Julia Coates 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 serving as one of the two

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather tha ...

Cherokee Nation tribal councilors since 2019. She was one of the first elected

tribal councilors in 2007 and served until term limited in 2015.

Early life and education

Julia Coates was born in

Pryor, Oklahoma Pryor Creek or Pryor''Oklahoma Atlas & Gazetteer,'' DeLorme, 1st Edition, 1998, p. 36 is a city in and county seat of Mayes County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 9,444 as of the 2020 census. Originally named ''Coo-Y-Yah'', Chero ...

to Glen Coats and Janis Essex Coates Rea. She double majored at

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

and creative writing, earned a master's of arts and PhD in American Studies from

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...

before doing a post-doctoral fellowship at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

. She also was an assistant professor of

Native American studies Native American studies (also known as American Indian, Indigenous American, Aboriginal, Native, or First Nations studies) is an interdisciplinary academic field that examines the history, culture, politics, issues, spirituality, sociology and co ...

University of California Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

1999 Cherokee Nation constitutional convention

Coates was a delegate to the 1999

constitutional convention. The night before the convention, Coates organized a meeting of the fourteen off-reservation delegates to strategize creating off-reservation representation during the convention. Coates advocated during the convention for

representation by saying "Our land base is minimal ... but in some sense our Nation exists from coast to coast and border to border because our Nation exists in our people, our citizens and our citizens are everywhere." Coates's view was opposed during the convention by

David Cornsilk David Cornsilk (Cherokee Nation and United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians) is a professional genealogist and served as the managing editor of the ''Cherokee Observer'', an online news website founded in 1992. He founded of the grassroots Chero ...

who argued "

is a real place, that it is here. That it is within the exterior boundaries of the Cherokee Nation as described in our treaties, and that the focus of the people who live outside the Cherokee Nation should be to strengthen the Nation, the place here." Other delegates advocated for allowing off-reservation citizens to choose a district inside the

to vote. Tribal Council member Barbara Starr Scott threw her support behind a proposal to create two

districts on the tribal council, which became the successful "Starr-Scott proposal" that was included in the 1999 Cherokee Nation constitution.

Cherokee Nation tribal council

Coates first ran for the

tribal council in 2007 against incumbent, and first, (unelected) at-large councilor Taylor Keen. She won the general election with 74% of the vote. She was sworn on August 14, 2007. During her first term, Coates opposed efforts to eliminate

absentee voting Absentee or The Absentee may refer to: * Absentee (band), a British band * The Absentee, a novel by Maria Edgeworth, published in 1812 in ''Tales of Fashionable Life'' * ''The Absentee'' (1915 film), a 1915 American silent film directed by Christy ...

elections. In 2011, Coates ran for re-election and, while her candidacy was challenged, the

Election Commission found her eligible to run and the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court affirmed the decision. Coates won re-election over John Cornsilk. She was sworn in for her second term on August 14, 2011. She was succeeded by Wanda Hatfield.

2015 deputy chief campaign

In 2015, Coates was term limited from running for the tribal council again; she filed to run for the office of deputy chief that year. The

election commission ruled on March 20 that Coates was ineligible to run for the office because she was not domiciled within the

for 270 days prior to the election and had in fact lived in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

part of that time. Her lawyer,

Chad Smith Chad Smith (born October 25, 1961) is an American musician who is the drummer of the rock band the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Smith has played with the Chili Peppers since 1988, appearing on ten of the band's studio albums and becoming the band's lo ...

promised to appeal. The

Supreme Court issued a verbal ruling on April 13 upholding the election commission's decision, and released their written a week later. The court considered crucial video evidence of Coates saying "I live in Los Angeles."

Return to tribal council

In 2019, Coates ran for her old

seat against now-incumbent Wanda Hatfield. Coates advanced to a runoff election with Johnny Jack Kidwelll; Hatfield was disqualified before the election for sending checks worth $500 to the Mount Hood Cherokees of

Salem, Oregon Salem ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County, Oregon, Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, w ...

, and the

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

Cherokee Community. Coates won the runoff with 56% of the vote. She was sworn in for her third term on August 14, 2019. She ran for re-election in the 2023 Cherokee Nation tribal council elections.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coates, Julia Cherokee Nation academics Members of the Council of the Cherokee Nation San Francisco State University alumni University of New Mexico alumni University of California, Davis faculty Delegates to the 1999 Cherokee Nation Constitutional Convention Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century American politicians 21st-century Native American politicians Native American women in politics Cherokee Nation women Women in Oklahoma politics