First Posted: 11/7/2014

PEMBROKE — With U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan’s loss to Thom Tillis in Tuesday’s General Election, the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina has lost what tribal officials have called a strong supporter of the tribe’s efforts to receive federal recognition.

Hagan, a Democrat, last year joined Sen. Richard Burr, a Republican, in re-introducing the Lumbee Recognition Act in the Senate. The bill has been approved in the House of Representatives two times in the past, 2007 and 2009. Mike McIntyre, the Lumberton native who ushered the bill through that chamber, is also exiting Congress after not seeking re-election in the 7th District.

“I know how important recognition is to the Lumbee people,” Hagan said on Oct. 25 as she campaigned in Pembroke. “But if my opponent gets in the Senate, it’s dead.”

In 1885, the tribe was recognized as American Indian by the state of North Carolina. The tribe has sought full federal recognition from the United States government since 1888.

In 1956, Congress passed the Lumbee Act, which recognized the tribe as American Indian. However, the act withheld the financial benefits of federal recognition from the tribe.

The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, now with about 58,000 members, is the largest tribe east of the Mississippi River. Most of them live in Robeson, Hoke, Cumberland and Scotland counties.

Repeated attempts on Friday to reach Paul Brooks, the tribe’s chairman, were unsuccessful. Calls to the tribe’s Public Affairs director, Gary Strickland, were not answered.

At Hagan’s rally on Oct. 25, Brooks told The Robesonian that he would not “go as far” as to say the recognition bill would be dead if Tillis, a Republican who is currently the speaker of the state House, were elected. He did say, however, that it would be more difficult to get the bill passed in a Republican-controlled Senate.

“We would be better off with Hagan,” he said.

If the election results are any indication, voters across the historically Democratic Robeson County felt the same.

Hagan received 52 percent of the vote to Tillis’ 43 percent in Robeson County. Hagan did carry both Pembroke precincts and Prospect, but Tillis won some predominately Indian precincts, including Smith’s and Oxendine.

Full federal recognition status would provide federal dollars to the tribe for housing, education, health and economic development.

Although Tillis has said he supports Lumbee recognition, there is concern among some tribal members that he will not push for it in Congress. While a number of North Carolina’s American Indian tribes endorsed Hagan, Tillis had the endorsement of the Eastern Band of Cherokee. The Cherokee are strongly opposed to the Lumbees being granted federal recognition.

During the Oct. 25 rally, Brooks told the crowd of about 150 that Hagan during her six years as a senator had been a strong supporter of issues affecting the Lumbee people. As examples he cited Lumbee recognition, tribal economic development programs, and funding initiatives for programs and construction for tribal Boys & Girls clubs.

With McIntyre’s departure, Robeson County will have two Republican representatives, David Rouzer in the 7th District and Richard Hudson in the 8th District.