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Seki, Johnson, Thunder re-elected; Strong, Cobenais, Good elected first time on Red Lake Tribal Council

RED LAKE, MN - On July 18, 2018, in Red Lake Run-off Elections, Darrell G. Seki was re-elected as Red Lake Tribal Chairman for another 4 years, defeating former Chairman Floyd "Buck" Jourdain 1802 to 1568.

Seki defeated Jourdain in May 2014 by 623 votes with 1,907 to Jourdain's 1,284, winning with 55 percent of the vote to win outright in a field of 4 candidates that year.

After the passing of Chairman Gerald F. Brun in 2004, Floyd "Buck" Jourdain was elected Chairman of Red Lake in May, defeating Roman "Ducker" Stately in a special election. That term was for the remaining 2 years Brun would have still held the Chairmanship.

For Jourdain it was his first elected office (he ran for Chairman in 2000 and finished third next to Brun and former Chairman Bobby Whitefeather.) Jourdain, 40 at the time, was also the Red Lake Nation's youngest Chairman.

In May 2006, Jourdain was re-elected as Red Lake Chairman, defeating former Tribal Secretary Judy Roy, and won reelection again in May 2010.

For Seki, he first took Tribal office in February 2002, following a Recall Election, where the Red Lake Tribal Council appointed him as Tribal Treasurer. At the time he was the Executive Administrator in the Bobby Whitefeather Administration.

Seki ran and was elected officially in May 2002, was reelected in May 2006 and again in May 2010--running unopposed in that year.

In 2014 he ran and was successful in his bid for Red Lake Tribal Chairman against Jourdain.

Treasurer Annette Johnson was also re-elected, defeating challenger Chad Prentice, 1803 to 1552. Prentice won in Redby, Red Lake and Little Rock, but lost in Ponemah and absentee voters. It was his first time running for any type of elected office.

Annette Johnson was first elected 4 years ago, defeating Glenda Martin in a close run-off election.

Julius Thunder defeated former Redby Representative Thomas Westbrook 436 to 355 for Redby Representative.

Four years ago, in 2014, Thunder was also re-elected as Redby Representative, defeating once again challenger Westbrook 414 to 286.

In the Red Lake Secretary's race, newcomer Sam Strong defeated appointed Secretary and Hereditary Chief, Darwin Sumner, 1740 to 1595.

Sumner was appointed as Tribal Secretary by the Tribal Council in 2017 after the passing of then Secretary Donald R. Cook.

Another newcomer, Donald Good Sr., defeated David Desjarlait in the Red Lake Representative race, 835 to 553. Former long-time Red Lake Representative Roman Stately retired and did not run this year, leaving that slot up for grabs.

In the 2-year term Little Rock Representative race, Michelle Barrett Cobenais, also a newcomer, defeated former Little Rock Representative William "Billy" Green 350 to 197. Michelle's father, Little Rock Representative Richard Barrett, passed away in 2017, for which he had two years left in his term.

Her seat will come up for reelection in 2020, along with three other representative seats, while all others will be up for election in 2022.

All those elected will be sworn into office at the next Regular Tribal Council Meeting, scheduled for August 14, 2018.

 

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