Political Career
Campbell was elected to the Colorado State Legislature as a Democrat in November 1982, where he served two terms. Voted one of the 10 Best Legislators by his colleagues in a 1986 Denver Post - News Center 4 survey. Elected in 1986 to the U.S. House of Representatives, defeated incumbent Congressman Mike Strang. He won two succeeding re-elections to this seat. In 1989, he authored the U.S. House of Representatives bill HR 2668 to establish the National Museum of the American Indian, which became PL 101-185.
The early 1990s marked a turning point in Campbell's political career. In 1992, following the announced retirement of Senator Tim Wirth, Campbell won a three-way Democratic primary with former three-term Governor Richard Lamm and Boulder County Commissioner Josie Heath, who had been the party's nominee in 1990. During the primary campaign, Lamm supporters accused Heath of "spoiling" the election by splitting the vote of the party's left wing. Heath's campaign pointed out that it was Campbell who shouldn't have been running, because his voting record in Congress had been much more like that of a Republican. This charge turned out to be prophetic. Campbell won the primary with 45% of the vote and then defeated Republican State Senator Terry Considine in the general election.
In March 1995, only two years into office, Senator Campbell switched parties from Democrat to Republican, in the wake of publicized disputes he had with the Colorado Democratic Party. Upon hearing the news, most of Senator Campbell's staff in Washington quit on the spot.
In 1998, Senator Campbell won re-election by what was then the largest margin in Colorado history for a state-wide race. In the 106th Congress, he passed more public laws than any individual member of Congress. During his tenure, Campbell also became the first American Indian to chair the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. He retired from office in January 2005.
After his retirement, Senator Campbell was a Senior Policy Advisor at the firm of Holland and Knight, LLP in Washington, DC. In July 2012, he left that firm to found Ben Nighthorse Consultants, a new lobbying firm. He also continues to design and craft his Ben Nighthorse line of American Indian jewelry.
Completed in 2011, Lake Nighthorse, a 120,000 acre foot reservoir in southwester Colorado is named in his honor.
Read more about this topic: Ben Nighthorse Campbell
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