Ben Nighthorse Campbell
Campbell,c. 1997
Chair of theSenate Indian Affairs Committee
In office January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2005
Preceded by	Daniel Inouye
Succeeded by	John McCain
In office January 3, 2001 – June 6, 2001
Preceded by	John McCain
Succeeded by	Daniel Inouye
United States Senator fromColorado
In office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 2005
Preceded by	Tim Wirth
Succeeded by	Ken Salazar
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromColorado's3rd district
In office January 3, 1987 – January 3, 1993
Preceded by	Michael Strang
Succeeded by	Scott McInnis
Member of theColorado House of Representatives from the 59th district
In office January 1983 – January 1987
Preceded by	Robert E. DeNier
Succeeded by	Jim Dyer
Personal details
Born	Benny Marshall Campbell (1933-04-13)April 13, 1933 (age 92) Auburn, California, U.S.
Nationality	American Northern Cheyenne
Political party	Democratic (before 1995) Republican (1995–present)
Spouse	Linda Price
Children	2
Education	San Jose State University (BA) Meiji University
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Service years	1951–1953
Rank	Airman First Class E-4
Conflict	Korean War
Awards	Korean Service Medal Air Medal
Campbell's voice Campbell opens aSenate Indian Affairs Committee onNative Americancode talkers. Recorded September 22, 2004
Medal record Men'sjudo Representingthe United States Pan American Games 1963 São Paulo Open

Ben Nighthorse Campbell (bornBenny Marshall Campbell on April 13, 1933)^[1] is an American andNorthern Cheyenne politician andAir Force veteran who served in both chambers of theUnited States Congress; representingColorado in theU.S. House of Representatives from 1987 to 1993 and in theU.S. Senate from 1993 to 2005. He serves as one of 44 members of theCouncil of Chiefs of theNorthern Cheyenne Indian Tribe. During his time in office, he was the only Native American serving in Congress. He was the last Native American elected to the U.S. Senate until the2022 election of CherokeeMarkwayne Mullin.

Originally a member of theDemocratic Party, Campbellswitched to theRepublican Party on March 3, 1995. Reelected to the Senate in1998, Campbell announced in March 2004 that he would not run for a third term. His seat was won by DemocratKen Salazar in theNovember 2004 election. Campbell later expressed interest in running forgovernor of Colorado in2006, but on January 4, 2006, announced that he would not enter the race. He later became a lobbyist for the law and lobbying firmHolland & Knight and afterward co-founded his own lobbying firm, Ben Nighthorse Consultants.^[2]

Campbell was bornBenny Campbell^[3] inAuburn, California. His mother, Mary Vierra (Vieira), was aPortuguese immigrant who had come at age six with her mother to the U.S. throughEllis Island. According to Campbell, his maternal grandfather had entered the U.S. some time before.^[4] The Vierra family settled in the largePortuguese community nearSacramento. When Mary Vierra contractedtuberculosis in her youth, she was forced to convalesce at a nearby hospital, often for months at a time during treatment. It was there that she met aNative American patient, Albert Campbell, who was at the hospital foralcoholism treatment. Albert Campbell was of predominantlyNorthern Cheyenne descent but, according to Campbell biographer Herman Viola, spent much of his youth in aCrow Agencyboarding school and may have had somePueblo Indian andApache Indian ancestry as well.^{[citation needed]} The couple married in 1929, and Ben Campbell was born in 1933.

During Campbell's childhood, his father continued to have problems with alcoholism, often leaving the family for weeks and months at a time. His mother continued to have problems with tuberculosis, a highly contagious disease that limited the contact she could have with her children and continued to force her into the hospital for long periods. These problems led Ben and his sister, Alberta (who died in an apparent suicide at age 44), to spend much of their early lives in nearby Catholic orphanages. As a young man, Campbell was introduced to the Japanese martial art ofjudo by Japanese immigrant families he met while working in local agricultural fields.^{[citation needed]}

Campbell attendedPlacer High School, dropping out in 1951 to join theU.S. Air Force. He was stationed inKorea during theKorean War as an air policeman; he left the Air Force in 1953 with the rank of Airman Second Class, as well as theKorean Service Medal and theAir Medal. While in the Air Force, Campbell obtained his GED and, after his discharge, used theG.I. Bill to attendSan Jose State University, graduating in 1957 with a Bachelor of Arts in physical education and fine arts.

He is listed asBen M. Campbell in his college records and records of his Olympic competition, but was given the name "Nighthorse" when he returned to the Northern Cheyenne reservation for his name-giving ceremony, as a member of his father's family, Blackhorse.^[5][6]

In college, Campbell was a member of the San Jose State judo team, coached by future USA Olympic coachYosh Uchida.^[7][8] While training for the Olympic Games, Campbell attended Meiji University in Tokyo, Japan, as a special research student from 1960 to 1964. The Meiji team was world-renowned and Campbell credited the preparation and discipline taught at Meiji for his 1961, 1962, and 1963 U.S. National titles andhis gold medal in the 1963 Pan-American Games. In 1964, Campbell competed injudo at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. This made him the first Native American on the U.S. Olympic judo team.^[9] He suffered an injury and did not win a medal. He broke his ankle and was out for two years.

