Keith Austin is a

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 ...

and American politician who served on the

tribal council representing the 14th District between 2015 and 2023.

Career

Austin owns All Points Delivery. In May 2013, he was appointed to the editorial board of the Cherokee Phoenix on which he served until November 2014.

Cherokee Nation tribal council

In 2015, Austin ran against William "Bill" Pearson for the 14th District of the

tribal council seat in a race to succeed Lee Keener. Keener had retired to run for deputy chief. In June, Pearson won the initial general election by one vote, leading Austin to file for a recount. After the recount, both candidates vote totals decreased, and Pearson maintained a 6-vote lead. In July, Austin appealed to the

Supreme Court arguing "14 votes were cast and shouldn't have been, three were rejected that should have been accepted and two ballots were lost." The court ruled for a new election to be held alongside the already scheduled runoff elections that month. Austin won the new election with 53% of the vote. He was sworn on August 14, 2015. In 2019, Austin ran for re-election and faced former tribal councilor

Cara Cowan Watts Cara Cowan Watts (born April 23, 1974) is a Cherokee Nation politician. She served on the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council from 2003 to 2015 and was a candidate for Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation in the 2023 Cherokee Nation principal chief ...

in the general election; he defeated Watts with 56% of the vote. He was sworn in for his second term August 14, 2019. 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 ...

, Austin was a Republican primary candidate for the 2nd District of the

Oklahoma Senate The Oklahoma Senate is the upper house of the two houses of the Legislature of Oklahoma, the other being the Oklahoma House of Representatives. The total number of senators is set at 48 by the Oklahoma Constitution.United Methodist Church. He is married to his wife Pam and has two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Austin, Keith Living people Members of the Council of the Cherokee Nation Oklahoma Republicans Candidates in the 2022 United States elections Cherokee Nation businesspeople Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American politicians 21st-century Native American politicians