Ben Nighthorse Campbell in 2004, when he announced he would retire from the Senate. His relatively modest legislative accomplishments included the establishment of the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington.
Credit...Carol T. Powers for The New York Times

Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Former Colorado Senator, Dies at 92

A Democrat turned Republican, he was the only Native American during three terms in the House of Representatives and in 12 years in the Senate. He was also a judo expert and an Olympian.

by · NY Times

Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a Cheyenne Indian who walked into a political caucus in Colorado to kill time one day in 1982 and wound up serving two terms as a state legislator, three more in Congress and for 12 years as a United States senator, died on Tuesday at his ranch in southwestern Colorado. He was 92.

His daughter, Shanan Campbell, said he died of natural causes.

The ultimate political outsider, Mr. Campbell was the only Native American during his tenures in the House of Representatives (1987-1993) and in the Senate (1993-2005), a political maverick who rode a motorcycle and wore buckskins, cowboy boots and coral-and-silver necklaces. He once wore a full Cheyenne headdress in a Senate floor debate.

This is a developing story.

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