SALAMANCA, NY – Tina Abrams took the oath of office as Seneca Nation President, becoming the first woman elected to the Nation’s highest office.
Abrams was sworn in during the Nation’s Canvass Day ceremony along with other candidates elected last week. Treasurer Lenith Waterman and Clerk Bethany Johnson also took office, forming the first all-woman Executive branch in Seneca Nation history. Eight new Councilors – four each from the Allegany and Cattaraugus territories – were also sworn in to four-year terms on the 16-member Council.
“Our people went to the polls to choose a leader you believe in, a leader you can trust to lead our Nation with strength, honesty, vision and conviction,” President Abrams told the crowd gathered at Seneca Allegany Resort & Casino. “I am honored beyond words to stand before you as your choice, your President, and as the first woman to receive and accept that responsibility.”
“I know that I bear a great responsibility to you – to all of you, all 8,500 Senecas,” Abrams continued. “I will work every day to honor that responsibility and to live the words of the oath I take today. Yours will always be the voice that guides me.”
First elected to the Seneca Nation Council in 2001, Abrams became the first woman appointed as the legislative body’s Co-Chair in 2012. Earlier this year, she became the first Native American woman to receive the New York State Senate Woman of Distinction Award.
During her address, Abrams reflected on the Seneca Clan Mothers who selected the Nation’s chiefs before it adopted an elected form of government in 1848, as well as her own family’s involvement in Seneca government. Her grandfather, Morris Jimerson, and father, Walden Jimerson, both served on the Nation Council and fought for women’s right to vote in Nation elections. That right was secured through a 1964 referendum, followed by the right to hold elected office in 1966. Abrams’ grandmother, Sybil Eels, was the fourth Seneca woman elected to a government position.
“Now, the same little girl from Cattaraugus who used to go to meetings with her father and fall asleep in the Council House; a proud mother and grandmother who raised her family here in Allegany; and a longtime voice for the Seneca people on Council, will lead our Nation for the next two years,” said Abrams.
Abrams also addressed challenges facing the Nation and its sovereignty, drawing on the Seneca people’s history and resilience.
“We cannot let the history we make today and the weight of this moment define us,” said Abrams. “History will not judge us on the election that we won. It is the work that we do with the opportunity our people have given us that matters most.”