I don't think Warren claimed to be Native American in order to do anything - she was basing that on what her family had told her about their Cherokee roots. I believe they were from Oklahoma, so that would not be a surprising thing. It's also questionable if she used that claim to promote her career; the people who hired her to teach are all on record as saying that it was never a consideration in the hiring process - they based their decisions on her abilities.
If your family is telling you that this is your ancestry, why would you question it? She didn't have a DNA test done until recently; until then, she had no reason to doubt what her family told her, so I don't think it's accurate or fair to suggest that she may have falsely claimed to have Native American roots in order gain some advantage.
As far as DNA testing is concerned, I know for a fact that it can surprise you. I grew up believing I was Italian - my grandparents on both sides came here from Italy, so both my parents were Italian, and I must be Italian. I had a DNA test done out of curiousity a couple of years ago - it turns out I'm probably more Greek than Italian.
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