administration would continue to build upon that foundation if elected.
Biden’s administration has been lauded for its pro-tribal actions, including the designation of sacred lands as national monuments, such as Avi Kwa Ame in Nevada and Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Biden’s choice of Deb Haaland, the first Native American Cabinet member, as Secretary of the Interior also resonated strongly with Indigenous communities. Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico, ordered the landmark investigation into federal boarding school policies in 2021, which ultimately led to Biden’s formal apology.
Haaland commended Biden’s commitment to Native American issues, stating, “He made commitments to Indian Country, and he has followed through on every single one of those commitments.”
The Biden administration has spent considerable time and resources engaging Native American voters, particularly in Arizona, where Democrats are vying to maintain key seats. Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego, currently running in a tight race against Republican Kari Lake for Arizona’s open Senate seat, has visited each of Arizona’s 22 federally recognized tribes, underscoring the importance of Native American engagement in his campaign.
The Republican candidate, Donald Trump, has placed his focus on mobilizing young men, especially in Arizona, in an effort to erode Democratic support among younger voters. Trump and his campaign allies are also working to maintain an edge among Arizona’s Mormon population, a group that has traditionally voted Republican but has shown some wavering in recent election cycles.
Thom Reilly, co-director of Arizona State University’s Center for an Independent and Sustainable Democracy, noted that the Harris and Trump campaigns have invested significant resources into micro-targeting specific groups across the state. “They are pulling out every stop just to see if they could wrangle a few more votes here and there,” Reilly said, emphasizing that Native American voters could be a crucial component in Harris’ Arizona strategy.
Biden’s visit, along with the broader Democratic outreach efforts, reflects a targeted approach to engage Native American voters and energize a key demographic in the 2024 election. As both campaigns work to turn out their base, Arizona’s Native American communities could once again play a decisive role in shaping the election outcome.
