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Portland has the ninth-largest Native American community of any city in the nation, but none of its members had ever been elected to the state Legislature. Then came a nail-biter: the 2016 primary election for House District 43.
The strongly Democratic district, which spans a swath of North and Northeast Portland, had long been represented by Lew Frederick. But Frederick stepped down to run for the state Senate, putting District 43 up for grabs. Sanchez, a social worker who helped co-found the Native American Youth and Family Center, or NAYA, edged out her opponent, Roberta Phillip-Robbins, by 105 votes.
Since then, Sanchez, who’s Shoshone-Bannock, Ute, and Carrizo, has risen to co-chair the powerful Joint Committee on Ways and Means, where she’s a leading advocate for improving the state’s woeful drug and alcohol treatment system. In September, she outlined a proposal to impose a new tax on beer and wine to fund prevention and recovery for teenagers, which puts her at odds with the state’s powerful alcohol lobby.
As a teenage member of the International Treaty Council, Sanchez learned early the power of Native advocacy. “She would go to these meetings and learn the lessons from elders there on giving voice to tribal nations,” says Dr. Maria Tenorio, a Portland State University professor who’s worked with Sanchez since her years building NAYA. “She’s a role model—the person who walks her talk and follows her traditional teachings to serve others.”
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