Chuck Hoskin Jr.

Chuck Hoskin Jr. (born February 7, 1975) is a Cherokee Nation politician and attorney currently serving as the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation since 2019. He was re-elected to a second term in the 2023 Cherokee Nation principal chief election.

Hoskin has previously served as a Tribal Councilor for the Cherokee Nation between 2007 and 2013 and as the Secretary of State for the Cherokee Nation between 2013 and 2019.

Chuck Hoskin Jr. was born on February 7, 1975. His father is Chuck Hoskin. He graduated from Vinita High School in 1993. He then attended the University of Oklahoma and graduated in 1997 with his Bachelors of Arts. In 2000, he graduated from the University of Oklahoma College of Law with his Juris Doctor.

He told NPR in 2022 that he was not taught about the freedmen growing up, that the Cherokee owned slaves, nor that the Cherokee sided with the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. He views freedman citizenship in the Cherokee Nation as a treaty right and that the Freedman Controversy happened because the "Cherokee Nation is a large tribe, and so there are Cherokees who, just like the larger society...do not like Black people. And there is some racism."

In 1999, Hoskin served as a delegate at the Cherokee constitutional convention. Prior to elected office, he worked as an agent for the National Labor Relations Board.

In the 2007 Cherokee elections, Hoskin ran for Cherokee Tribal Council in district 9 after his father Chuck Hoskin announced he would not seek reelection. He faced Rodney Lay in the election for a six-year term. On June 23, 2007, Chuck Hoskin Jr. was elected to the Cherokee Tribal Council with 69% of the vote. He was sworn in on August 14, 2007.

In 2011, Hoskin was one of Bill John Baker's lawyers during his recount efforts after the 2011 Cherokee Principal Chief election. On February 23, 2012, Hoskin was voted deputy speaker of the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council and served from February 23, 2012, to August 21, 2013. Hoskin ran unopposed for his Tribal Council seat in the 2013 Cherokee elections, which due to redistricting was now district 11, being sworn in on August 14, 2013.

In August 2013, Hoskin was nominated and confirmed to be the Cherokee Nation's Secretary of State by Principal Chief Bill John Baker. He resigned his Cherokee Tribal Council seat and was sworn in on August 21, 2013, triggering a special election that was won by Victoria Vazquez.