Fremont County Representative Jim Allen lost against Northern Arapaho member Andrea Clifford by 60 votes. Clifford said she worked dawn to dusk to meet people in person and to create a strong social media campaign.
Clifford is the former assistant manager of the Wind River Casino and a former Fremont County Commissioner. She said a big part of her success was mobilizing Native American voters to turn out. She said, 65 percent of Fremont County is Native American but they aren’t usually empowered to vote and she mobilized social media to educate people about where and how to cast their ballot.
“Native people, we’re into social media,” said Clifford. “It’s like our newest, latest technology of moccasin telegraph and number one being Facebook ,so you’ll see a lot of my Facebook posts, that’s what I capitalized on.”
She said, in particular, her slogan “Indigenous Women Strong” resonated powerfully all around Indian Country.
She said, now that she’s won, there’s a lot of work to do.
“We need a Native at the table in Cheyenne,” said Clifford. “It’s important to have our voice. We’re a large land-based tribe, 2.2 million acres. We have a lot of potential for economic development, for collaborating and partnering.”
Clifford will be the second Native American woman to serve a statewide office. The first is Senator Affie Ellis who is a member of the Navajo tribe.
