After no candidate initially filed to succeed retiring Rep. Joyce Deere for the Mvskoke District “B” seat on the Muscogee National Council, a second filing window drew the three candidates: Jessina Brown, Lora Ann Harjo-King and Sandra Parish.
All three candidates have campaigned in the district before, with Parish representing the district from 2002 to 2005. Brown and Harjo-King both campaigned for the seat in 2019, but they lost to Rep. Mary Crawford, who represents the “A” seat.
Asked by Mvskoke Media about the Muscogee Nation Supreme Court’s decision that the descendants of Muscogee Freedmen are entitled to tribal citizenship, neither Brown nor Harjo-King supported enrolling Freedmen. Parish does not appear to have taken a stance on Freedmen citizenship during her campaign, although her candidate interview with Mvskoke Media is scheduled to air live on YouTube this evening.
The Mvskoke District covers an eastern section of the Muscogee Nation Reservation and overlaps Okfuskee County in eastern Oklahoma. The Muscogee Nation holds elections every two years for its National Council, which has eight districts, each with an “A” seat and a “B” seat. While council candidates are required to live in their district, every Muscogee citizen may vote in every council election — for now. This year’s Sept. 20 ballot contains a question that would reinstitute district-based voting if passed.
Early voting will be held Sept. 17 and 18 throughout the reservation, and the election is set to be held Saturday, Sept. 20. The descendants of Muscogee Freedmen will not be enrolled prior to the election.
The following cheat sheet is based on official candidate biographies, campaign websites, social media pages, interviews by Mvskoke Media and other publicly available information. The candidates are listed in alphabetical order.
If no candidate in the Mvskoke District “B” seat receives a majority of the vote Sept. 20, a runoff election would be held Nov. 8.
Jessina Brown
Hometown: Muskogee
Profession/background: Jessina Brown grew up in Morris and has spent 25 years doing social work, according to her interview with Mvskoke Media. She previously lived in Texas before moving to Muskogee. She told Mvskoke Media she is a “full-blood” citizen but that she does not fluently speak the Muscogee language.
Having worked in hospitals and rehab centers, she said she is active in the Muskogee Indian Community and has served on municipal boards for the City of Muskogee.
Platform:Â If elected, Brown said her focus would be on increasing services for elders and youth.
“The reason I’m running is because I see so much need,” Brown said. “My heart is with the elders and the youth, where I think we can help them a little bit better with a stronger voice.”
Asked about a petition seeking the removal of the Muscogee Nation Supreme Court justices who wrote the Freedmen decision, Brown said she would sign it.
“I haven’t signed it yet, but if it comes around to me, I will,” Brown said.
She also said she would support appealing the decision to federal court.
Asked if the one-quarter blood quantum requirement to hold office should be lowered, Brown said she supports the law as it is.
“I believe there should be a blood quantum in everything within Creek Nation because of the way we are enrolling members,” Brown said. “We do not have enough to serve the people that are full-blood, half, quarter. As they go down, we get more people where we have to serve and less money to help the people that we are reaching out to right now. And I think that is a big issue where our tribe is getting so big, so we kind of have to stretch everything and cut out (services).”
Links:Â Mvskoke Media | Facebook
Lora Harjo-King
Hometown:Â Muskogee
Profession/background: Lora Harjo-King is a graduate of Tabor College and Oklahoma Panhandle State, according to her interview with Mvskoke Media. She spent 40 years working for the Muscogee Nation in various departments and currently works for the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians’ housing department.
Platform:Â Harjo-King told Mvskoke Media her platform was engagement, and she would like to see the nation hire more tribal citizens right out of college.
“Our youth go to school, go to college, and get a degree, but can’t get a job,” Harjo-King said. “Our first people that we need to put to work for the tribe are those that have gone out, got their degree, came back and want to serve their nation.”
Asked about the future of the tribe’s membership requirements, Harjo-King said she does not support granting descendants of Muscogee Freedmen citizenship despite the recent court ruling, which held “by blood” language in the Muscogee Constitution to be void.
“Our constitution says ‘by blood,’ and right now our constitution is still what we are to utilize,” Harjo-King said. “I have two grandchildren who are by blood Creek and (have) been denied citizenship because of one document that the citizenship board has asked for. And it’s an old, old, old document. It’s something like for my dad when he was in high school (and) that doesn’t make sense to me. And so maybe I’m a little biased, because I feel like if my own grandchildren have such a hard time being enrolled citizens of the Creek Nation, and then you talk about the Freedmen who are not by blood, that, to me — I can’t support that.”
Asked if she would recuse on resolutions related to the UKB given her work with the tribe, Harjo-King said she would.
“I would probably have to,” Harjo-King said. “I’m always for the underdog and the UKB. I’ve listened to their history, and they, to me, deserved our support.”
Asked if she would support an constitutional amendment to legalize same-sex marriage in the Muscogee Nation, Harjo-King said she does not support same-sex marriage.
“No, and I’ll be totally transparent. I have a son who is gay,” Harjo-King said. “However, I always tell him — and he knows this, he will admit it, too — that I always tell him that I pray. I pray that he hadn’t made that choice.”
She also supports term limits for National Council representatives and adding retention elections for appointed judges.
Links:Â Mvskoke Media | Personal Facebook | LinkedIn
Sandra Parish
Hometown:Â Muskogee
Profession/background:Â Sandra Parish represented the Mvskoke District from 2002 to 2005. She was unopposed in a 2002 special election for the seat, but lost her first reelection campaign in 2005 to Mose “Pete” Beaver. She unsuccessfully ran for the seat in 2021.
Platform:Â Parish did not participate in a Mvskoke Media live-streamed interview ahead of the election.
At the Wetumka Indian Community forum, she cited taking care of elders as her main priority.
“My main concern is making sure our elders are being taken care of,” Parish said. “It is our job to make sure that everything is taken care of for them.”
Asked at the Wetumka forum if she supported the district-only voting amendment, Parish said she does.
At the Weleetka Indian Community forum and the Eufaula Indian Community forum, she advocated for making the tribe’s programs easier to access and navigate for elders.
She also opposes allowing representatives to attend National Council meetings virtually.
Links:Â Facebook
(Update: This article was updated to reflect that Sandra Parish did not conduct a Mvskoke Media video interview ahead of the Sept. 20 election.)
