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Six of the seven Indians running for the Montana Legislature won their elections, increasing the number of Native American legislators by two from the 1999 session. The victories mean five of Montana's seven Indian reservations will now be represented by an Indian legislator.

The Native community conducted aggressive voter registration drives, focusing on Indians living on and off reservations. A group called Honor the Earth held concerts featuring Bonnie Raitt and the Indigo Girls on reservations to help with voting drives.

One surprising outcome was Arlee's Joey Jayne defeating Rick Jore of the Constitution Party. Jore was an incumbent, having served two terms as a Republican. During his time in the legislature, he continually tried to weaken or destroy Indian sovereignty. In 1998, Jore told The Missoulian tribal sovereignty "flies in the face of everything that this country is all about." He believes tribal government should have no control over non-tribal members living on a reservation. He was a vocal opponent of turning management of the National Bison Range over to tribal government. Despite representing the Flathead Reservation, Jore was clearly anti-tribal government.

Jayne told The Lake County Leader she won by knocking on people's doors. She said she hit 90% of the homes in her district. Winning wasn't easy though. "I'm an Indian, a woman, a lawyer and a Democrat," she said. "It was definitely an uphill climb."

Nationally, there were 96 Native American delegates at this year's Democratic National Convention. In Washington state, Indians helped defeat U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton (R-WA). Gorton has been dubbed the "Last Indian Fighter" for consistently supporting measures to limit sovereignty.