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

Puyallup tribe The Puyallup Tribe of Indians ( ; ; commonly known as the Puyallup Tribe) is a federally-recognized tribe of Puyallup people from western Washington state, United States. The tribe is primarily located on the Puyallup Indian Reservation, altho ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. He served as a Democratic

presidential elector In the United States, the Electoral College is the group of presidential electors that is formed every four years for the sole purpose of voting for the president and vice president in the presidential election. This process is described in ...

for the 2016 election. By voting for

Faith Spotted Eagle Faith Spotted Eagle (Dakota language, Dakota: or "Standing Stone"; born 1948) is an American activist and politician. She is a citizen of the Yankton Sioux Tribe who attempted to block development of the Keystone XL pipeline and the Dakota Acc ...

, 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 Boldt may refer to: * Alwin Boldt (1884–1920), German Olympic cyclist * Carl Boldt (1932–2015), American basketball player * David Boldt (1918–2007) * Georg Boldt (1862–1918), Finnish philosopher of religion * George Boldt (1851–1916), Pr ...

. His wife, Elizabeth, served as an elector for

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

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 and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...

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 maj ...

, 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, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

and vice presidential nominee

Tim Kaine Timothy Michael Kaine ( ; born February 26, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party (United States ...

. 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, 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 Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

for president, and

Winona LaDuke Winona LaDuke (born August 18, 1959) is an American 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 president ...

, an environmentalist and former

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

vice presidential candidate from

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, 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 the 31st vice president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 under President Herbert Hoover. He was the Senate Majority Leader from 1924 to 1929. An enrolled member of the Kaw Natio ...

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 may refer to: Places * Klay, Liberia * Klay District, one of four districts of Bomi County, Liberia People People with the given name * Klay Hall, American animation director * George Klay Kieh (born 1956), Liberian politician * Klay Thompso ...

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, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...

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 ( ), also known as Tahoma, is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest in the United States. The mountain is located in Mount Rainier National Park about south-southeast of Seattle. With an off ...

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, 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. 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 river and its t ...

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) 1960s births Year of birth missing (living people)