Cherokee Chief Announces His Re-Election Bid

Chad Smith announced today that he would run for re-election as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.

“We are building an economy in northeastern Oklahoma, creating jobs in our local communities and keeping our culture strong,” Smith said.  “We are maturing as a nation, and as a people, and there’s still a lot of work to do as we prepare the next generation of Cherokees.  I want to finish what we’ve started.”

The stability of the Cherokee Nation since Smith took office has created an environment for growth.  The Cherokee Nation and its businesses employed around 3000 people when Smith took office in 1999.  Today, that number is around 8000.  “Our vision is to create a happy, healthy nation.  We’ve been able to create jobs for our citizens and at the same time increase the amount of funding we have for services like health care, education, and housing,” Smith said.

Under Smith’s leadership, the Cherokee Nation has built or expanded more than half a dozen clinics and invested tens of millions of dollars in upgrading and improving health care facilities in rural areas.

“We’ve devoted extra resources to our elders and our youth, and our language programs are the envy of many other tribes.  We’ve got a new generation of young children who are reading, writing and speaking Cherokee.  We’ve worked with communities to build dozens of community buildings and sent tens of thousands of students to college on scholarships.”

When the economy took a turn for the worse, Chief Smith instituted a program in which the Cherokee Nation would hire workers on a short term basis for specific projects.

“Our Day Work program has been a huge success, and in a lot of ways it sums up what we want to do,” Smith said. “We want to continure to give people a chance to help themselves and help others at the same time.  They earn a paycheck, help other Cherokees and are able to take care of themselves and their families.  That’s one of the reasons that we say that the best service our government can provide is creating a job that allows our Cherokee folks to take care of their families and their communities.  And I can’t say enough about the hardworking employees of the Cherokee Nation who join me in serving the Cherokee people every day and care passionately about our work.”

Smith is endorsed by Deputy Chief Joe Grayson, who is not running for re-election.  Grayson also supports Chris Soap, a Tribal Council Member from Pryor, who is Chief Smith’s running mate.

“Chris and Chad have a great track record of working in Cherokee communities, and serving the Cherokee people,” Grayson said.  “I’ve been with Chad eight years and I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished in that time.  I look forward to being a part of what he and Chris do in the coming years.”

“I think it’s obvious to anyone who looks at how far the Cherokee Nation has come since Chad became Chief that he’s done a great job,” Soap said.  “I’m glad to have been a part of it the past few years on the Tribal Council and look forward to working with the Cherokee people and Chief Smith as Deputy Chief.”