{"id":21748,"date":"2022-03-02T14:50:37","date_gmt":"2022-03-02T19:50:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=21748"},"modified":"2022-03-02T14:50:38","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T19:50:38","slug":"navajo-nation-leader-launches-republican-bid-for-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/03\/02\/navajo-nation-leader-launches-republican-bid-for-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"Navajo Nation leader launches Republican bid for Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9\">\r\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PQVe02Hy_mQ?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">Sasnak: <a href=https:\/\/youtu.be\/PQVe02Hy_mQ>Peoples Convoy 2\/25\/22. Morning Drivers Meeting<\/a> \r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n<div class=\"h3-responsive font-weight-bold\">Navajo Nation leader launches Republican bid for Congress<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"date\">Wednesday, March 2, 2022<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"source\">Indianz.Com<\/div>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nMyron Lizer, the often controversial vice president of the <a href=https:\/\/www.navajo-nsn.gov\/>Navajo Nation<\/a>, is running for U.S. Congress.\r\n<P><\/p>\r\nLizer, a Republican, is seeking his party&#8217;s nomination for the 2nd Congressional District of Arizona. He believes the newly redrawn boundaries of the district will play in his favor as he seeks to become the first Native person to serve in Congress from his state.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n&#8220;The United States of America has strength, dreams, creativity and opportunities,&#8221; <a href=https:\/\/twitter.com\/NNVP_Lizer\/status\/1498736437541236743>Lizer said in an announcement<\/a> on Tuesday. &#8220;As the world\r\ncarries forward into an unknown future, there are many tasks that is required to be accomplished &#8212; especially in the federal government.&#8221;\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n&#8220;The project-killing bureaucracy, lack of financial\r\ninvestment, huge government spending and broken promises by the federal government has limited the interest of &#8216;We the People,'&#8221; Lizer continued. &#8220;This includes the First Nations of America, as federal government&#8217;s responsibility is to govern the public, not to dictate the citizens.&#8221;\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udea8 I\u2019m announcing my candidacy in running for the newly redrawn U.S  Congressional District 2 seat of Arizona. I pray that you will join me, as I pursue this journey of becoming a Representative on the Hill, in Washington DC. May God bless you, from my family to yours. Ah\u00e9\u2019hee \ud83d\udea8 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/g6DnnOUSms\">pic.twitter.com\/g6DnnOUSms<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Former Navajo Nation Vice President \u201819-\u201823 (@NN_MyronLizer) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NN_MyronLizer\/status\/1498736437541236743?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 1, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nLizer has frequently attempted to tie his conservative vision of limited government to issues facing Indian Country. He   <a href=https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/Video\/2020\/08\/26\/myron-lizer-republican-nationa.asp>spoke at the Republican National Convention<\/a> back in 2020 as he supported then-president Donald Trump&#8217;s failed bid for re-election.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\u201cYou see, our people have never been invited into the &#8216;American Dream,'&#8221;  <a href=https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/02\/nnopvp082520.pdf>Lizer said in a  video<\/a> taped on the New Mexico portion of the Navajo Nation. &#8220;For years we\u2019ve fought congressional battles with past congressmen and senators that were part of a broken system that ignored us.&#8221;\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nMore recently, Lizer welcomed the so-called \u201cPeople&#8217;s Convoy,\u201d a group of truckers that opposes <a href=\/covid19\/>COVID-19<\/a> safeguards, to the largest reservation in the United States. He drew criticism for <a href=https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/02\/25\/navajo-nation-leader-welcomes-anti-covid-convoy-to-reservation\/>supporting the goals of the ongoing protest<\/a> even as the Navajo Nation continues to maintain a mask mandate and takes other measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus. \r\n<p><\/p>\r\n\u201cThe people are rising up,\u201d Lizer said from the Arizona portion of the reservation last Friday.  \r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&quot;I&#39;m here to welcome you&quot;: Navajo Nation Vice President Myron Lizer welcomed the &quot;People&#39;s Convoy&quot; to the largest reservation in the US on the morning of February 25, 2022.