Curley enters presidential race, citing limits of speaker’s office
Special to the Times | Donovan Quintero
Speaker Crystalyne Curley, who is running for Navajo Nation president, poses for a photo near her home in Fish Point, Ariz., on Friday, April 10.
DÁ’DEESTŁ’IN HÓTSAA
Crystalyne Curley, the first woman elected to lead the Navajo Nation Council, is running for president of the Navajo Nation.
Curley, who represents Táchii’/Blue Gap, Many Farms, Nazlini, Tséłání/Cottonwood and Low Mountain, spent three years as speaker amending laws, overseeing pandemic recovery funds, pushing for clarity in areas of tribal law that had never been openly challenged and pressing the Executive Branch on stalled community projects. She said that record, and what it revealed about the limits of the speaker’s office to carry out projects and initiatives, is what led her here.
“So all of that, going back to my experience as the speaker, has led me to this decision that we do need to instill that it can be done,” she said Monday evening.
“I had high hopes working with the president,” she added. “And now we see the shortcomings.”
Curley filed her candidacy with the Navajo Election Administration on Wednesday morning. The filing period for the 2026 presidential race opened April 9 and closed Wednesday at 5 p.m.
To read the full article, please see the April 23, 2026, edition of the Navajo Times.
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