2025 Muscogee council elections
The Muscogee Nation's Mound building, pictured December 21, 2023, in Okmulgee houses the nation's courts and tribal council chambers. (Tristan Loveless)

(Update: On July 16, candidates Jessina Marie Brown, Lora Ann Harjo-King and Sandra Elaine Parish filed to run for the Mvskoke District “B” seat. The following article remains in its original form.)

On the eve of the five-year anniversary of the McGirt v. Oklahoma decision that acknowledged its reservation’s existence, the Muscogee Nation’s election board announced that 18 full citizens filed to run for one of the eight “B” seats during the 2025 Muscogee National Council election cycle. Two of the eight seats are open with no incumbent, although one of those seats drew no candidate at all. Two seats feature a former councilor defeated in 2021 filing for a rematch, while William Lowe, who lost reelection in 2023 while serving as speaker of the council, has filed to run again.

The Muscogee Nation holds elections every two years for its National Council and has eight districts, each with an “A” and a “B” seat. This year’s primary election is set for Saturday, Sept. 20. Any seats not decided by a candidate receiving majority support would head to a general election set for Saturday, Nov. 8.

“A” and “B” seat representatives are elected to four-year terms, with the “A” and “B” elections staggered every two years. Principal chief and second chief elections are held alongside “A” seats and are scheduled for 2027. Every Muscogee citizen may vote in each district’s election — although a proposed constitutional amendment could end that practice starting in 2027.

Important dates

Review dates for voter registration, absentee ballot requests and more by visiting the Muscogee Nation Election Board.

While no candidates stepped forward to run for Mvskoke Seat B when filing concluded at 4 p.m. Wednesday, July 9, multiple candidates did file to campaign for every other office, giving the Muscogee Nation at least seven competitive elections this year.

“Full citizens” with one-quarter or higher blood quantum who are interested in filing for Seat B of the Mvskoke District — which covers the communities of Muskogee, Haskell, Boynton and Oktaha — will have a second chance to file Wednesday, July 16, according to the nation’s election code. If no candidates file for the seat again next week, a special election will be called by Principal Chief David Hill after the seat is vacated.

Candidate filings for office are unofficial until “a final review of candidate qualifications and the conclusion of the candidacy contestation period,” according to a Muscogee Nation Election Office Facebook post. The candidacy contestation period ended 5 p.m. Friday with no challenges filed.

18 file for Muscogee Nation legislative elections

Muscogee Nation voters will have at least seven competitive legislative elections this summer. Incumbent Reps. Mark Randolph (Kowetv District) and Joyce C. Deere (Mvskoke District) did not file reelection. Six other incumbents did. Randolph was first elected in 2012, while Deere joined the council in 2013.

All Muscogee citizens are eligible to vote in every district’s election, with district boundaries only defining the geographic area for candidate residency.

To be eligible to hold or file for office, candidates must be Muscogee Nation “full citizens,” or possess a one-quarter or higher Creek blood quantum. Candidates also must be over “18 years of age,” have resided in their district for one year prior to filing, be registered to vote in Muscogee Nation elections for the six months prior to filing, have not had a felony conviction “within 10 years upon the date of filing,” and pay a $500 filing fee.

The following candidates filled for office during the Muscogee Nation’s filing period:

Akfvske Seat B

Creek Seat B

  • Cody Phillips, a former Tulsa Public Schools teacher currently working at Bristow Public Schools; and
  • Patrick Freeman Jr., an incumbent Muscogee National Council representative since 2017.

Kowetv Seat B

McIntosh Seat B

Okmulke Seat B

  • Joshua Wind, a committee specialist for the Community Research and Development Department of the Muscogee Nation;
  • Nelson Harjo Sr., the incumbent Muscogee National Council representative since 2021; and
  • William Lowe, the current executive director of the Muscogee Nation Tourism Authority and former speaker of the Muscogee National Council who was defeated in 2023 while seeking reelection to Okmulke Seat A.

Tukvpvtce Seat B

Tvlse Seat B

Constitutional amendment would restore district voting boundary

On Oct. 22, 2024, the Muscogee National Council passed a bill proposing an amendment to the nation’s constitution that, if approved by voters, would restore district-limited voting in the Muscogee Nation. The proposed amendment would not remove a separate constitutional provision guaranteeing the rights of Muscogee citizens living at-large to select a district and vote in that district.

The proposed amendment would alter several provisions of the nation’s constitution, included below, with the main effect being to limit voters to one district instead of allowing voters to vote in every district. The proposal also includes a few procedural changes, such as new names — Mvskoke, Tvlse and Kowetv — for some of the nation’s districts.

The following articles of the Muscogee Nation Constitution would be altered by the proposed amendment. The current text appears in italics, with new language underlined and bolded, and with eliminated words struck through.

Article 4, Section 7

All citizens eligible voters shall be allowed to vote for the Principal Chief and Second Chief any such national office that shall be created.

Article 4, Section 8

Eligible voters having legal residence in a district shall be allowed to vote in an election for that specific district. 

Article 4, Section 9

All citizens having legal residence outside the herein defined jurisdiction of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation shall declare a home district within the Muscogee (Creek) Nation which shall be recognized as his legal residence for purposes of voting in tribal elections.

Article 6, Section 1

The Muscogee (Creek) Nation Reservation, as it geographically appeared in 1900, shall be divided into eight (8) districts corresponding namely with the Counties of Creek, Hughes/Seminole (Tukvpvtce), McIntosh, Muscogee (Mvskoke), Okfuskee Seminole, Okmulgee, Tulsa (Tvlse), and Wagoner Rogers/Mayes (Kowetv), in whole or portion thereof.

Article 6, Section 2

All legislative power herein shall be vested in the Muscogee (Creek) National Council, which shall consist of one (1) House with two (2) representatives from each district elected. Each eligible voter of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation shall be allowed to vote for each and every National Council Representative. There shall be no district residency requirement for eligible voters. And further that the number of National Council Representatives will be set at a maximum of sixteen (16) members and additional seats may not be added without constitutional amendments.

(a) Each Representative shall be elected by a vote of all the his/her respective district eligible voters of the Nation and shall hold office for four (4) years. Beginning with the first primaryelection after this Article is effective, there is to be an election for one (1) council representative from each district. There eight (8) seats shall be designated seat A B. These council members currently at mid term shall serve the remainder of their term or two (2) years. The second primaryelection after this Article is effective is to be an election for one (1) council representative from each district. These eight (8) seats shall be designated seat B A.

(b) Each representative shall be a legal resident of his/her district for one full calendar year, prior to filing for office and shall be required to be an actual full time resident within that district for the term of office. When the representative ceases to be an actual resident of the district, they disqualify themselves as a representative of that district.

(c) No person shall be a representative who has not attained the age of eighteen (18) and hold full citizenship, nor has a felony conviction within the past ten years (10) years as of date of filing for candidacy or has ever been convicted of a felony crime against the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in a court of competent jurisdiction.

(d) The Muscogee (Creek) national Council shall elect from their numbers a Speaker, who shall preside over the Muscogee (Creek) National Council but shall have no vote unless the National Council be equally divided, and they shall choose a Second Speaker, who shall preside in the absence of the Speaker.

The constitutional amendment is slated to appear on Muscogee voters’ Sept. 20 ballots.

  • Tristan Loveless

    Tristan Loveless is a NonDoc Media reporter covering legal matters and other civic issues in the Tulsa area. A citizen of the Cherokee Nation who grew up in Turley and Skiatook, he graduated from the University of Tulsa College of Law in 2023. Before that, he taught for the Tulsa Debate League in Tulsa Public Schools.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR