Dakota, Nakota woman announces city council run in South Dakota

RAPID CITY, South Dakota – Valeriah Big Eagle knows what it’s like to face systemic racism living in an urban area as a Native person. This lived experience, coupled with a drive to make a difference in her community, is what’s led the Ihaƞktoƞwaƞ Dakota and Nakota woman from the Yankton Sioux Tribe to run for city council in Rapid City.

“We need more women running for public office, especially in our community,” Big Eagle said.

During the 2024 election season, the United States saw record numbers of Indigenous people running for elected offices on all levels. In 2025, that push for change isn’t over.

Big Eagle is running to serve as one of two Ward 4 representatives on the city council.

If elected, Big Eagle would be the only Native woman currently on the city council and the second Native person on the council, joining

Rosebud Sioux Tribe citizen Lance Lehmann. There are ten total seats on the Rapid City City Council. Only one other Native person holds an elected position in the city, Walt Swan, a Cheyenne River Lakota man serving on the Rapid City Area Schools School Board.

Nearly six years ago, a record number of Native people announced local runs in the Black Hills city. It triggered an ongoing movement pushing for Native representation in a city where roughly a quarter of the population identifies as Native.

Big Eagle lives on the north side of Rapid City, where Ward 4 is located, alongside a majority of the city’s Indigenous community. She lives in a home built by Habitat for Humanity which she said is a testament to her lived experience overcoming struggles in the urban community.

She’s an active member of the local community – Big Eagle is a basketball coach, a board member for the upcoming Native American community center, He Sapa Otipi, and a board member for Oaye Luta Okolakiciye which is a non-profit organization focused on healing and recovery for Native people.

Big Eagle said if elected she would aim to address issues affecting the community such as high grocery prices, food insecurity, housing insecurity and barriers to accessing mental health resources.

“If regular people can’t afford a package of bread, then that’s a problem,” Big Eagle said.

Big Eagle and her family live in Ward 4, a predominately Native area and one that’s a food desert. The only grocery stores on the city’s north side are Walmart and Target. The recent edition of a Native-owned buffalo butcher has improved food access for the community, but the issue remains: people can’t easily get healthy food.

Aside from barriers to food access, the homeless community in Rapid City is disproportionately American Indian and Alaska Native.

The city’s population has exploded in the past few years, partially from expansion to the nearby Ellsworth Airforce Base. The city has grown from a population of 60,000 in the last census to an estimated 85,000 residents in 2025. The development of affordable housing hasn’t caught up to this rapid growth.

“We see people from our community that are from here that no longer can live here or afford to live here,” Big Eagle said. “So that’s a problem. We need to see more affordable housing, we need to see more housing.”

In 2023 Rapid City lost the Hope Center, a day-time homeless shelter which served 200 to 300 individuals per day. That service gap remains two years later, something Big Eagle said she’d aim to address.

“I don’t call them homeless because a lot of them are Lakota and this is their home, these are their homelands,” Big Eagle said. “(The solution) is helping them with what they’re actually dealing with and not saying well we need to get them off the streets. There’s reasons why they have their addictions and what they’re going through … We need to have someone in there that’s really moving that, moving that. The people that are in (city council) now, I see them trying; however, I really want to drive that home and we can really be helping our houseless population at this time. We could be doing so much more.”

Big Eagle’s election isn’t until June 2026, so right now she’s focusing on getting the word out about her campaign.

The post Dakota, Nakota woman announces city council run in South Dakota first appeared on Native Sun News Today.

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