Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a Cheyenne Indian who walked into a political caucus in Colorado to kill time one day in 1982 and wound up serving two terms as a state legislator, three more in Congress and for 12 years as a United States senator, died on Tuesday at his ranch in southwestern Colorado. He was 92.
His daughter, Shanan Campbell, said he died of natural causes.
The ultimate political outsider, Mr. Campbell was the only Native American during his tenures in the House of Representatives (1987-1993) and in the Senate (1993-2005), a political maverick who rode a motorcycle and wore buckskins, cowboy boots and coral-and-silver necklaces.