Northern Cheyenne council election clouded by rival claims

A yearlong leadership dispute within the Northern Cheyenne Tribe has intensified in recent weeks as conflicting claims about Tuesday’s Tribal Council election circulate in the small tribal community in southeastern Montana. 

Tribal leaders say contradictory statements circulating on social media about who is on the ballot, where to vote and who is eligible to vote are sowing frustration and confusion and eroding public trust in tribal officials. 

THE CONFLICT

The conflict emerged in spring 2025 when Northern Cheyenne Tribal President Gene Small, a Lame Deer rancher who campaigned in 2024 on government transparency, initiated an audit of the Tribal Council’s use of federal COVID-19 relief funds. Ten elected members serve on the Northern Cheyenne Tribal Council, and while some council members objected to the audit, the body ultimately approved the audit.

In the fall of 2025, the Tribal Council voted to remove Small from office, alleging constitutional violations unrelated to the audit. (The Northern Cheyenne Constitutional Court later ruled that the council’s vote to remove Small was “unconstitutional and invalid.”) On the same day, a group of traditional leaders, called chiefs, issued a declaration calling for the removal from office of the eight council members who voted to oust the president. The chiefs then selected eight new temporary council members, and that council later held a special election — which excluded women from the ballot — to fill the eight seats. 

Since then, conflicting speculation and claims about who’s in charge have roiled the tribal community, and the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs declined invitations from both Small and the ousted council members to intervene, meaning no federal arbiter would help resolve the standoff.

In August, a Northern Cheyenne tribal judge weighed in on the conflict and ruled to reinstate the eight ousted council members and void the election that had been held to replace them. Tribal Judge Frans Andersson found that because the council members had not been lawfully removed from office, there were no vacancies on the council to fill, and so the special election was judged invalid. Andersson ordered the defendants — including chiefs and council members elected in the special election — to “immediately peacefully surrender” and allow the eight original council members to access the Tribal Council building, though council members have said they continue to be blocked from the premises. 

In late September, a tribal appellate court judge upheld the lower court’s decision, finding that the chiefs and newly elected council members had “been governing (unlawfully) for the past year.”

The reinstated council on Sept. 30 voted again to remove Small and has since announced a special election to replace him.

But in the months since, Small has said he remains in charge.

“I’m still president, that’s how I feel about it,” he said in an Oct. 16 video shared to social media.

THE ELECTION

The Northern Cheyenne Council is made up of 10 members who serve staggered four-year terms. In U.S. presidential election years, tribal members elect a president, vice president and five council members. In midterm years like 2026, the other five council seats are on the ballot. Candidates run to represent one of five districts on the reservation. 

According to the council, nine candidates are running for five council seats in Tuesday’s election. 

Small has circulated information on social media contradicting the council. He claims that 16 candidates are running for the five seats in what he has called “the people’s election.” He has instructed tribal members via a public Facebook page to cast their votes at the tribe’s Capitol building in Lame Deer, rather than at community centers in their districts, and has said that absentee voting, which is permitted in the tribe’s Election Ordinance, “will not be permitted for this election only.” Small did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story. 

The council has said the election Small describes is unlawful. 

“Tribal election officials, not the tribal president and not the tribal council, will administer the election on November 3, 2026. This is how all elections occur under the longstanding Election Ordinance,” the council asserts, according to a memo posted to social media.

Citing “concerns regarding election interference,” the council has moved the polling location for the Lame Deer District, one of five voting districts on the reservation, from the Capitol building to the tribal wellness center. Council members told Montana Free Press Monday morning that they plan to post security guards at polling locations to keep election officials and voters safe. 

“[Small] is not even the president,” said councilmember Melissa Fisher, who represents the Ashland District. “He has no business interfering. This is interference.”

Councilmember Melissa Lonebear, who represents the Lame Deer District and who is running for re-election, said Small has caused “confusion” about where to vote. 

“This is affecting the future of the tribe,” Lonebear said. “This is affecting our kids and our grandkids. He’s ruining us. He’s ruining our reputation.”

Asked what she’s heard from constituents about the conflict, Lonebear said, “Everyone’s sick of it.”