Tina Abrams made Seneca Nation history Tuesday, being sworn-in as its first elected female president. Abrams pledged before thousands gathered at the Seneca Allegany Casino to continue defending the nation’s sovereignty amid legal challenges from the City of Buffalo and New York State.
A longtime Seneca councilor, Abrams is now at the helm of the Seneca Nation after strong caucus and general election wins.
Not only did her victory mark change, but for the next two years all three elected executive positions will be held by women. Lenith Waterman is now the nation treasurer and Bethany Johnson is nation clerk.
"In the past history men didn't go to war unless the women said so. So here I am in that position, leading, and I think our women leaders are fierce," Abrams said. "We're protectors of our world. And we think about our generations to come, the babies, the next generation, always in the back of our minds."
While women, through clan mothers, hold great power in traditional Haudenosaunee governance, when the Seneca Nation formed an elected government and constitution, women were barred from voting and holding office for more than a century.
That's why women across the Seneca Nation, like Leslie Logan, are celebrating Abrams’ win as a new chapter in the nation’s history.
"I can't even tell you how huge and how thrilling and how excited so many of us Seneca women are today to see this happening," said Logan. "It's been 178 years since the establishment of the republic, and 62 years ago that [women] got the right to vote and the right to hold office, and finally here we are. It's just amazing."
Abrams begins her presidency with the immediate need to tackle continuing challenges. Both the City of Buffalo and now New York State are waging legal battles against Seneca-owned lands and development in Buffalo and Grand Island.
"That fight will continue. I'm not going to let anybody push us around," Abrams said. "We've gained that right by the Department of Interior, and we have the right to conduct and do business for our people in Buffalo or Grand Island."
The issue went to the courts after the City of Buffalo objected to the Seneca Nation building a gas station on a three-acre parcel between Ohio and Miami streets. Buffalo officials argued the nation needed local zoning approvals, but the Senecas stood firm that the land was granted a special status from the federal government.
A state judge in October rejected the city's request to stop construction, and New York last week began action in federal court challenging the Interior Department's restricted fee status approval for that parcel and an additional 200 acres on Grand Island.
The Seneca Nation and the state also have yet to sign a new gaming compact since the original expired three years ago. Abrams puts that blame on Governor Kathy Hochul, but wants to get to a solution.
"I'm willing to meet with [Hochul], but she's got to educate herself," Abrams said. "She relies on four guys, and they're sort of a goon squad that keep coming to the table and keep emailing back and forth, and no progress is made."
Abrams term as president expires in 2028. She succeeds the term-limited J. Conrad Seneca, who campaigned for nation treasurer, but lost in this year's caucus.
