The campaigns of former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have put significant attention on the Lumbee Tribe in North Carolina as members continue to seek federal recognition for the tribe.

What You Need To Know

  • The Lumbee Tribe in North Carolina continues to seek federal recognition

  • Both former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris support recognition of the Lumbee

  • That designation would make its 55,000 members eligible for services provided to members of federally recognized tribes

Members of the tribe have shifted what political party they support for president in recent elections, and they could be key this election. 

North Carolina has the largest population of Native Americans east of the Mississippi River, and for years the Lumbee Tribe has pushed for recognition from the federal government.

That designation would make its 55,000 members eligible for services provided to members of federally recognized tribes. While the tribe is recognized by the state of North Carolina, it doesn’t have federal recognition.

But federal recognition has never come, and that’s made it a talking point in this year’s election as both campaigns try and win over Lumbee voters.

Congress has taken up federal recognition for the Lumbees numerous times, but the legislation has repeatedly died in the Senate.

It’s controversial because the state’s only federally recognized tribe, the eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, as well as numerous other tribes around the country, are opposed to recognition because they believe the Lumbees should seek recognition through the Department of Interior, not through Congress.

Both Harris and Trump though support federal recognition for the Lumbees.

“If I’m elected in November I will sign legislation granting the great Lumbee Tribe the recognition it deserves,” Trump said during a rally in September in Wilmington, North Carolina.

The challenge for Trump and Harris is that in order to sign the legislation, Congress has to pass it, and that has consistently not happened.

Both Trump and Harris supported recognition in 2020, and Harris is pushing for it again. A campaign spokesperson said “she will continue to push Congress as she stands with them in that fight.”

Over the weekend former President Bill Clinton posted photos of him meeting with Lumbee leaders on X, formerly Twitter. In the post he said Harris “will fight for long overdue federal recognition for the Lumbee Tribe as president.”

Besides the actual significance of recognition there are a lot of votes at stake.

Many Lumbee Tribe members live in Robeson County, and voters there have dramatically shifted in what party they support for president.

In 2012, voters in Robeson County supported President Barack Obama with 58% of the vote compared to Sen. Mitt Romney with 41%. But in 2016 Trump beat Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by 16% and in 2020 Trump beat Joe Biden by 19%.

Both the Harris and Trump campaigns have field offices set up in Robeson County, and Republican state Rep. Jarrod Lowery was invited to speak at the Republican National Convention this summer, reflecting just how seriously these campaigns are taking the Lumbees.

There are thousands of voters at stake and that could be critical in a state that Trump only won by around 75,000 votes in 2020.