<br><br>&quot;The people are rising up,&quot; @NNVP_Lizer said of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/PeoplesConvoy?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PeoplesConvoy<\/a>, which opposes <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/COVID19?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#COVID19<\/a> safeguards. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/nEOVgSbwUO\">pic.twitter.com\/nEOVgSbwUO<\/a><\/p>&mdash; indianz.com (@indianz) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/indianz\/status\/1497229003836567553?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 25, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nThe tribe was hit early by COVID-19, and has <a href=https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2021\/12\/14\/cronkite-news-navajo-nation-continues-fight-against-covid-19-pandemic\/>suffered disproportionately throughout the pandemic<\/a>. But attendees of the People&#8217;s Convoy stop on the reservation went without masks. The <a href=https:\/\/www.opvp.navajo-nsn.gov>Navajo Nation Office of  President and Vice President<\/a> did not return a request for comment on whether it had approved of the event attended by Lizer.\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nDuring his remarks, Lizer   reminded the crowd about his past support for Trump, who only served one term in office as president of the United States. Using Christian religious themes, he  repeated some of   messages  he delivered at the GOP conference.\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n\u201cWe love you and miss you,\u201d Lizer said of Trump.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nThe 2nd Congressional District of Arizona  includes portions of the Navajo Nation, where Lizer has served as vice president since January 2019. The boundaries were recently redrawn by <a href=https:\/\/irc.az.gov\/>Arizona&#8217;s Independent Redistricting Commission<\/a>, an official state body, and it now leans more Republican, according to an <a href=https:\/\/rollcall.com\/2022\/02\/03\/arizona-race-ratings-gop-favored-in-two-democratic-districts\/>analysis in Roll Call<\/a>, a publication that focuses on the U.S. Congress.\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n <a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/03\/02\/navajo-nation-leader-launches-republican-bid-for-congress\/tomohalleranjonathannez\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-21757\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"853\" data-attachment-id=\"21757\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/03\/02\/navajo-nation-leader-launches-republican-bid-for-congress\/tomohalleranjonathannez\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/02\/tomohalleranjonathannez.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1280,853\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;4&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS 6D Mark II&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1644511309&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;70&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;6400&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.00625&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Jonathan Nez and Tom O&amp;#8217;Halleran\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Jonathan Nez and Tom O&amp;#8217;Halleran&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;President Jonathan Nez of the Navajo Nation, left, talks with Rep. Tom O&amp;#8217;Halleran (D-Arizona) during a visit to the Arizona portion of the largest reservation in the United States on February 10, 2022. Photo courtesy Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice President&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/02\/tomohalleranjonathannez-1024x682.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/02\/tomohalleranjonathannez.jpg\" alt=\"Jonathan Nez and Tom O&#039;Halleran\"   class=\"size-full wp-image-21757\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"figure-caption\"> President Jonathan Nez of the Navajo Nation, left, talks with Rep. Tom O&#8217;Halleran (D-Arizona) during a visit to the Arizona portion of the largest reservation in the United States on February 10, 2022. Photo courtesy Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice President<\/figcaption>\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nIn the 2020 general election, <a href=https:\/\/ohalleran.house.gov\/>Rep. Tom O&#8217;Halleran<\/a> (D-Arizona) won his second term in the <a href=https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Arizona%27s_1st_congressional_district>1st Congressional District<\/a>. But due to the change in boundaries,   he is now  <a href=https:\/\/www.tomohalleran.com>running in the 2nd District<\/a>. He appears ready to confront the apparent GOP tilt in his new backyard.