Lovejoy landslide fails to appear

As supporters for Ben Shelly and Rex Lee Jim headed into the Sports Center about 9:12 p.m. Tuesday, several began yelling, "Upset! Upset!"

And, indeed, an upset was what it turned out to be as the Navajo Nation vice president and his running mate overturned a lot of predictions about who would win the election to succeed Joe Shirley Jr. as president.

Based on results of the Aug. 3 primary, plus the fact that she was the first woman to reach the general election for president, the buzz was all around the candidacy of Lynda Lovejoy. Even the national media was talking about it and one major network had already scheduled an interview with her.

In the end, Shelly-Jim won by over 3,000 votes - 33,692 to 30,357 - according to unofficial election results. That gave him a respectable 52.6-to-47.4 percent margin - no landslide but enough to be decisive.

Shelly was upbeat throughout Election Day as he visited Shiprock and surrounding chapters to make one last pitch for the voters' confidence, said Lorraine Shirley, one of his campaign coordinators.

"He received a very good, positive feedback from the people, who seemed happy to see him," she said.

By 6 p.m., as Shelly was heading back to Window Rock, his campaign aides were setting up a reception area inside Nakai Hall, his base for the evening. Serving Navajo tacos and cake, the workers prepared food for as many as 300 people. But as the polls closed at 7 p.m., less than 100 people had gathered there.

The mood was decidedly low-key - a far cry from the 2006 election night hubbub when Shelly was Shirley's running mate. This time, the few people in attendance lounged around the bleachers, listening to music by the Thunders.

Clinton Jim, the moderator, tried to stir up some excitement but it was obvious that many in the crowd were worried that Lovejoy might dominate the general as she had the primary, when she finished with more than twice the votes Shelly got in his second place finish.

"This bas been a very weird election," said Thomas Begay, who traveled from his home near Chinle to show his support for Shelly, win or lose.

"I think he did a pretty good campaign," Begay said, but he was worried that the buzz about electing the first woman president would overshadow the issues, when he felt Shelly was the stronger candidate.

Like others in the room, he declined to give a prediction of that night's outcome, saying that there were too many questions still to be answered. Would the traditionalists listen to statements by the medicine men and women discouraging the election of a woman? Would the last-minute criminal charges accusing Shelly and Jim of misusing discretionary funds do serious damage to his support?

But from the first reports coming in from election central, located at the Window Rock Sports Center, the numbers were reassuring and the crowd became noticeably excited. With 22 chapters reporting, Shelly had a small lead (6,955 to 5,730).

Arbin Mitchell, an unsuccessful primary candidate for president who went on to endorse Shelly, said he and other campaigned hard for him in the Fort Defiance are and felt positive that he would do well there.

He seemed to be right since many of the first chapters to report were in the Fort Defiance area with Shelly-Jim either winning or coming in a close second.

Mitchell said it was apparent from his talks with voters that Navajo tradition would play a big role.

"I'm a traditionalist," he said, and as a traditionalist, he said he could see how others who believe strongly in traditional values could not vote for Lovejoy.

Inching to victory

By 7:45 p.m., with 49 chapters reporting, Shelly-Jim still had a small lead (13,742 to 13,516) but it looked as if the momentum was shifting to Lovejoy and her running mate Earl Tulley.

"We're still ahead by a hair," said Clinton Jim, urging the 130 or so people then in the hall to say a prayer that Shelly would continue to be in the lead.

He also gave his first of several reports of concerns by the Shelly camp that there were problems in the voting.

"We have heard that the Birdsprings Chapter ran out of ballots," he said. (Shelly won the chapter 235 to 189.)

By 8:05 p.m., the crowd at Nakai Hall had grown to about 150 and became increasingly quiet as the vote tallies showed Lovejoy gaining.

Over at the Sports Center, the Lovejoy supporters were becoming excited and one said they expected Shelly to take an early lead as the tally was dominated by results from the Fort Defiance and Chinle agencies, where many Navajo government employees live.

They expected the tally to start favoring Lovejoy as chapters in the Eastern and Western agencies rolled in. Prospects from the Northern Agency seemed promising too. Lovejoy would leave Shelly in the dust, they said.

That appeared to be the case when, at 8:05 p.m., announcers at election central said Lovejoy had edged ahead, 19,538 to 19,178, with 69 chapters reporting.

