The Navajo Nation is headed for a leadership change after last Tuesday’s primary, held across the reservation in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. Sixteen candidates were on the ballot, but the tribe’s youngest‑ever sitting president, Buu Nygren, did not advance.
Gabriel Pietrorazio, KJZZ Tribal Natural Resources Reporter, joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss the race’s current state.
Justin Jones and Navajo Nation Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley emerged as the top vote‑getters. Both will choose vice‑presidential running mates before facing off in November. If elected, Curley would become the first Diné woman to serve as president.
The ousting of incumbent president Nygren was a shocking result of the race, but the number of candidates at play was not. According to Pietrorazio, in the last primary election in 2022 there were a total of 15 candidates. The Navajo Nation does not have partisan politics which leads to a mixture of political ideas among all candidates.
Even though there are a variety of beliefs among candidates, Jones and Curley both ran their campaigns supporting very similar themes of reform.
“Both candidates were really pushing the narrative that we need reform, the issue of anticorruption, the issue of scandal basically that was ridden under the Nygren administration,” Pietrorazio said. “They both were trying to push it out.”
According to Pietrorazio, the center of debate against Nygren is the amount of money that was lost during his administration. This, among other issues including an ethics violation against Nygren, is what discouraged may voters from considering him for reelection.
Nygren was the youngest president the Navajo Nation had, but a new first could be set if Curley claims the seat as she would also claim the title of first woman president.
“The actual society of the Navajo Nation… is actually set up as a matrilineal society. Meaning that mother and matriarchs, and great reverence for the elders in particular the grandmothers and the aunties,” Pietrorazio said. “She’s leaning into that really heavily, especially around the issues of MMIP, Missing and Murdered Indigenous People.”
Pietrorazio said that as the election comes closers community members are looking for a president who can make the reservation better and ensure the necessities of everyday life.