In the years after returning from the Olympic Games, Campbell worked as a deputy sheriff inSacramento County, California, coached the U.S. national judo team, operated his owndojo in Sacramento, and taught high school (physical education and art classes). He and his wife also raised quarterhorses, including a Supreme Champion and AQHA Champion, Sailors Night. They bought a ranch nearIgnacio, Colorado, on the Southern Ute reservation in 1978.

Prior to his career in politics, Campbell was a jewelry maker with a booth atIndian Market in Sante Fe.^[10] In Herman Viola's bookBen Nighthorse Campbell: An American Warrior, Campbell recounts learning to make jewelry from his father and flattening silver dollars on train tracks for the materials. He also used techniques learned from sword makers in Japan and other non-traditional techniques to win over 200 national and international awards for jewelry design under the name Ben Nighthorse, and in the late 1970s was included in a feature article inArizona Highways magazine about Native artists experimenting in the "new look" of Indian jewelry. Campbell has works on display with theArt of the Olympians organization.^[11]

Campbell was elected to theColorado State Legislature as a Democrat in November 1982, and served two terms.^[12][13] He was voted one of the 10 Best Legislators by his colleagues in a 1986Denver Post – News Center 4 survey.^{[citation needed]}

In 1986, Campbell was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, defeating incumbentMike Strang; he was reelected twice to this seat. In 1989, he authored the bill HR 2668 to establish the National Museum of the American Indian, which became PL 101–185.^{[citation needed]}

The early 1990s marked a turning point in Campbell's political career. In1992, after SenatorTim Wirth announced his retirement, Campbell won a three-way Democratic primary against former three-term GovernorRichard Lamm and Boulder County Commissioner Josie Heath, who had been the party's nominee in 1990.^[14] During the primary campaign, Lamm supporters accused Heath of "spoiling" the election by splitting the vote of the party's left wing. Heath's campaign argued that it was Campbell who should not have run, because his voting record in Congress had been much more like that of a Republican.^{[citation needed]} Campbell won the primary with 45% of the vote and defeated Republican State SenatorTerry Considine in the general election.^[15] He was the first Native American elected to theUnited States Senate sinceCharles Curtis in the 1920s.^[16]

In March 1995, after two years in office, Campbellswitched parties from Democratic to Republican in the wake of publicized disputes he had with theColorado Democratic Party. Campbell said the last straw was the Senate's defeat of the balanced-budget amendment, which he had championed since coming to Washington as a congressman in 1987.^[17] Others attributed the switch to personal hostility within the Democratic Party in Colorado.^[18]

In 1998, Campbell was reelected to the Senate by what was then the largest margin in Colorado history for a statewide race. After winning reelection, Campbell identified as amoderate Republican, saying that his reelection "shows the moderate voices within the Republican Party are dominating".^[19] During PresidentBill Clinton's impeachment trial, Campbell voted to convict Clinton on both articles of impeachment against him; in his final statement before the vote, he said: "I took a solemn oath. Simply speaking, the president did too. And, so even though I like him personally, I find I can only vote one way. And that is guilty on both articles."^[20] Clinton was acquitted on both counts as neither received the necessary two-thirds vote of the senators present for conviction and removal from office.^{[citation needed]}

In the 106th Congress, Campbell passed more public laws than any other member of Congress. During his tenure, he also became the first American Indian to chair the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. While in the Senate, Campbell voted to support the Supreme Court'sRoe v. Wade decision.^[21][22] He gradually became more conservative during his tenure, reversing his position on late-term abortions^[23] and voting for theDefense of Marriage Act. However, in 2004, he was one of six Republicans who voted against theFederal Marriage Amendment, a constitutional amendment intended to ban same-sex marriage, on the grounds that it should be left to the states.^[24][25]

The Senate Ethics Committee investigated accusations that Campbell's former chief of staff, Virginia Kontnik, inflated bonuses to an aide in 2002 so he could return the money to her. In subsequent interviews, Kontnik claimed that Campbell had approved the deal, which he denied.^[26]

After theprisoner abuse in Iraq by American military personnel and viewing unpublished abuse images alongside Defense SecretaryDonald Rumsfeld's Senate testimony, Campbell admonished the administration and military leadership: "I don't know how the hell these people got into our army."^[27][28]

On March 3, 2004, Campbell announced that he would not seek reelection due to health concerns, having recently been treated forprostate cancer andheartburn.^[29] He retired from office in January 2005, later saying of his decision: "Somewhere along the line, I said 'I'm not gonna die in this place. I want to do what I can, but I'm not dying here.'"^[1] He is the last Republican to be elected to the Class 3 Senate seat from Colorado.^{[citation needed]}

After his retirement, Campbell was a senior policy advisor at the firm of Holland and Knight, LLP, in Washington, D.C. In 2012, he left that firm to found Ben Nighthorse Consultants, a new lobbying firm.^[30][31] He also continues to design and craft his Ben Nighthorse line of American Indian jewelry.