But within 10 minutes, the tide had turned again. With 77 chapters reporting, Shelly regained the lead, 23,012 to 22,255, and never surrendered it again. Instead he inched ahead a few votes at a time, stretching his edge to 1,000, then 2,000, and eventually passing 3,000.

"What we have now," said Clinton Jim, "is a horse race."

At 8:30 p.m., with 79 chapters reporting in, Shelly was ahead 23,498 to 22,677. Meanwhile, isolated reports of voting problems continued to come in.

Manuelito Chapter ran out of ballots and 40 people had to be turned away, Jim said. Shelly campaign officials were now seriously concerned if the election wound up with one or the other candidate winning by only a couple of hundred votes, the ballot shortages might put the outcome in question.

Deputy Attorney General D. Harrison Tsosie, another unsuccessful candidate for president this year, came into Nakai Hall about that time looking happy.

"A couple of us really campaigned hard for Shelly in the central part of the reservation," he said. "It really paid off."

Tsosie said it was obvious that the money he spent during his campaign, as well as that of other candidates who later endorsed Shelly, was money well spent because it attracted new voters to Shelly.

Were tribal employees scared into voting for Shelley because of Lovejoy's statement during the campaign that she planned to sweep house? Tsosie said it was difficult to determine the effect but he suspects that it was a wash.

"I think tribal employees are split down the middle," he said.

At 8:45 p.m., with 81 of the 110 chapters reporting, Shelly's lead stretched further, 24,310 to 23,077.

Many of the bigger chapters had still to report and Shelly supporters worried about a last-minute surge by Lovejoy voters.

But the crowd in Nakai Hall - now more than 200 strong - was growing louder and people were starting to wonder what was going on in the Lovejoy campaign.

Tradition triumphs

After all, by 8:45 p.m. on primary night, the election was basically over and Lovejoy and her supporters were already at the Sports Center rejoicing in the total domination by their candidate.

Lovejoy even joked that the Navajo Nation should consider naming her president and save the money it would take to run the general election.

By 8:45 p.m. Tuesday, Jim was ready to say the election belonged to Shelly.

"This election was all based on tradition and culture," he said. "This goes to show what we can do with a lot of respect for one another and this thing we call k'é."

The chapter vote tallies were now coming in faster and faster and at 8:50 p.m. Jim announced that 82 chapters had reported in and Shelly's lead had increased to 1,360 (24,619 to 23,259). Five minutes later, with four more chapters reporting, Shelly's lead was 1,454 (25,432 to 23,977).

Former Arizona State Sen. James Henderson was ready to call it for Shelly.

"We are going to celebrate tonight!" he said.

The audience, which by now topped 300, got louder as Shelly's lead kept growing.

Henderson said the election hinged on one issue - tradition, referring to creation stories of a time in the distant past when Navajo women went to live on the other side of a river. There they tried to make a go of it but "in the end the women had no place to go so they had to ask for help from the men," Henderson said. "At that time, the women promised that they would never try to go ahead of the men again."

The belief that it's not good to have a woman as head of the tribe was very strong among Navajo traditionalists, he said, who also influenced the votes of their children and grandchildren, he said.

"People are listening to the medicine men and the traditionalists," he said.

At 9:10 p.m., with 100 chapters reporting in, everyone knew it was over. Shelly was leading 30,469 to 27,909 and the remaining chapters wouldn't be able to turn it around.

It was then that Shelly made his entrance and the crowd surged forward, snapping photos and shaking his hand in congratulations.

Shelly was beaming, thanking people for their support and saying that he couldn't have done it without them.

Following close behind him was Pat Sandoval, chief of staff for the current president, Joe Shirley Jr. There was irony in his presence, for Shelly had fired Sandoval shortly after the Navajo Nation Council put Shirley on administrative leave a year earlier.

Shirley was returned to office a few weeks later by court order, but he and Shelly have hardly spoken since then.

"We (Shelly and I) have put that behind us," Sandoval said, adding that he actively campaigned for Shelly in the weeks leading up to the election.

At 9:12 p.m. with 102 chapters in and Shelly leading 31,171 to 28,443, Shelly and Rex Lee Jim led their supporters over to the Sports Center on their victory walk.

Shelly walked to the media table and made a brief statement in English reiterating his platform of jobs and fiscal austerity, followed by Jim speaking in Navajo. After a few more words in Navajo, the two visited with supporters for a while in a scene notable mainly for being very subdued.

Back to top ^