By Sarah Nagem
The campaigns for Donald Trump and Kamala Harris courted Lumbee voters ahead of the election, with both pledging support for full federal recognition for the Native American tribe.
As polls closed Tuesday night, tribal members in Robeson County had spoken: Trump, a Republican, won 63.3% of the vote in the county, where the Lumbee tribe has its headquarters, according to unofficial results from the state Board of Elections.
Trump increased his win in Robeson by more than 4 points compared to 2020, making the county one of “the biggest movers toward Trump” in the state, Chris Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University, said on X. The gains helped secure Trump’s win in North Carolina, one of a few crucial battleground states that propelled him to victory over Democrat Kamala Harris.
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Robeson County, home to about 117,000 people in southeastern North Carolina, was a Democratic stronghold for decades but has increasingly shifted toward Republican candidates. While that trend has been seen in much of rural America, Robeson County has gained national attention for its diversity. Nearly 42% of the county’s residents are Native American, and about 24% are Black.
Harris won only a handful of precincts in Robeson County, including those in south Lumberton and the towns of Fairmont, Red Springs, Rowland and Maxton that have large populations of Black residents. Trump won overwhelmingly in the precincts in and around Pembroke, where the Lumbee headquarters is located.
Before polls closed Tuesday, North Carolina political analyst Michael Bitzer said on X that voter turnout in Robeson could be key for Republicans. Robeson regularly has among the lowest turnout rates in the state, a trend that continued this year: About 59% of eligible voters in the county cast ballots, compared to 73% statewide.
In the weeks leading up to the election, the Border Belt Independent spoke with some Robeson County voters who said they grew up in families full of staunch Democrats but increasingly believed Republicans better aligned with their views on immigration, abortion and other social issues.
Federal recognition for the Lumbee, which is the largest Native American tribe in the eastern United States with 60,0000 members, has been a political issue for more than a century. Congress granted the tribe partial recognition in 1956 but has failed to give full recognition that would bring millions of dollars for health care, education and other services.
Full federal recognition has bipartisan support, but legislation has continually stalled in Congress, including the Lumbee Fairness Act introduced last year by U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Some Native American tribes, including the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, have pushed back against full recognition for the Lumbee, saying the tribe lacks a shared history.
Presidential candidates have latched onto the issue, hoping to win crucial votes in a rural swath of North Carolina.
Trump held a rally in Robeson County weeks before the 2020 election to drum up support among Lumbee voters. He flipped the county four years earlier, after Barack Obama won Robeson in 2008 and 2012.
Trump didn’t go to Robeson County this year, but his son, Donald Trump Jr., held a rally there Oct. 18 on land owned by the Lumbee tribe. Former President Bill Clinton visited with Lumbee Chairman John Lowery and other tribal members the same day. Lowery also spoke with Harris and Trump about federal recognition.
The following week, the tribe released a statement saying it appreciated the attention, but “the Lumbee People can’t be seen as a pawn on the road to the White House.”
“Senator Tillis and other NC Lawmakers are working hard on the Lumbee Fairness Act,” Lowery said in a written statement. “Our people will be excited to see this issue finally corrected in the newly elected presidential administration.”
