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Sneed Holds On To Principal Chief Seat In Unofficial Cherokee Election Results

Lilly Knoepp
In the preliminary count, Principal Chief Richard Sneed will hold onto his seat by almost 400 votes.

The Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians held their general election last night for all 12 tribal council seats, vice chief and principal Chief. 

 

In the unofficial tally, Principal Chief Richard Sneed held onto his seat with about 400 votes more than veteran politician Teresa McCoy. At her campaign headquarters last night, McCoy thanks Sneed for running a pretty clean campaign.    

 

“I appreciate the fact that there was little to no mud slinging. We anticipated some and we got a little.  But nonetheless the people of our tribe has stepped up and spoken,” says McCoy. 

 

Sneed thanked the tribe for keeping him in office.

 

“Your confidence in my leadership empowers the EBCI to continue along this path and ensure the security of our future. I am grateful to the employees who work hard every day to move our goals forward and provide a better way of life for our community and tribe. I view this as a vote of confidence in our accomplishments,” wrote Sneed on his official Facebook page. 

 

Vice Chief Alan B. Ensley also secured his place in the tribal government, according to the preliminary results.

Both Sneed and McCoy congratulated the newly elected Tribal Council council members. 

The current Tribal Council must approve the election tally at their next meeting to make the election official. After that the new members of the tribal government will be sworn in.

 

Lilly Knoepp is Senior Regional Reporter for Blue Ridge Public Radio. She has served as BPR’s first fulltime reporter covering Western North Carolina since 2018. She is from Franklin, NC. She returns to WNC after serving as the assistant editor of Women@Forbes and digital producer of the Forbes podcast network. She holds a master’s degree in international journalism from the City University of New York and earned a double major from UNC-Chapel Hill in religious studies and political science.
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