federal recognition for the Lumbee tribe, acknowledging that they are descendants of the historic Cheraw tribe. The bill went to the United States Senate. On October 22, 2009, the United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs approved a bill for federal recognition of the Lumbee that also included a no-gaming clause. The Senate adjourned for 2010 without taking action on the bill. In 2021, Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii sought a hearing on Lumbee federal recognition. On April 22, 2021, US Representative G. K. Butterfield introduced legislation to grant the Lumbee full federal recognition (H.R. 2758) and the bill passed the House of Representatives on November 1, 2021. 2020 Presidential Election During the 2020 Presidential Election campaign, then-candidate Joe Biden announced, on October 8, 2020, his support for federal recognition of the Lumbee tribe by pledging his backing to the Lumbee Recognition Act. Two weeks later, on October 21, 2020, President Donald Trump also announced his support for federal recognition of the tribe via the same legislation. The following weekend, Trump held a rally in Robeson County to shore up support among Native Americans. During the rally, Trump stated that "[The] Lumbee Nation is forgotten no more!" Trump's rally was significant in that it was the first official visit to Robeson County by a sitting US President in history. Historically most of Robeson County had trended Democratic, voting for Barack Obama by an 18 point margin in 2012. However, Donald Trump carried the county narrowly in 2016, winning by a 5 point margin over Hillary Clinton. In 2020, his margin of victory increased dramatically to an 18 point victory over Biden. Many attribute this swing in Trump's favor to his visit and explicit support for recognition of the tribe by the federal government. Theories of origins Lost Colony of Roanoke In 1885, the Democratic politician Hamilton MacMillan proposed the theory that the Native inhabitants of Robeson County were descendants of England's "Lost Colony of Roanoke", who intermarried with what he described as the "Croatan Indians." The Roanoke colony disappeared during a difficult winter, but the colonists reportedly left the word "Croatan" carved into a tree, hence the name MacMillan gave to the proto Lumbee. MacMillan's theory was part of a Reconstruction era effort to woo the proto Lumbee to the Democratic Party by creating an "Indian" school system that would free these new "Croatan Indians" from sending their children to