The 2023

Cherokee Nation The Cherokee Nation (Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ ''Tsalagihi Ayeli'' or ᏣᎳᎩᏰᎵ ''Tsalagiyehli''), also known as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It ...

principal chief election was held on June 3, 2023, concurrently with the

2023 Cherokee Nation tribal council elections The 2023 Cherokee Nation tribal council elections took place concurrently with the 2023 Cherokee Nation principal chief election and 2023 Cherokee Nation deputy chief election on June 3, 2023, with runoff elections, where necessary, held on Jul ...

and

2023 Cherokee Nation deputy chief election The 2023 Cherokee Nation deputy chief election was held on June 3, 2023, concurrently with the 2023 Cherokee Nation tribal council elections and 2023 Cherokee Nation principal chief election, to elect the Deputy Chief of the Cherokee Nation. ...

, to elect the Principal Chief of the

. Incumbent principal chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. ran for re-election to a second term in office with incumbent deputy chief

Bryan Warner Bryan Warner is a Cherokee Nation politician who has served as the deputy chief of the Cherokee Nation since 2019 and who served as the Cherokee Nation tribal councilor for the 6th district from 2015 to 2019. Early life and education Warner gradu ...

as his running mate and was re-elected to a second term.

Candidates

Declared

David Cornsilk David Cornsilk (Cherokee Nation and United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians) is a professional genealogist and served as the managing editor of the ''Cherokee Observer'', an online news website founded in 1992. He founded of the grassroots Chero ...

, genealogist and former

Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and A ...

researcher * Cara Cowan Watts, former Deputy Speaker of the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council and candidate for principal chief in 2015 **Running mate:

David Walkingstick David Walkingstick is a Cherokee Nation politician who served on the Cherokee Nation tribal council between 2011 and 2019. Education and career David Walkingstick graduated from Sequoyah High School in 1999, and went on to earn his bachelor's de ...

, former tribal councilor and candidate for principal chief in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

* Chuck Hoskin Jr., incumbent principal chief **Running mate:

, incumbent deputy chief *

Wes Nofire John Wesley "Wes" Nofire (born April 30, 1986) is a Cherokee-American politician and a former heavyweight professional boxer. During his boxing career Nofire fought under the name "The Cherokee Warrior". Nofire currently serves on the Cherokee Nat ...

, tribal councilor and candidate for in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Campaign

Chuck Hoskin Jr. pledged that if re-elected, he would continue his work preserving the

Cherokee language 200px, Number of speakers Cherokee or Tsalagi ( chr, ᏣᎳᎩ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ, ) is an endangered-to-moribund Iroquoian language and the native language of the Cherokee people. ''Ethnologue'' states that there were 1,520 Cherokee speaker ...

, building more hospitals, providing

job training Vocational education is education that prepares people to work as a technician or to take up employment in a skilled craft or trade as a tradesperson or artisan. Vocational Education can also be seen as that type of education given to an ind ...

for Cherokee citizens, and addressing the opioid crisis. Cara Cowan Watts touted her status as the only woman in the race; if elected, she would be the Cherokee Nation's first female principal chief since 2011. She promised to address the healthcare worker shortage while also improving education and housing.

said his top priority would be to reduce wasteful spending by the Cherokee government.

pledged to reform the tribal court system and increase access to healthcare and housing. Hoskin's challengers accused him of mismanaging COVID relief funds, giving unnecessary pay raises to elected officials, not doing enough to preserve Cherokee culture, and failing to ensure adequate staffing at healthcare facilities. He defended his record on these issues, though he also acknowledged the staffing issue and proposed expanding

telehealth Telehealth is the distribution of health-related services and information via electronic information and telecommunication technologies. It allows long-distance patient and clinician contact, care, advice, reminders, education, intervention, mon ...

Legal issues

Cara Cowan Watts and

's campaigns were barred by the

district court from operating a "registration checker" on their campaign website that allowed users to look up Cherokee voters' names and addresses by an

injunction An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in pa ...

after the court ruled its operation violated the Cherokee Nation Election Law and Privacy Act. Walkingstick's attorney, former Cherokee Nation principal chief Chad Smith, described the ruling as a "political stunt."

Results

Notes

References

External links

;Official campaign websites
Cara Cowan Watts for Principal Chief

Chuck Hoskin Jr. for Principal Chief

Wes Nofire for Principal Chief
{{2023 United States elections Cherokee Nation principal chief 21st-century Cherokee history Cherokee Nation principal chief elections Cherokee Nation principal chief