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Although former Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez was not successful in his U.S. House bid to become Arizona’s first Indigenous congressman, Native candidates at various levels of government achieved significant milestones in the state and beyond.
Advance Native Political Leadership, a national Indigenous-led nonprofit, has been monitoring an unprecedented number of 246 candidates who campaigned for various positions in local, state, and federal offices across Indian Country.
Arizona leads the way with nearly a fifth of Indigenous people running for public office, boasting a total of 46 candidates. Hawaii follows closely behind with 30 candidates, while Alaska rounds out the top three with 28 candidates.
Seven of the state’s 22 federally recognized tribes were represented, including the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, White Mountain Apache Tribe, Yavapai-Apache Nation, Tohono O’odham Nation, and Pascua Yaqui Tribe.
The majority of these candidates were women, with no affiliation to the Republican party. Incredibly, over three-fourths of them emerged victorious in their respective races, surpassing the success rate of 60% achieved by all Indigenous candidates across the country.
The number of Native candidates in this latest cycle has broken the previous record of 167 candidates set during the 2022 midterms. Advance Native Political Leadership has been tracking the data on Indigenous candidates since 2018, and they have observed a consistent increase in the number of Native candidates participating in both midterms and presidential elections.