Although former Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez didn’t win his U.S. House bid to become Arizona’s first Indigenous congressman, Native candidates up and down the ballot made historic gains in the Grand Canyon State and beyond.
Advance Native Political Leadership, a national Indigenous-led nonprofit, has been tracking a record-breaking 246 candidates who ran for local, state and federal office in 25 states across Indian Country.
Nearly a fifth of them are from Arizona, which had the highest number of Indigenous people running for public office. The Grand Canyon State tallied 46 candidates, followed by Hawaii with 30 and Alaska with 28.
They represented seven of the state’s 22 federally recognized tribes: Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, White Mountain Apache Tribe, Yavapai-Apache Nation, Tohono O’odham Nation and Pascua Yaqui Tribe.
Most were women, while none identified as Republican. More than three-fourths of them won their races, compared to 60% of all Indigenous candidates nationwide.
This latest cycle shattered the previously set record of 167 Native candidates during the 2022 midterms. Advance Native Political Leadership has documened a cycle-over-cycle rise in Indigenous candidates — counting midterms and presidentials — since it began tracking this data point in 2018.
-
The nonprofit Apache Stronghold has argued its religious freedom case all the way to the highest court in the land. On Friday, the nine justices are meeting in conference once again, and an answer may arrive as soon as Monday. -
Resolution Copper is betting on gaining access to a large and lucrative copper ore east of Phoenix. A lot of money has already been invested in the project – over $2 billion – and opponents say some of it has been used to buy influence. -
Resolution Copper wants to dig up a massive amount of copper ore beneath Oak Flat inside the Tonto National Forest. And by doing so, a site that some Apaches consider sacred may be destroyed. -
While Resolution Copper is taking a proactive approach to meet its tremendous water needs, their actions may still have a lasting and severe impact on the local hydrological landscape around Oak Flat. -
While they’re not mining yet, Resolution Copper is slowly digging its way toward the lucrative ore. In fact, the site is already home to the deepest single-lift mine shaft in North America, and KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio goes thousands of feet underground to see it for himself.
