Wahsayah Whitebird
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Wahsayah Whitebird | |
|---|---|
| City Councilor of Ashland, WI | |
| In office April 17, 2019 – April 17, 2021 | |
| Preceded by | David J. Mettille |
| Succeeded by | Charles Ortman |
| Constituency | District 6 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 1, 1992 Hayward, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Party | Communist |
Wahsayah Whitebird (born 1992) is a member of the Communist Party of the United States who served from 2019 to 2021 on the City Council of Ashland, Wisconsin, United States. Whitebird is a Bad River Band Chippewa and while in office was one of only two Communist Party members serving as an elected official in the United States.
Whitebird is a member of the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians, a tribe whose reservation is located about 10 miles east of Ashland on the coast of Lake Superior.[1] Whitebird worked at a deli in Ashland prior to his election and was a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers.[2]
Electoral history
Whitebird won his first election on April 2, 2019, beating incumbent David J. Mettille 52–42.[3] Whitebird ran on issues including making housing more affordable, reducing drug abuse, and building homeless shelters.[4][5] The election was nonpartisan, and Whitebird's affiliation with the Communist Party was not publicly known until after he won. Whitebird has been a member of the Communist Party since 2011.[5] His election made him the only known Communist Party member elected to public office in the United States at the time.[1] He did not run for re-election in 2021.[6]