Kathleen Nez

Kathleen Nez
Assistant Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
Incumbent
Assumed office September 17, 2019
Leader	Caroline Simone
Preceded by	Vacant
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona's 7th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2019
Preceded by	Julian Catalan
7th President of the Navajo Nation
In office January 9, 2007 – January 13, 2015
Vice President	Fred Begay (2007-2011) Sam Tso (2011-2015)
Preceded by	Joseph Temple
Succeeded by	Sam Tso
Member of the Arizona Senate from the 2nd district
In office January 8, 2001 – January 8, 2007
Preceded by	Patrica Mars
Succeeded by	Andrew Begay
Navajo Nation Council Delegate
In office January 15, 1991 – February 4, 2000
Preceded by	John Nez
Succeeded by	Andrew Begay
Personal details
Born	Kathleen Hope Nez May 5, 1957 (age 62) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Nationality	American, Navajo
Political party	Democratic (2000-2006, 2018-)
Other political affiliations	Independent (1971-2000, 2006-2018)
Spouse	John MacDonald (m. 1994; sep. 2015)
Children	2
Education	University 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 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 maternal grandfather, a Hispanos man born and raised in Santa Fe, 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 is 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

During her tenure as President of the Navajo Nation, Nez focused on increasing relations with the Federal Government, various State Governments that either overlapped or were nearby to the Navajo Nation, and various Tribal Governments and indigenous groups throughout the United States and beyond, she also devoted resources into building relations with various advocacy groups for other marginalized groups within the United States. During her tenure, the Navajo Nation opened its first four casinos, Nez directed the profits they generated into the Navajo Nation's Health Services and Permanent Trust Fund. She persued a policy of renewable energy on the reservation, successfully pushing for a massive expansion of the green energy sector with in the Nation. Nez would push a reduction in the size of the Navajo Nation Council, resulting in a referendum in which the majority of voters voted for Nez's reform. Her administration would employee a controversial policy of directing funds into research related to the use of genetic manipulation as a way to treat Navajos with Severe Combined Immune Deficiency and/or Cancer caused by uranium mining on the reservation. Nez would pass and sign legislation the legalization of the use and sale of recreational marijuana on the reservation. While she called herself a supporter of Navajo language immersion programs, Nez pushed for more funding on the issue from the federal government rather than from the Navajo Nation's own funds. Nez repeatedly pushed for legislation repealing the Dine Marriage Act of 2005, however, due to a rule within the Navajo Nation requiring 2/3 vote for any bill that repeals another bill, every attempt by Nez during her tenure failed. During meetings with officals from other nations, besides federally recognized tribes or other indigenious governments with the Americas, she would speak Navajo and employed the use of a translator.

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

Nez has a son, Nelson, and a daughter, Alice. She is also a grandmother, as her son has two children of his own. She has been seperated from her ex-Husband since 2015, Nez has said that they have no plans of restarting their relationship.

Publications

• Red Nation (1984).
• 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).
• Little Girl: A Series of Short Stories (2008). Published in English, Navajo, and Spanish. Nez's first fictional publication.
• Grown Woman: A Second Series of Short Stories (2016). Published in English, Navajo, and Spanish. Series as a sequel to Nez's previous publication.
• Eight Years (2017). Published in English, Navajo, and Spanish. 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