Lumbee Tribe Promised Federal Status by Both Harris and Trump

Photo: Protest at NC State Capital, 2020, by Anthony Crider, Wikimedia Commons

The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina was promised by both 2024 presidential candidates that their federal recognition would be granted. Former President Trump first said he would approve Lumbee recognition back in 2023. Vice President Harris promised to sign Lumbee recognition on November4, 2024, just one day prior to the election.

Now its November 6, 2024, and Donald Trump has just won the election. Democratic President Biden will remain in office until January 2025. As of now, either the Biden White House or the Trump White House might approve, or not approve, Lumbee Recognition within the next 12 months.

Looking back only a few months, the Biden-Harris White House might have actually granted Lumbee recognition earlier in 2024, instead of promising it literally, at the last possible minute.

Of course, Trump had the luxury of promising Lumbee recognition, as he was not in office. Therefore, he could not deliver on that promise before election day, no matter his actual intentions.

Its all speculation now that if the Biden-Harris had recognized the Lumbees prior to election day, that it would translate into votes for the Democratic party.  

The Lumbee Tribe numbers about 50,000 members, making them the largest ethnic group in Robeson County, and the largest Indian Tribe east of the Mississsippi River.

However, the religiously conservative Lumbee people of Robeson County most likely voted Republican this week, as Trump took 29,199 votes there on Tuesday.

Those 29,199 votes, even if they had gone to Harris, would not have been enough to overcome the statewide vote gap of 191,543 between Harris and Trump, meaning Trump would have won all of North Carolina’s electoral votes anyway.

So Kamala Harris did not lose North Carolina because the Democrats failed to recognize the Lumbee; and Donald Trump won North Carolina without recognizing the Lumbee.

Time will tell if either the Democrats of Republicans will grant the Lumbee Tribe recognition as an American Indian Tribe with a government-to-government relationship that the Tribe has sought since 1888.

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Sources:

Citizen-Times.com, 2024 Election Results

“In the Final Push of a Tight Campaign, Harris Pledges to Federal Recognition of Lumbee,” Clayton Henkel, NC Newsline, posted November 4, 2024, on Indianz.com

“We’re gonna take care of it: Donald Trump on Lumbee Tribe,” video posted on September 25,2024, Indianz.com

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