Former President Donald Trump — and to some degree, Vice President Kamala Harris — have been on the campaign trail talking about federal land in Western states, including Arizona. The vast open tracts are seen as prime real estate that could help reduce a national housing shortage.
But one Republican candidate for state office has taken it a step further, promoting policy positions on land and water that would undercut tribal sovereignty.
At a candidate forum in the Picture Rocks community just south of Marana is where former state Sen. Vince Leach laid out his plan to address the affordable housing problem in Arizona, some 24 hours after he acknowledged Columbus Day.
“We got to work with the feds to get our land back. Give me my land,” Leach said during an event sponsored by the Citizens for Picture Rocks in Pima County. “We’ve got to open up more land.”
Leach, who is looking to regain a seat after beating Arizona State Sen. Justine Wadsack in the primary by fewer than 2,000 votes, said the Grand Canyon State should reclaim its landmass. Less than 20% of the state is privately owned, while tribes and state and federal governments possess the rest.
Former Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey labeled Leach’s victory a “great win” for the “steadfast conservative, thoughtful leader and tireless advocate” in southern Arizona, adding that he’s looking “forward to seeing him back in the Legislature.”
But his Democratic opponent, John McLean, was shocked to hear Leach suggest that even tribal lands aren’t off the table.
“My jaw dropped when I heard that,” McLean told KJZZ News, “and I said, ‘You can’t be serious.’ That debate was one day past Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and the irony couldn’t have been deeper.”
McLean is a political newcomer but has spent time around the tribes that neighbor this key district, like the Pascua Yaqui Tribe and Tohono O’odham Nation. He also sits on the Tucson-based Native Seeds/SEARCH board of directors as the nonprofit’s secretary.
Land wasn’t the only tribal asset that Leach latched onto. Both candidates were asked about how they’d handle future CAP cuts of Colorado River water for the city of Tucson, and McLean recalled Leach’s solution.
“He talked about water resources that are held by Gila River Indian Community,” said McLean, “and the implication there was that he would be quite happy to go in and take the Indigenous water as well.”
Leach shared the same talking point last month on Inside Track, a Tucson AM radio show with host Bruce Ash.
“You’ve been a leader on water issues. I know you have,” Ash said. “Talk about the importance of having good water policy and this issue with the Colorado River water allocations that nobody seems to be working on right now that’s going to hit us on the side of the head in 2026.”
Leach replied: “We have water in the state. It’s not always in the right place. That’s, that’s the problem we’re facing right now. Our native Indian tribes have an enormous amount of water that’s either — that’s stored either in the lake, or is stored underground. That, that water should be, can be and should be made available.”
He did not respond to several requests from KJZZ News to clarify his comments.
Robert Miller is Eastern Shawnee and specializes in teaching the complexities of federal Indian law for Arizona State University’s Indian Legal Clinic at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.
“Five percent of the population of Arizona owns 50% of the water, but that’s what the Supreme Court has held,” Miller said. “And they had these water rights before there ever was an Arizona, so if anyone thinks that tribes have to give their water to the state — that’s just wrong — legally incorrect.”
He explained that water and land are essentially assets that tribes own through the treaties they signed with the federal government as sovereign nations, adding “That’s not water that can just be taken by the feds and given to Arizona, any more than the reservation lands can be just taken by Congress.”
But buying water is different.
At least seven of the state’s 22 federally recognized tribes can lease their allotted water for off-reservation use to industries like agriculture and mining, municipalities and even the state itself. So if Leach meant to make more water available to the state by leasing it from tribes, consent and compensation would still be necessary.
“If Arizona wants tribal water, they’ll have to negotiate and pay for it,” Miller said. “But it’s water that belongs to those tribal nations. Again, it’s a trust asset. The legal owner of those water rights is the United States, but the beneficial owner is the tribe.”
The Hohokam were behind the earliest canal system in and around metro Phoenix, first delivering water to the Salt River Valley some 1,400 years ago.
“They practiced democratic government, before we ever heard of it, developed advanced agriculture, contributed science, art and culture,” said President Joe Biden during his trip last week to the Gila River Indian Community.
“But as time moved on,” Biden continued, “respect for tribal sovereignty evaporated, was shattered, pushing Native people off their homelands, denying — denying their humanity and their rights, targeting children to cut their connection to their ancestors.”
A day later, Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz underscored the importance of diplomacy during his Window Rock visit by asserting “the highest law is to honor tribal sovereignty,” adding that “it matters who’s in the White House, it matters who cares about sovereignty.”
Technically, these treaties that guarantee tribal land and water rights can be undone by acts of Congress. And Miller mentioned even if somehow Arizona delegates could convince both chambers to do so, this simply isn’t politically viable “because of the power of tribes these days, lobbying and the money.”
“There would be such an outcry by every tribe in the U.S.,” he elaborated. “And then if it did, the tribes would sue immediately in federal courts for a Fifth Amendment taking of property and would demand compensation. So why would Congress do that if they then had to pay for it? This is a no-brainer, and something that will not happen.”
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