\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n\u201cI know by now most of you have seen our new map; I\u2019ve seen it too. I\u2019ve talked with our staff, our hardworking volunteers, and, most importantly, my family,&#8221; O&#8217;Halleran said in his <a href=https:\/\/www.tomohalleran.com\/blog\/ohalleran-announces-2022-run-for-az-02>re-election announcement<\/a>. &#8220;We know this race will be tough, but I&#8217;ve never been one to back away from a tough race before, and I don&#8217;t intend to now.&#8221;\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nBesdies Lizer, at a <a href=https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/Arizona%27s_2nd_Congressional_District_election,_2022>handful of  Republicans<\/a> have already thrown their hat into the ring for the 2nd district. So whoever wins the GOP nomination will face O&#8217;Halleran later this year. The Democratic candidate is already touting his record in Indian Country.\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n\u201cOver the past five years, I\u2019ve worked to secure concrete change for rural and tribal Arizona families\u2014funds to clean up abandoned uranium mines in Indian Country, a new veterans nursing home in northern Arizona, COVID relief programs for small businesses fighting to stay open, funding for much-needed forest health programs and forest fire mitigation, and billions in new investments for rural Arizona roads, bridges, broadband expansion, water systems, electric grids, and more, in the bipartisan infrastructure deal,&#8221; O&#8217;Halleran  said.\r\n<p><\/p><div class=\"mt-1 mb-1\"><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block; text-align:center;\" data-ad-layout=\"in-article\" data-ad-format=\"fluid\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8411603009680747\" data-ad-slot=\"6394965691\"><\/ins><script>(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/script><\/div><p><\/p>\r\nThe old boundaries of the <a href=https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Arizona%27s_1st_congressional_district>1st Congressional District<\/a> included a strong Native vote component. In addition to the Arizona portion the Navajo Nation, it reached the  <a href=https:\/\/www.hopi-nsn.gov\/>Hopi Tribe<\/a> and the <a href=https:\/\/www.gilariver.org\/>Gila River Indian Community<\/a>.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n About 23 percent of the population within the former boundaries is American Indian or Alaska Native, <a href=https:\/\/www.census.gov\/mycd\/?st=04&#038;cd=01>according to the U.S. Census Bureau<\/a>. Despite the strong presence, no Native candidate has ever won election in the old 1st District, or in Arizona altogether.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<a href=https:\/\/twitter.com\/NNPrezNez>Jonathan Nez<\/a>, who <a href=https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2020\/08\/19\/cronkite-news-navajo-president-speaks-at.asp>spoke at the Democratic National Convention<\/a> in 2020,  serves as president of the Navajo Nation, having won election in November 2018. Lizer was his running mate &#8212; the vice president position is not an electable position in and of it self.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nThe Navajo president and vice president serve a term of four years. In making his Congressional announcement on Tuesday, Lizer did not say whether he would be running for tribal office later this year.\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<div class=\"h4-responsive\">Related Stories<\/div><a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/02\/25\/navajo-nation-leader-welcomes-anti-covid-convoy-to-reservation\/\" title=\"Navajo Nation leader welcomes anti-COVID convoy to reservation\">Navajo Nation leader welcomes anti-COVID convoy to reservation<\/a> (February 25, 2022)\r\n <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/02\/myronlizer.jpg\" alt=\"Myron Lizer\" width=\"0\" height=\"0\" class=\"invisible\" \/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Myron Lizer, the often controversial vice president of the Navajo Nation who recently declared his &#8216;love&#8217; for Donald Trump, is running for U.S. Congress.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21761,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,1,14],"tags":[4,2567,42,5,94,75,71,56,66,464,1319,28,397,29,55,47,278,85,220,247],"class_list":["post-21748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-national","category-politics","tag-4","tag-2567","tag-arizona","tag-coronavirus","tag-democrats","tag-donald-trump","tag-economic-development","tag-elections","tag-gila-river","tag-hopi","tag-infrastructure","tag-jonathan-nez","tag-jurisdiction","tag-myron-lizer","tag-native-vote","tag-race","tag-religion","tag-republicans","tag-sovereignty","tag-tom-ohalleran","no-wpautop"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/02\/myronlizer.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcoJ7g-5EM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}