Robert Satiacum Jr. (born February 5, 1960) is an American political and environmental activist and member of the

Puyallup tribe The Puyallup, Spuyalpabš or S’Puyalupubsh (pronounced: Spoy-all-up-obsh) ('generous and welcoming behavior to all people, who enter our lands') are a federally recognized Coast Salish Native American tribe from western Washington state, Uni ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

. He served as a Democratic

presidential elector The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of appointing the president and vice president. Each state and the District of Columbia appo ...

for the 2016 election. By voting for

Faith Spotted Eagle Faith Spotted Eagle (Dakota: or "Standing Stone"; born 1948) is an American activist and politician. She is a member of the Yankton Sioux Nation who attempted to block development of the Keystone XL pipeline and the Dakota Access Pipeline. ...

, the first Native American to receive an electoral vote for president, Satiacum did not vote as pledged, and as such is regarded as a

faithless elector In the United States Electoral College, a faithless elector is an elector who does not vote for the candidates for U.S. President and U.S. Vice President for whom the elector had pledged to vote, and instead votes for another person for one or ...

Biography

Satiacum is the son of the late Robert Satiacum Sr., an advocate for Native fishing rights whose arrest resulted in the landmark

Boldt Decision ''United States v. Washington'', 384 F. Supp. 312 (W.D. Wash. 1974), aff'd, 520 F.2d 676 (9th Cir. 1975), commonly known as the Boldt Decision (from the name of the trial court judge, George Hugo Boldt), was a legal case in 1974 heard in t ...

. His wife, Elizabeth, served as an elector for

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

in the 2008 election. In 2010, he served as an officer for the Democratic Party for Pierce County. Satiacum was a delegate for

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...

to the

2016 Democratic National Convention The 2016 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention, held at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from July 25 to 28, 2016. The convention gathered delegates of the Democratic Party, the majo ...

, and was nominated as an elector by Patsy Whitefoot. Prior to the election, he publicly stated he might not vote for presidential nominee

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

and vice presidential nominee

Tim Kaine Timothy Michael Kaine (; born February 26, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 38th lieutenant governor of Virgini ...

. He argued that Clinton's stance on the environment was no different than Donald Trump's.

Electoral College

When the Electoral College voted on December 19, 2016, Satiacum voted for

, a Native American activist from

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

for President, and

Winona LaDuke Winona LaDuke (born August 18, 1959) is an American economist, environmentalist, writer and industrial hemp grower, known for her work on tribal land claims and preservation, as well as sustainable development. In 1996 and 2000, she ran for Vice ...

, an environmentalist and former

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

vice presidential candidate from

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, for Vice President. Spotted Eagle and LaDuke became only the second and third Native Americans to receive electoral votes in American history, after

Charles Curtis Charles Curtis (January 25, 1860 – February 8, 1936) was an American attorney and Republican politician from Kansas who served as the 31st vice president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 under Herbert Hoover. He had served as the Sena ...

who was elected Vice President in 1928, and made Spotted Eagle the first Native American to receive an electoral vote for president and LaDuke the first Native American woman to receive an electoral college vote for vice president. After the Electoral College vote, Satiacum explained that he was prepared to vote for Sanders, but at the last moment was inspired to vote for Spotted Eagle when a fellow elector and Native American, Dan Carpita, started playing a ceremonial song on the flute. Satiacum was one of four 2016 faithless electors from Washington, and one of seven total. He was fined $1,000 after the election.

Personal life and other work

Robert and Elizabeth Satiacum have six children and ten grandchildren. He hosts a radio show, ''Tribal Talk'', which airs on

KLAY KLAY (1180 AM broadcasting, AM) is a radio station broadcasting a news/talk/sports radio, sports information format. Located in Lakewood, Washington, Lakewood, Washington (U.S. state), Washington, United States, the station serves the Tacoma, Wa ...

in the

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...

area, and founded the cultural activist coalition Full Circle. He also co-starred in the 2007 film ''Rain in the Mountains'', in which he portrayed a tribal police officer. Starting in 2010, he has led an effort to officially re-name

Mount Rainier Mount Rainier (), indigenously known as Tahoma, Tacoma, Tacobet, or təqʷubəʔ, is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest, located in Mount Rainier National Park about south-southeast of Seattle. With a s ...

to ''Ti’Swaq'', the name of a band of Indian people who lived high on the mountain’s slopes. Satiacum advocates for the

sweat lodge A sweat lodge is a low profile hut, typically dome-shaped or oblong, and made with natural materials. The structure is the ''lodge'', and the ceremony performed within the structure may be called by some cultures a purification ceremony or simply ...

ritual and mentors others on

the red road The red road is a modern English-language concept of the right path of life, as inspired by some of the beliefs found in a variety of Native American spiritual teachings. The term is used primarily in the Pan-Indian and New Age communities,McGaa ...

, a moral path based on traditional native values. Satiacum, along with other Native American activists, advocated for tribal fishing rights by holding "fish-ins" on the

Puyallup River The Puyallup River ( ) is a river in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. About long, it is formed by glaciers on the west side of Mount Rainier. It flows generally northwest, emptying into Commencement Bay, part of Puget Sound. The ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Satiacum, Robert Date of birth missing (living people) Living people Puyallup Tribe people Washington (state) Democrats Faithless electors 2016 United States presidential electors People from Pierce County, Washington American environmentalists Activists from Washington (state) 20th-century births Year of birth missing (living people)