Kalyn Free facts for kids

Kalyn Cherie Free, born in November 1963, is an American lawyer. She used to be an elected district attorney, which is like a chief prosecutor for a region. She is also a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, an important Native American tribe. Kalyn Free represents Oklahoma on the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which is a big group that helps lead the Democratic Party in the United States.

Early Life and Education

Kalyn Free was born in Red Oak, Oklahoma. She went to Red Oak High School. After that, she studied at Southeastern Oklahoma State University and then at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. She is a proud member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

Kalyn Free's Career

Working as a Lawyer

After finishing law school, Kalyn Free started her career with the United States Department of Justice. This is a very important part of the U.S. government that deals with laws and justice. At the time, she was the youngest lawyer ever hired by the Department of Justice.

While working there, she helped make sure federal environmental laws were followed across the country. She paid special attention to tribal lands. She also became the first Native American to be a supervising attorney in the department. This means she led other lawyers.

In 1998, she ran for and won the election to become a District Attorney. This made her the first woman and the first Native American to be elected to this role in Pittsburg and Haskell counties in Oklahoma. As District Attorney, she focused on cases that helped women, children, and people who had been victims of crime. In 2000, she received a special Spirit of Excellence Award from the American Bar Association for her work.

In Politics

In 2004, Kalyn Free wanted to become a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Oklahoma's 2nd Congressional District. She had support from groups like Emily's List and the Sierra Club. However, she did not win the nomination from the Oklahoma Democratic Party.

In 2005, Free started a group called INDN's List. This group, whose name stands for Indigenous Native Democratic Network, was a political action committee. Its goal was to help elect Native American candidates who supported progressive ideas at local and state levels. She paid for the group herself until it closed in 2010. During the 2008 United States presidential election, she supported Barack Obama and was a superdelegate. A superdelegate is a special kind of delegate who can vote for a presidential candidate at the party's convention.

In 2019, Kalyn Free was chosen to be the national committeewoman for the Oklahoma Democratic Party on the Democratic National Committee (DNC). After the 2024 elections, she announced she wanted to become a Vice Chair of the DNC. However, she was not successful in that election. She later filed a complaint about the election results. On May 12, 2025, a committee of the DNC decided to cancel the results of that election. She ran again in the new election, which was only for female candidates, but she lost in a close vote.

Her Writings

Kalyn Free has also shared her experiences through writing. In 2000, she wrote a letter for a book called Dear Sisters, Dear Daughters: Words of Wisdom from Multicultural Women Attorneys Who've Been There and Done That. In this letter, she shared how some men told her they would never vote for an American Indian woman.

In 2007, she wrote a chapter called Why? Rising to the Challenge for the book Voices from the Heartland. In this chapter, she thought about her career and what it was like to be a Native American in her field. She also wrote another chapter in 2019 for the second volume of that book, titled What Is a Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This.

Personal Life

Kalyn Free married Steve Bruner in 2009.

She is also interested in Japan. She has represented the United States on trips to Japan that were sponsored by the American Council of Young Political Leaders.

See also

• Politics of Oklahoma
• Oklahoma Democratic Party