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But mixed reactions among prominent Native American critics Friday suggested that Warren might have further to go.
Some Native American leaders gave her credit for the apology, and political figures, for the most part, played down the issue.
Others remain unsatisfied.
“This still isn’t transparent,” said Twila Barnes, a Cherokee genealogist who has been critical of Warren’s claims of native ancestry since it became national news in 2012. “She needs to go public and say she fully takes responsibility and that the DNA test was ridiculous. There is still something about this that feels off.”
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The apology comes as Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, is set to formally launch her presidential run next week after recent visits to early nominating states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. It also comes after repeated calls for her to apologize from tribal leaders, political operatives and her own advisers, who said her October decision to take the DNA test gave undue credence to the controversial claim that race could be determined by blood — and politically, played into President Donald Trump’s hands.
Trump has repeatedly mocked Warren for her decades-old claim of Native American ancestry, using slurs such as “Pocahontas” to dismiss her and recently saying she fell for his “Pocahontas trap.” However, when Warren hit back at Trump and released a DNA test to prove her ancestry, she angered members of the Native American community and left-leaning Democrats who believe cultural kinship and tribal sovereignty determine Native citizenship — not blood.
On Thursday, Warren called Bill John Baker, principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, to apologize for the DNA test, said Julie Hubbard, a spokeswoman for the tribe.
For months, Warren has refused to acknowledge or respond to her critics on the left, focusing instead on responding to Trump’s flurry of more openly divisive attacks, which have included language associated with racist stereotypes.
Native American tribal leaders have repeatedly criticized Trump’s language against Warren and about Native Americans more generally.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.