Native America Calling: Native candidates make strides in local elections

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Native America Calling: Native candidates make strides in local elections

Monday, November 24, 2025

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Native candidates make strides in local elections

Social worker and political newcomer Sierra Yazzie Asamoa-Tutu will take office in January 2026 as the first Diné city council member in Gallup, New Mexico.

Notably a city along Route 66 and on the edge of the Navajo Nation, Gallup’s population is more than half Native American, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Yazzie Asamoa-Tutu is one of a number of Native candidates filling local elected seats since the mid-term elections.

Tune into Native America Calling to talk with some of them about what their hopes are for their coming term of elected public service.

In November 2025, Sierra Yazzie Asamoa-Tutu won election as the first Navajo person on the city council in Gallup, New Mexico, a community near the Navajo Nation. She will represent District 2 in Gallup. Photo courtesy Sierra Yazzie Asamoa-Tutu

Guests on Native America Calling

Sierra Yazzie Asamoa-Tutu (Diné), council member-elect for the city of Gallup, New Mexico

Ed Lowery Jr. (Lumbee), mayor-elect of Parktown, North Carolina

Chris Roberts (Choctaw), mayor of Shoreline, Washington

David Holt (Osage), mayor of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Chris Roberts and Native Elected Officials at National Congress of American Indians

Native Elected Officials Panel at National Congress of American Indians 82nd annual convention in Seattle, Washington, from left: Debora Juarez (Blackfeet), Claudia Kauffman (Nez Perce), Chris Stearns (Navajo), Debra Lekanoff (Tlingit) and Chris Roberts (Choctaw). @NCAI1944 pic.twitter.com/VL9Xr4HwuY
— indianz.com (@indianz) November 19, 2025

“We need to build a bench”: Chris Roberts (Choctaw), first Native person elected as mayor of Shoreline, Washington, on supporting Native elected officials at National Congress of American Indians 82nd annual convention in Seattle. @NCAI1944 pic.twitter.com/AJwLNIgam2
— indianz.com (@indianz) November 19, 2025