Kathleen Nez

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Kathleen Nez
Deb Haaland, official portrait, 116th Congress (cropped).jpg
Assistant Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
Assumed office
September 17, 2019
LeaderCaroline Simone
Preceded byVacant
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona's 7th district
Assumed office
January 3, 2019
Preceded byJulian Catalan
7th President of the Navajo Nation
In office
January 9, 2007 – January 13, 2015
Vice PresidentFred Begay (2007-2011) Sam Tso (2011-2015)
Preceded byJoseph Temple
Succeeded bySam Tso
Member of the Arizona Senate from the 2nd district
In office
January 8, 2001 – January 8, 2007
Preceded byPatrica Mars
Succeeded byAndrew Begay
Navajo Nation Council Delegate
In office
January 15, 1991 – February 4, 2000
Preceded byJohn Nez
Succeeded byAndrew Begay
Personal details
Born
Kathleen Hope Nez

May 5, 1957 (age 62)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
NationalityAmerican, Navajo
Political partyDemocratic (2000-2006, 2018-)
Other political
affiliations
Independent (1971-2000, 2006-2018)
SpouseJohn MacDonald (m. 1994; sep. 2015)
Children2
EducationUniversity of California, Berkeley (BA) Yale University (MA)

Kathleen Hope Nez (born May 5, 1957) is an American and Navajo politician, academic, activist, author, and anthropologist who is the current U.S. Representative from Arizona's 7th congressional district, having been elected in the 2018 midterm elections, and the Assistant House Democratic Leader (what the party calls "Assistant Speaker"), having been elected by the House Democratic Caucus during the 116th Congress. She has previous served as the President of the Navajo Nation from 2007 to 2015, a member of the Arizona Senate from 2001 to 2007, and a member of the Navajo Nation Council from 1991 to 2000. She is one of the first Native American woman elected to Congress and the first woman to serve as the President of the Navajo Nation. She considers herself a "Life-long Progressive".

Early Life, Education, and Early Career

Nez was born in Los Angeles, California. Both of her parent's were citizens of the Navajo Nation and grew up on the reservation, despite that they both had a "western" education as Nez's father spent his youth at an Indian Boarding School and Nez's materal grandfather was a priest on the reservation who would give his daughter a "western" education. Nez's father served in the U.S. Marines during World War II as a Navajo Code Talker, he was awarded a Congressional Silver Metal in 2000 along with the approximentally 300 other non-orginal Navajo Code Talkers, and would pass away in 2014. He was buried in Window Rock, Arizona. Nez grew up in East Los Angeles. As a young girl, her parents often brought her with them to various civil rights protests, which led her to be in attendence at Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream" Speech. She would later cite her attendence at King's speech, the Watts Riots, and the East L.A. Walkouts as a series of events that led her towards activism at a young age. She would graduate from Garfield High School in 1975. She would attend the University of California, Berkeley and Yale University during her college career, graduating in 1979 with a BA in Anthropology and in 1981 with a MA in Anthropology respectively. While in college she would be active in American Indian Movement and the Red Power movement.

Once out of college she found employment within the Navajo Nation as an anthropologist. During this time she began getting involed in the National Congress of American Indians, although she continued to stay involved in AIM for some time. She would also become active in the Democratization Movement happening within the Navajo Nation, eventually becoming a leader in the movement by the end of the 1990s.

Early Political Career

Navajo Nation Council

Nez first ran for office in 1986 for a seat on the Navajo Nation Council, then known as the Navajo Business Council, against an incumbent. Although the election was closer than orginally projected to be, Nez would end up losing. She ran for the same seat during the 1990 elections against the same incumbent and won. While a Navajo Nation Council Delegate she focused on preserving sacred sites, teaching Dine Bizaad to the youth, making sure there was adequate supplies of feminine products on the reservation, and repairing relations with other nearby tribes. She was re-elected to the Council in 1994 and 1998. She served on the Resource and Development Committee during the 17th Council and the Health, Education, and Human Services Committee during the 18th and 19th Council.

Arizona Senate

In 2000 she annouced her candidacy for the Arizona State Senate in the 2nd district, which then represented the Northeast corner of Arizona, to replace the current Senator who was retiring. In her candidacy annoucement she also resigned from the Navajo Nation Council, saying that she considered in unethical to continue on as a Delegate while running for office in Arizona. During the campaign she also joined the Democratic Party for the first time. Facing no major opposition she would win the primary and due to the democraitc lean of the district she easily won the general. She was re-elected in 2002 and 2004. During her time as a State Senator she focused mainly on issues effecting the Native community in Arizona given that she was the only Native American in the State Senate at the time. She served on the Education, Health and Human Services, and Natural Resources, Energy and Water Committees during her tenure as a State Senator. Although she was a member of the minority during her time as a Senator, Nez served as the Prime Sponsor on a number of bills that latter became law, which she would credit to her good relations with a number of Republican Legislators and the Democratic Governor of Arizona.

President of the Navajo Nation

Elections

2006

Nez annouced her candidacy for President of the Navajo Nation in the fall of 2005. She, along with the incumbent President, Jospeh Temple, would come in second and first place in the top-two primary respectively. Together it would be a historic election given that it was the first Presidental election in which a woman and an incumbent made it past the primary. Nez selected the third place finisher in the primary, Fred Begay, calling for a unity ticket united against President Temple. Polling for the election showed a close race with neither canadite holding a strong lead over the other. The offical results declared Nez the winner after the unoffical results where brought into question given how close the results were.

