Cara Cowan Watts (born April 23, 1974) is a

Cherokee Nation The Cherokee Nation ( or ) is the largest of three list of federally recognized tribes, federally recognized tribes of Cherokees in the United States. It includes people descended from members of the Cherokee Nation (1794–1907), Old Cheroke ...

politician. She served on the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council from 2003 to 2015 and was a candidate for

Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation Principal Chief is today the title of the chief executives of the Cherokee Nation, of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, the three federally recognized tribes of Cherokee. In the eighteenth ...

in the 2023 Cherokee Nation principal chief election.

Early life and family

Cara Cowan Watts was born on April 23, 1974, in

Shawnee, Oklahoma Shawnee () is a city in and the county seat of Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 29,857 in 2010, a 4.9 percent increase from the figure of 28,692 in 2000. The city is part of the Oklah ...

, to Beverly (Leerskov) and Clarence "Curly" Cowan. She has a brother named Brett. She is a descendant of Cherokee "Old Settler" Chief, John Rogers. Cowan Watts graduated from Seminole High School in

Seminole, Oklahoma Seminole () is a city in Seminole County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 7,488 at the 2010 census. Seminole experienced a large population growth in the 1920s due to an oil boom. History The city was platted in 1906 as a relocatio ...

. She then attended

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

, where she earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in

Mechanical Engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

in 1997, a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

degree in

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

with a focus on

Telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

in 2002, and a Ph.D. in Biosystems Engineering in 2015.

Early career

In 2003, Cowan Watts worked for

WilTel Communications The Williams Companies, Inc. is an American energy company based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Its core business is natural gas processing and transportation, with additional petroleum and electricity generation assets. A Fortune 500 company, its common ...

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...

Cherokee Nation political career

In 2003, Cara Cowan won her first Tribal Councilor election in District 7 with 66% of the vote, the highest winning percentage of any Tribal Councilor in that election. At the time she was the youngest

tribal councilor in history at 29. She defeated incumbent Harold DeMoss. She served as deputy speaker of the tribal council from 2007 to 2011 and as acting speaker in 2011. In 2011, She was appointed to the technical advisory group for the

Oklahoma Water Resources Board The Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) is an agency in the government of Oklahoma under the Governor of Oklahoma. OWRB is responsible for managing and protection the water resources of Oklahoma as well as for planning for the state's long-ran ...

to assist in a review of water quality in Oklahoma's scenic rivers. She was re-elected in 2011 to District 5, Seat 2 after redistricting and sworn in on August 14, 2011. After another round of redistricting, she represented the 13th district starting August 14, 2013. Cowan Watts served as a Tribal Councilor for the Cherokee Nation from 2003 to 2015 when she was term limited. She was succeeded by Buel Anglen. In 2019, Cowan Watts ran against incumbent

tribal councilor Keith Austin in the 14th district; she lost the election.

Anglen vs Cowan Watts lawsuit

On March 19, 2013, Tribal Councilor Buel Anglen filed a lawsuit in Cherokee Nation District Court against Tribal Councilor Cara Cowan Watts and the tribe's Election Commission. Anglen's petition challenged the constitutionality of new election laws under the

constitution. Anglen opposed Legislative Act 26-12, which would change the voting districts within the Cherokee Nation boundaries from 5 to 15 and redistrict the tribal council. The redistricting placed Cowan Watts in District 13, a district she did not live in. On January 23, 2013, Judge Bart Fite of the Cherokee Nation district court upheld the legality of the new district maps, which would create 15 districts plus two at-large districts. The ruling was appealed to the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court and on February 28, 2013, the Court announced its decision to uphold the lower court's ruling.

Principal Chief campaigns

Cowan Watts campaigned for

in February 2015, but withdrew from the race in March. In 2023, Cowan Watts announced she would run in the 2023 Cherokee Nation principal chief election. Her running mate was David Walkingstick. She lost the election to incumbent principal chief Chuck Hoskin Jr.

Political positions

Citizenship and Cherokee Freedmen

In 2007, Cherokee citizens passed a constitutional amendment that limited

citizenship to those who have " Indian blood." Cowan Watts supported the amendment as a right under self-governance. Limiting Cherokee Nation citizenship by blood was criticized by

Cherokee Freedmen The Cherokee Freedmen are individuals, formerly enslaved in the Cherokee Nation and freed in 1863, and their descendants. They have African ancestry, and many also have Cherokee ancestry. Today, descendants of the Cherokee Freedmen on the Dawes ...

groups who argued the measure stripped 2,800

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

descendants of Freedmen's citizenship; Watts argued the amendment "is absolutely something that we have to defend. And the Cherokee people overwhelmingly voted in the Constitution that we want to remain an Indian tribe made up of Indians" and pointed out there were still 1,500 Black Cherokee Nation citizens after the amendment. The constitutional amendment was overturned and all references to "by blood" were removed from

law by a Cherokee Nation Supreme Court ruling in 2021. Cowan Watts is a supporter of cooperation between the

and the

Eastern Band of Cherokee The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), (Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᏱ ᏕᏣᏓᏂᎸᎩ, ''Tsalagiyi Detsadanilvgi'') is a federally recognized Indian tribe based in western North Carolina in the United States. They are descended from the small ...

to combat fraudulent

Cherokee heritage groups Cherokee heritage groups are associations, societies and other organizations located primarily in the United States. Such groups consist of persons who do not qualify for enrollment in any of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes (the Cher ...

STEM advocacy

Cowan Watts received the Ely S. Parker Award, the highest honor from the

American Indian Science and Engineering Society The American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit professional association with the goal of substantially increasing American Indian, Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, First Nation and other ...

(AISES), for her contributions and achievements in STEM fields. In 2001, she and her brother established a scholarship fund for Native American engineering students in their parents' honor. Cowan Watts was involved with the university chapter of AISES and the Native American Student Association during her time at OSU.

Electoral history

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watts, Cara Cowan 1974 births 21st-century American engineers 21st-century Native American politicians 21st-century American politicians American women engineers Candidates in the 2023 United States elections Cherokee Nation scientists 21st-century Native American scientists Living people Members of the Council of the Cherokee Nation Oklahoma State University alumni People from Shawnee, Oklahoma People from Seminole, Oklahoma Cherokee Nation women Cherokee Old Settlers