John Hult, South Dakota Searchlight
The voters of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe elected their first female president on Thursday.
According to unofficial results posted late Thursday night, tribal council member Kathleen Wooden Knife prevailed by a vote of 1,192-870 in the presidential election over Steve DeNoyer Jr.
The tribe also elected a woman to serve as vice president, choosing council member Lisa White Pipe for that role.
Shakira Rattling Leaf, administrator for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Election Office, confirmed for South Dakota Searchlight that Wooden Knife is the first woman in the tribe’s history to be elected president. The tribe is located in south-central South Dakota and headquartered in the town of Rosebud.
Wooden Knife had served two consecutive terms and took a two-election-cycle break from council service before being elected to the council again last year. She joins Janet Alkire of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe as the second woman leading one of the nine tribes in South Dakota. At the time of her election, The Associated Press reported that Alkire was the first woman to lead that tribe since 1946.
Wooden Knife has served on the tribe’s health board and worked for the Indian Health Service , a federal government agency Rosebud successfully sued for its failure to provide adequate health care at its Rosebud emergency room. Wooden Knife has also testified before Congress on health care issues.
Beyond health care, Wooden Knife helped organize the tribe’s pet clinic and played “a major part in founding the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Homeless Shelter,” according to a biography posted in advance of her testimony to a U.S. House committee in 2018.
Wooden Knife did not return requests for comment on Friday. On her Facebook page, Wooden Knife thanked the people for electing her and sent “well wishes to all the candidates who ran for office.” She wrote that she hopes to “move forward together, day by day, step by step as an Oyate,” referencing the Lakota word for “people.”
Election results must be posted by the first Monday following an election, according to the tribe’s election ordinance. If no one succeeds in challenging the results of the election, the results are certified on the first Friday after Monday’s public notice, which in this case would be Aug. 30.
Results will be final after that point, and the new president, vice president and council will be sworn in on Sept. 3, said Rattling Leaf, the elections administrator.
The tribe will hold a special election to select a candidate to fill out the remainder of Wooden Knife’s three-year council term.
There was no incumbent in the race for president. Former president Scott Herman stepped down this summer to take a position with Sinte Gleska University in Mission.
Acting president Willie Kindle was elected to a position on the tribal council. He’d served as vice president prior to Herman’s departure.
In the race for vice president, council member Elizabeth “Lisa” White Pipe bested Russell Eagle Bear by a vote of 1,131-919.