Completed in 2011,Lake Nighthorse, a 120,000-acre-foot (150,000,000 m³) reservoir in southwestern Colorado, is named in his honor.^[32]

Campbell is a member of the ReFormers Caucus ofIssue One.^[33]

In 2008, during theCherokee freedmen controversy, Campbell authored a piece inThe Hill criticizing the efforts of members of Congress attempting to terminate recognition of the Cherokee Nation's government, and condemning the lawmakers' "paternalistic efforts":

"In the past, interference with tribal affairs, often justified by a paternalistic 'we know best' mindset, has severely damaged the progress of tribes. Often, Congress not only didn't know best, but it based its decision on lies, mistaken assumptions and prejudice...Congress is again rushing to judgment when it thinks it knows better than the tribe and the courts."^[34]

Campbell endorsed then-Ohio governorJohn Kasich in the2016 Republican presidential primaries.^[35]

In July 2016, Campbell spoke to Colorado Public Radio about regretting his support of the Iraq War: "I have some misgivings about the way I voted but we were voting on the best information that we had at the time. I think if there was a weakness early on [it] is that the administration had several people in there really pushing for American involvement...In retrospect after seeing that there [were] no weapons of mass destruction and that we did not have really good intelligence on the ground to give us some guidance on how we should proceed, I now look back and think maybe I shouldn't have voted the way I did."^[36]

In late 2018, Campbell joined several former Republican and Democratic senators in signing a letter supporting then-Special CounselRobert Mueller's investigation into alleged Russian collusion in the 2016 election.^[37] But he opposed theimpeachment of President Donald Trump, defending Trump and calling it "a waste of time". He also questioned why the Democrats would move to impeach knowing they would fail to convict in the Senate, saying, "The cost of this and what it does to the country, it kind of tears the fabric of the nation apart."^[38]

In October 2020, Campbell appeared onIndian Country Today to speak on a variety of issues, including his party switch in 1995 and promoting free enterprise for Native Americans. He defended his switch to the Republican Party, and when asked whether its policies were better for Native peoples, he replied: "The head of the Ku Klux Klan was not a Republican, it was aDemocrat. It wasn't a Republican who put 350,000 Japanese Americans in prison without any legal authority to do it, that was a Democrat,Roosevelt. AndAndrew Jackson drove the Trail of Tears, of theCherokees, theChickasaws, theChoctaws, and many other tribes, taking their land by force. That wasn't a Republican that did that. That was a Democrat… so when people say theDemocrat Party has been more willing to help Native Americans, I dispute that. That's not true."^[39] He went on to say how optimistic he was that more Native people were becoming involved and running for office, expressed support for Trump and his immigration policies, and voiced his concern with the rise ofantifa.

In September 2021, Campbell endorsed Olympic athlete and Air Force veteranEli Bremer in the Colorado Republican primary for the2022 U.S. Senate race to challenge DemocratMichael Bennet.^[40] After Bremer lost the primary, Campbell endorsed Republican nominee Joe O'Dea in June 2022.^[41]

In 1966, Campbell married the former Linda Price, apublic school teacher who was a native of Colorado. They have two children and four grandchildren.

Linda Campbell was the sponsor ofUSSMesa Verde (LPD 19) on January 15, 2005.

Lake Nighthorse inLa Plata County, Colorado, is named in Campbell's honor.^[42]

1982

1984

1986

1988

1990

1992

1998

• Grand-Officer of theOrder of Prince Henry,Portugal (1 June 1998)^[49]

2008: Awarded Ellis Island Medal of Freedom

2011: Conferral of the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon by Japanese Emperor Akihito. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell's award is in recognition of his significant contribution in the promotions and mutual understanding between Japan, the United States.

November 2021: Inducted into National Native American Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, OK.

• List of American politicians who switched parties in office
• List of Native American artists
• List of Native Americans in the United States Congress
• List of Native American politicians
• Native American jewelry
• List of United States senators who switched parties

• United States Congress."Ben Nighthorse Campbell (id: C000077)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Appearances onC-SPAN
• Retrospective Editorial, Boulder Weekly (2008): "Cherry Pickers Lose Elections"
• Benjamin Campbell at JudoInside.com
• Benjamin Marshall Campbell atOlympics.com
• Ben Campbell atOlympedia
• Ben Campbell at InterSportStats

• 1933 births
• Living people
• 20th-century American jewellers
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• 20th-century members of the Colorado General Assembly
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• Judoka at the 1963 Pan American Games
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