Mashantucket ― Rodney Butler won an eighth consecutive Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council term Sunday, and then, in a second round of voting among tribal members, was elected chairman of the council for a sixth straight time, the tribe announced.

Two other incumbent council members ― Daniel Menihan and Michele Scott ― also were elected to new three-year terms on the seven-member council, which governs the 1,200-member tribe and oversees its business enterprises, including Foxwoods Resort Casino.

Butler, Menihan and Scott will begin their new terms on the tribe’s Inauguration Day, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025.

“Michele Scott and Daniel Menihan are excellent leaders for our tribal nation, and we thank them for their willingness to once again serve in these critical roles,” Butler said in a statement the tribe issued after Sunday’s voting. “We congratulate them and look forward to ongoing work together in service to Mashantucket.”

Five other tribal members were candidates for the three council seats up for election: Roy Colebut-Ingram Sr., Rahiem Eleazer, Richard E. Sebastian, Phyllip Thomas and Katrina Young.

The other members of the council are Latoya Cluff, vice chairwoman; Matthew Pearson, secretary; Merrill M. Reels, treasurer; and Crystal Whipple.

A total of 375 tribal members cast ballots at the tribe’s community center on the Mashantucket reservation, a turnout of 41.7% of the 899 tribal members eligible to vote, according to Lori Potter, the tribe’s director of communications. The voting took place during the tribe’s annual meeting.

Butler’s election as chairman was uncontested after Scott, who also was nominated for the post, declined to run against him. The same scenario played out three years ago. Butler was first elected to the council in 2003 and as chairman in 2009.

Butler, who serves on the boards of several regional and national tribal organizations, was elected earlier this year as president of the board of directors of the NAFOA (founded as the Native American Finance Officers Association). He’s also a member of the Treasury Tribal Advisory Committee, which advises the U.S. secretary of the treasury.

Last month, he traveled with President Joe Biden, U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and other tribal leaders to the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona, where Biden formally apologized for the federal government’s role in forcibly holding Native American children in boarding schools during much of the 19th and 20th centuries.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article mischaracterized the circumstances of Rodney Butler’s two most recent reelections as chairman.