Kalyn Free is an American attorney, former political candidate, and a tribal citizen of the

Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma The Choctaw Nation (Choctaw: ''Chahta Okla'') is a Native American territory covering about , occupying portions of southeastern Oklahoma in the United States. The Choctaw Nation is the third-largest federally recognized tribe in the United S ...

Early legal and political career

Free was born in Red Oak, Oklahoma. Free is a graduate of Red Oak High School,

Southeastern Oklahoma State University Southeastern Oklahoma State University (Southeastern, SE, or SOSU) is a public university in Durant, Oklahoma. It had an undergraduate enrollment of 4,824 in 2019. History On March 6, 1909, the Second Oklahoma State Legislature approved an a ...

and the

University of Oklahoma College of Law The University of Oklahoma College of Law is the professional graduate law school of the University of Oklahoma. It is located on the University's campus in Norman, Oklahoma. The College of Law was founded in 1909 by a resolution of the OU Boar ...

. After she graduated from law school, she began her legal career with the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

. At the time of her employment, she was the youngest attorney ever hired by the

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...

. At the

, Free prosecuted federal environmental laws across the country with a special emphasis on tribal lands and even became the first Native American to serve as a supervising attorney in the department. In 1998, she ran for and became the first woman and the first Native American ever to be elected

District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

in Pittsburg and

Haskell Haskell () is a general-purpose, statically-typed, purely functional programming language with type inference and lazy evaluation. Designed for teaching, research and industrial applications, Haskell has pioneered a number of programming lan ...

counties of Oklahoma. During her administration, she focused her efforts on fighting for women, children, and crime victim's rights. In 2004, she was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the open House seat in the 2nd Congressional District, with the support of

Emily's List EMILY's List is an American political action committee (PAC) that aims to help elect Democratic female candidates in favor of abortion rights to office. It was founded by Ellen Malcolm in 1985. The group's name is an acronym for "Early Money ...

, the

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...

, and 21st Century Democrats. She lost the nomination to the eventual general election winner, Congressman

Dan Boren David Daniel Boren (born August 2, 1973) is the Secretary of Commerce for the Chickasaw Nation, based in Oklahoma. He is a retired American politician, who served as the U.S. Representative for from 2005 to 2013. The district included most of ...

. Following her 2004 bid for Congress, Free was fined approximately $10,000 by the

Federal Election Commission The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency of the United States whose purpose is to enforce campaign finance law in United States federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Cam ...

for making excessive salary payments to Free.

Recent work

In 2005, Free established a political action committee devoted to electing Native American progressive candidates at the local and state level, INDN's List (Indigenous Native Democratic Network). The NDN list closed in 2010. Throughout 2011 Free worked as the attorney and senior adviser of Bill John Baker's campaign for Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation against the incumbent Chief, Chad "Corn-tassel" Smith. Free again served as senior advisor on Baker's successful re-election in June 2015. Currently, Free represents Baker as his Special Counsel. Free is the author of "Why? Rising to the Challenge" in Voices of the Heartland where she describes her career and struggles as a Native American.

Personal life

Free has been married to Steve Bruner since 2009. Free has an interest in Japan and has represented the United States on trips to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

sponsored by the American Council of Young Political Leaders.

References

External links

Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Free, Kayln Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Native American activists Choctaw people Native American lawyers 21st-century Native Americans 21st-century Native American women

Early legal and political career

Recent work

Personal life

See also

References

External links