2010

Nez annouced her candidacy for a second term as President of the Navajo Nation with generally good approval ratings. Despite this, her then-Vice President annouced he own candidacy for President soon after Nez's annoucement. In addition to this, former President Temple annouced his own candidacy soon after as well. Nez finished first in the primary with Temple coming in second, as well as Begay coming in fourth. Nez selected civil engineer Sam Tso for her Vice Presidental running mate. The pair would declare victory on election night with a strong showing over the Temple/Begay ticket.

2014

Nez annouced a candidacy for a third term as President of the Navajo Nation, becoming the first person to run for President of the Navajo Nation for three consecutive terms. However, the Navajo Election Administration would soon rule Nez ineligble to run for a third term, citing a 1989 law. Nez sued and the case made it's way to the Navajo Supreme Court, who ruled that no Navajo can serve as President for three consecutive terms. Nez respected the ruling and dropped out of the race, later endorsing then-Vice President Sam Tso to become the next President of the Navajo Nation.

Tenure

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2018

Nez annouced her candidacy for U.S. Congress in Arizona's 7th congressional district on January 15, 2018, soon after the then-incumbent annouced his candidacy for the 2018 Special Senate election in Arizona. In the Latino-majority, heavily Democratic district, the Democratic primary is often the real race. Nez would gain an early lead in polling after an endorsement from the then-incumbent and the then-Mayor of Phoenix. She would win the 5-way primary with 47% of the vote. She would easily win the general with 71% of the vote.

Tenure

On January 3, 2019, Nez was sworn in wearing traditional Navajo regalia. On September 17, 2019, during what has been called a "cabinet reshuffle" after Carrie Simone's election as Speaker of the House, Nez was appointed to the role of "Assistant Speaker" by Speaker Simone and confirmed by the House Democratic Caucus. During the 2020 Bankruptcy Crisis, Nez served as the Sponsor on the DIRE Act, the offical Democratic relief bill for the Crisis, with Senator Westra.

2020 Presidental Election

Nez intitially stayed neutral in the Democratic primary. In has been reported by the media that both Senator Dayton and Senator Murphy have considered selecting Nez to be the Vice Presidential nominee in the case that either becomes the Presidential nominee at the 2020 Democratic National Convention. On Februrary 24, 2020 Nez endorsed Senator Murphy for President. It has been cited by some that her efforts in Arizona help Murphy win the state's primary. A month later, Nez publically came out against Senator Murphy's canadidacy in a statement released over twitter in which she also endorsed Senator Dayton.

Committee assignments

  • Committee on Financial Services
    • Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions
    • Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development and Insurance
  • Committee on Natural Resources
    • Subcommittee on Indigenous Peoples of the United States
    • Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands
  • Committee on Oversight and Reform
    • Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties

Caucus memberships

  • Blue Collar Caucus
  • Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
  • Congressional Hispanic Caucus
  • Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus (Co-Chair)
  • Congressional Native American Caucus (Co-Chair)
  • Congressional Progressive Caucus
  • Expand Social Security Caucus
  • Medicare for All Caucus

Personal Life

Publications

  • Red Nation (1984).
  • Together We Need to Stand (1989). Published in English and Navajo.
  • 500 Years Later (1992).
  • Land of the Free, Home of the Brave: A Story of the First Peoples (1997).
  • A Nation Built on Blood (2002).
  • Where We Are, Where We Need to Go (2006). Published in English and Navajo. Published in the lead up to the 2006 Navajo Nation Presidental election.
  • Little Girl: A Series of Short Stories (2008). Published in English, Navajo, and Spanish. Nez's first fictional publication.
  • Eight Years (2017). Published in English and Navajo. Memoir focusing on Nez's time as President of the Navajo Nation.

Electoral History

2006 Navajo Nation Presidental Election
Party Candidate Votes %
Non-Partisan Kathleen Nez/Fred Begay (inc.) 34,025 51.4%
Non-Partisan Joseph Temple (inc.)/Jim Phillips 32,834 49.6%
Total Votes 66,859
2010 Navajo Nation Presidental General Election
Party Candidate Votes %
Non-Partisan Kathleen Nez (inc.)/Sam Tso 35,424 55.34%
Non-Partisan Joseph Temple/Joe Wauneka 29,189 45.66%
Total Votes 64,613
2018 U.S. House Democratic primary, Arizona's 7th congressional district
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Kathleen Nez 15,587 47.4%
Democratic Antonio Zavala 11,674 35.5%
Democratic Miranda Santiago 3,058 9.3%
Democratic Hunter Caldwell Sr. 1,447 4.4%
Democratic Cristo Encarnación 1,052 3.2%
Write Ins 66 0.2%
Total Votes 32,884
2018 U.S. House election, Arizona's 7th congressional district
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Kathleen Nez 110,476 70.9%
Republican Jon Schwarz 30,697 19.7%
Libertarian Luca Priest-Mendez 14,180 9.1%
Write Ins 467 0.3%
Total Votes 155,820