Overview
- His daughter, Shanan Campbell, said he died Tuesday at his southwestern Colorado ranch at age 92, and Gov. Jared Polis ordered flags lowered on the day of his service.
- He served Colorado in the U.S. House from 1987 to 1993 and in the U.S. Senate from 1993 to 2005, where he became the first Native American to chair the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.
- A member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, he was known for championing tribal priorities and for an independent approach that often crossed party lines.
- He switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party in 1995 after a failed balanced‑budget amendment vote, describing himself as a moderate.
- Beyond politics, he was a 1964 U.S. Olympic judo team member and a master jeweler with work displayed at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.