Ben Nighthorse Campbell

Ben Nighthorse Campbell, born in 1933, Republican member of the United States Senate from Colorado (1993—2005). He was the first Native American to serve in the Senate since the 1930s.

Campbell was born in Auburn, California, the son of a Portuguese immigrant and a Northern Cheyenne Native American. He dropped out of high school to join the U.S. Air Force and served during the Korean War (1950-1953). He later returned to school, receiving a bachelor’s degree in physical education and fine arts from San Jose State University in 1957. From 1960 to 1964 he studied as a special research student at Meiji University in Tokyo, Japan. While living in Japan, he studied judo and won a gold medal at the 1963 Pan American Games. He went on to become captain of the 1964 U.S. Olympic judo team and to coach the U.S. International Team. Before going into politics, Campbell was a horse breeder and award-winning jewelry designer. He was elected to the Colorado Legislature in 1982, where he served until being elected in 1986, as a Democrat, to the U.S. House of Representatives from Colorado’s Third Congressional District.

Campbell ran for the U.S. Senate in 1992 against Republican Terry Considine, a former state senator. He won with nearly 52 percent of the vote. In 1995 Campbell declared he was no longer comfortable calling himself a Democrat, and he switched to the Republican Party, winning reelection in 1998. Campbell decided to retire from the Senate after his second term and did not run for reelection in 2004.