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Ben Nighthorse Campbell, former senator and U.S. representatives colorado Known for his passionate advocacy native american He died on Tuesday at the age of 92.
Campbell’s daughter, Shanan Campbell, said he died of natural causes surrounded by his family.
A Democrat who shocked his party by joining the Republican Party, Campbell stood out in Congress not only for his unconventional attire — cowboy boots, bolo ties and ponytails — but also for his defense of children’s rights, organized labor and fiscal conservatism.
Campbell, a member of the Northern Cheyenne tribe, said his ancestors were among more than 150 Native Americans who were encamped under the flag of truce on Nov. 29, 1864, most of them women, children and elders, killed by U.S. soldiers.
He served three terms in the House of Representatives starting in 1987. He subsequently served two terms in the Senate from 1993 to 2005.
Among his accomplishments was helping sponsor legislation to upgrade the Great Sand Dunes National Monument in southern Colorado to a national park.
“He was a well-known jeweler whose reputation extended far beyond the confines of Colorado,” Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper said on the
Campbell was seen as a maverick
The motorcycle congressman and rancher was considered a maverick even before his sudden switch to the Republican Party in March 1995, angered by Democrats’ rejection of a balanced budget amendment in the Senate. His shift angered Democratic leaders and was viewed as a Republican coup.
“I was devastated in the extreme,” he said shortly afterward. “I’m always willing to listen … but I just don’t think you can be all things to all people, no matter what party you belong to.”
Campbell was considered a favorite for a third term in the Senate, but he shocked supporters by withdrawing from the race in 2004 due to health issues.
“I thought it was a heart attack. But it wasn’t,” Campbell said. “But as I lay on the hospital table and looked up at all the doctors’ faces, I decided, ‘Do I really need to do this again after all these years of being away from home?’ Frankly, I had two kids and I didn’t get to see them grow up.”
After retiring, he focused on Native American jewelry, which helped him become wealthy and is on display at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian. He also worked at Kiva Designs in California, developing a line of outdoor gear, and became senior policy counsel at the powerful Holland & Knight law firm in Washington.
Campbell founded Ben Nighthorse Consultants, which focuses on federal policy, including Native American affairs and natural resources. The former senator also drove the Capitol Christmas tree across the country to Washington, D.C., multiple times.
“He was truly one of a kind, and after his passing, I thought of his family,” Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette said on the X show.
accidental politician
In 1982, he planned to ship jewelry to California, but bad weather grounded his plane. He spent time in the southern Colorado city of Durango, attending county Democratic meetings and ending up giving a speech for a friend running for sheriff.
Democrats were looking for someone to challenge Republican legislative candidates and tested Campbell during the session. “Like a fish, I was hooked,” he said.
His opponent was Don Whalen, a popular former college president who, Campbell recalled, “looked like a character from Brooks Brothers.” “I don’t think anyone gave me any chance… I just think I put a lot of effort into proving them wrong.”
Campbell took to the streets, ripping town maps from the Yellow Pages and going door to door talking to people. He recalled leaving a note at a house in Cortez where no one was home when he heard a car roar into the driveway, debris flying and brakes squealing.
The driver jumped out, tire iron in hand, screaming that Campbell couldn’t get to his furniture. “Aren’t you a receiving company?” the man asked.
“I said, ‘No, I’m just running for office.’ We started talking and I think that person voted for me.”
Campbell went on to win and never lost an election since, moving from the Colorado House to the U.S. House and then the Senate.
Campbell was born in Auburn, California, on April 13, 1933. He served in the Air Force in South Korea from 1951 to 1953 and received a bachelor’s degree from San Jose State University in 1957. He studied at Meiji University in Tokyo from 1960 to 1964, captained the U.S. judo team at the 1964 Olympics and won a gold medal at the Pan American Games.
Campbell once called then-Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt a “forked tongue snake” because of his opposition to a water project near the southern Colorado town of Ignacio, which Campbell pushed to respect the water rights of the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes.
He has clashed with environmentalists on everything from mining laws to grazing reform to setting aside land for national monuments.
Despite this—or perhaps because of it—voters loved him. In 1998, Campbell defeated Democrat Dottie Rahm, the wife of former Gov. Dick Rahm, and despite switching to the Republican Party, Campbell won re-election to the Senate. He was the only Native American in the Senate at the time.
Campbell insists his principles haven’t changed, just his party
He said that as a Democrat, he was criticized for voting with Republicans and that his position was ridiculed by some newspapers after the switch.
“It doesn’t change me. I don’t change my voting record. For example, as a Democrat, I had a good voting record on labor issues. As a Republican, I still do. On minority and women’s issues,” he said.
Campbell said his values — liberal on social issues, conservative on fiscal issues — were shaped by his life. He was very concerned about children’s causes, as he and his sister spent time in an orphanage while his father was in prison and his mother suffered from tuberculosis.
Organized labor won him over because hanging out with truckers and learning to drive them took him away from California’s tomato fields. His career as a Sacramento County Sheriff’s Deputy in California in the late 1960s and early 1970s established him as a law enforcement advocate.
Campbell said his decision to exit politics had nothing to do with allegations that his former chief of staff, Ginnie Kontnik, solicited kickbacks from another staffer and that his office lobbied for a contract with a technology company with ties to the former senator.
He referred both matters to the Senate Ethics Committee. In 2007, Kontnik pleaded guilty to federal charges of failing to report $2,000 in income.
“I think people are a little disappointed” with the allegations, Campbell said.
“But there are a lot of things going on in Washington that throw you off. You have to get over them because every day there’s a new crisis to deal with.”