Odie Porter is a proud Seneca mother, a Turtle Clan member, and a lifelong advocate for the Seneca people who is running for President of the Seneca Nation of Indians in 2026. She is the daughter of Carolyn Watt Brant and the late Randy Brant.

Born and raised on the Allegany Territory, Odie grew up hunting, fishing, gardening, and playing piano before graduating with honors from Salamanca High School. Her service to the Seneca people started early: after serving as a banking manager at Wells Fargo, she was appointed the Nation’s financial comptroller in 1992 where she helped the Nation take control of its own trust assets from federal oversight and established the Investment Management Board that still guides Seneca finances today. She later helped implement the Seneca financial literacy program for Seneca youth. Nearly 30 years later, that same commitment to the Nation still drives everything that she does.

Odie went on to earn her MBA at the University of Kansas and spent years in higher education leadership as KU’s Budget Director, the University of Iowa’s Advisor to the Provost, and Syracuse University’s Assistant Provost — experience that sharpened her skills in managing large budgets and complex organizations.

She brought that experience and work ethic home in 2007, serving as the Executive Director of the Capital Improvements Authority in charge of $160 million of construction projects across all of the Nation’s territories that were completed on-time and on-budget. Following that service, she worked as CEO of a diversified Native-owned company and later started her own consulting business. Odie has never stopped showing up for our community — building a clear track record of experience and capability.

Odie was elected to the Seneca Nation Council in 2022 and has consistently fought for issues to make lives better for elders, youth, and families. She supported increasing the elder annuity benefit, helped establish addiction and opioid response programs, and promoted constitutional reform to improve the Nation government. Because of this leadership, the Seneca people were able vote at two referenda to lower the voting age to 18, to establish probate court reforms and to impose term limits and residency requirements for elected officials.

Odie also has been active as Vice Chair of the Nation’s Foreign Relations Committee where she has advocated in Albany to pass legislation to make it easier to remove non-Indian trespassers and in Washington to repeal New York State’s criminal jurisdiction over Senecas. Odie has also been focused on demanding action from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Congress to recover the Kinzua “take area” lands lost 60 years ago to restore land for settlement.

Married to Robert Odawi Porter for 30 years, Odie is the mother of four — Rachel, Ben, Olivia, and Elliot — and she knows firsthand what it takes to build a future for Seneca families.

Now, after nearly three decades of service — from Comptroller to Councillor — Odie is asking for your support to keep working hard for the Seneca people, building a stronger, more self- determined Seneca Nation with more economic opportunity, more housing, better health care, and protecting lands and water for generations to come.