Author: Donovan Quintero

Sixteen candidates, including incumbent President Buu Nygren, filed to run for the Navajo Nation presidency by the close of the 2026 election filing period Wednesday night, setting up one of the largest presidential fields in recent tribal history and signaling major turnover on the Navajo Nation Council.

The 25th Navajo Nation Council opens its Spring Session on Monday, with lawmakers expected to take up a veto override, nearly $90 million in Sihasin Fund spending, restructuring bills and confirmations in the Council Chamber.

With roughly eight months left to spend its remaining share of $1.86 billion in federal pandemic recovery funds, the 25th Navajo Nation Council opens its Spring Session Monday with a vote that could reshape who signs off on those expenditures.

Candidates seeking Navajo Nation office in the 2026 election have until 5 p.m. April 22 to submit their filing paperwork, with all agency filing offices closed on the final day and remaining submissions routed to the Department of Diné Education auditorium in Window Rock.

Attorney Justin Jones drove to the Navajo Election Administration office in Shiprock on Thursday morning with his son, daughter, nephew and two sisters, filed to run for Navajo Nation president on the first day of the filing period, and by evening stood before a packed parking lot in Farmington arguing that a government he says is crippled by corruption, infighting and bureaucracy must be reclaimed by the people it was built to serve.