On Monday, outgoing Seneca Nation President JC Seneca hosted a fundraiser for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman at the Seneca Niagara Resort and Casino. About a dozen Seneca Nation members, including former Seneca Nation President Mike Schimler, protested on the sidewalk outside after casino security barred them from the property.<\/p>\n
The protest was organized by Mothers of the Seneca Nation<\/a>, or Clan Mothers<\/a>, whose role as leaders of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy was formalized in the 1848 Seneca constitution. The group was re-established in 2022 after the Seneca Nation\u2019s then-president Matthew Pagels announced a settlement agreement with New York state over gaming payments in a late-night Facebook post that blindsided tribal citizens.<\/p>\n Leslie Logan, a member of Mothers of the Seneca Nation and a tribal citizen running for a Cattaraugus Council seat, said she was outraged by JC Seneca\u2019s actions in his last 30 days in office and was direct about Blakeman: \u201cHe\u2019s our enemy of our enemy, is still our enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n Protesters held a number of signs, including one that asked: \u201cWhose side are you on, JC? Are you a Trumper?\u201d Another: \u201cThe Seneca People DO NOT support JC\u2019s personal love for Blakeman.\u201d<\/p>\n In a media advisory sent to reporters, Logan criticized JC Seneca\u2019s \u201crogue support\u201d for Blakeman, a candidate \u201cwhose positions and potential actions in office run counter to core Seneca values.\u201d\u00a0 Logan and other Seneca Nation members are critical of Blakeman\u2019s pledge to lift the state\u2019s fracking ban, his opposition to a data center moratorium and his support for allowing public schools to make use of Native mascots and imagery.\u00a0<\/p>\n Their biggest concern is Blakeman\u2019s position on online gambling. \u201c(Blakeman) defends the prediction markets, which Native leaders throughout Indian Country have called an \u2018existential threat\u2019 to tribal gaming,\u201d Logan wrote in the advisory. One protestor\u2019s sign put it even more bluntly: \u201cJC, do you know that Blakeman is for Prediction Markets? He\u2019ll be the end of us!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In her media advisory criticizing Blakeman, Logan invoked the Two Row Wampum \u2013 a wampum belt created in 1613 between the Haudenosaunee and Dutch traders in what is now upstate New York. Logan said the symbolism was quite literal for her: the earrings she wore to Monday\u2019s protest depicted the Two Row Wampum itself.\u00a0 \u201cThe Two Row Wampum signifies that we each stay in our own boat and don\u2019t meddle in the affairs of the other,\u201d she said. \u201cFor JC to insert himself in the politicians and campaign of NYS is in violation of the precepts of the Two Row Wampum.\u201d<\/p>\n Logan has pushed back on JC Seneca\u2019s characterization of the group before. He called the Seneca people \u201cthe Mob\u201d at a Council session in recent months, Logan said, after she and others defeated one of his resolutions. \u201cWe are not \u2018The Mob\u2019 as Outgoing president JC has called us,\u201d she wrote in a Facebook post<\/a> earlier this week. \u201cWe are concerned, involved, civic-minded Seneca citizens who believe the Seneca People play the most critical role in our governance.\u201d Since then, Logan said, the label has become something closer to a rallying cry: \u201cThe Mothers wear it like a badge of honor.\u201d The group is considering making T-shirts that read: \u201cI\u2019m the Mob.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n JC Seneca was elected president of the Seneca Nation in 2024<\/a> and his two-year term will end on Nov. 3. Since Seneca Nation rules bar consecutive terms, he was unable to run for reelection this year. \u201cWhat do you have to gain from this? Because in 30 days you won\u2019t be in office,\u201d Logan said. \u201cIt\u2019s over for JC.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n JC Seneca endorsed outgoing treasurer Odie Porter to succeed him as president. But the powerful Seneca Party, the only organized political party within the 8,600-member Seneca Nation, saw Tina Abrams defeat Porter<\/a> in its caucus, effectively the Nation\u2019s real election. With no opposition possible under Seneca Party rules, Abrams is set to become the first woman to serve as president of the Seneca Nation when she is sworn in following the Nov. 3 general election.\u00a0<\/p>\n Braiden McElhaney, a Seneca Nation member and Erie County Democratic Committee representative, did not attend the protest but said in a public statement that while he continues to support President Seneca \u201cwhen he is defending our sovereignty,\u201d he \u201cwholeheartedly disagree[s] with President JC Seneca engaging in partisan campaigning.\u201d<\/p>\n The Seneca Nation\u2019s opposition to Blakeman shouldn\u2019t necessarily be taken as support for Gov. Kathy Hochul, though.<\/p>\n Logan\u2019s distrust of Blakeman is matched by a longstanding distrust of Hochul. In 2022, during a standoff over gaming revenue payments tied to the Seneca Nation\u2019s compact<\/a> with the state, Hochul froze the Seneca Nation\u2019s bank accounts. Logan said the move threatened the Nation\u2019s ability to make payroll for 3,600 employees, forcing the Nation\u2019s corporation to pay under pressure. \u201cIt was like a ransom note, right? And we paid,\u201d Logan said.<\/p>\n Last year, JC Seneca attempted to repair relations with Hochul by inviting her to Seneca territory to apologize<\/a> for the state\u2019s operation of the Thomas Indian School, which separated multiple generations of Seneca children from their families. Logan said tribal citizens packed a council meeting to object before the visit, and many stayed away from the apology itself. \u201cPeople didn\u2019t go because people didn\u2019t support it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n