Navajo Nation voters head to polls to choose a new leader

Thursday, August 23, 2018  

It's election season on the Navajo Nation and a whopping 18 candidates are seeking the tribe's highest office.

President Russell Begaye is seeking another four-year term in office. He's being challenged by his own former running mate, Vice President Jonathan Nez, along with a slew of other candidates on the largest reservation in the United States.

“Same old thing every four years, nothing changed,” 90-year-old Louva Dahozy told The Associated Press in reference to the election cycle.

Nez saw the highest level of support in a presidential poll conducted by The Navajo Times. Tom Chee, who serves the Navajo Nation Council, came in second.

Begaye trailed both candidates, and is also falling behind Joe Shirley, Jr., a former two-term president. But a significant percentage remain undecided, according to the poll.

“I’m busy running the nation,” Begaye said in a statement to the AP.

The primary takes place Tuesday, August 23. The top two vote-getters will advance to the general election on November 6.

Though Begaye and Nez are now rivals in the race, the situation is not unprecedented. When Shirley ran for a second term, his vice president at the time ran against him.

Presidential candidates pick their own running mates, so the vice presidential post is not up for election.

Navajos choose from record number of presidential hopefuls (The Associated Press August 23, 2018)
Four tabbed front-runners in primary vote (The Navajo Times August 23, 2018)