He survived a recall, a vice president’s allegation and a Council war. Now he’s running again.
Special to the Times | Reginald Chee
Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren makes his way around the room at the Nahat'á Bá Hooghan Monday morning, during the first day of the Winter Session in Window Rock, in this file photo.
TÓNANEESDIZÍ
Buu Nygren says he delivered 90 percent of what he promised Navajo Nation voters in 2022. Now he wants four more years.
He survived a recall campaign, a sexual harassment allegation from his own vice president and a running war with the 25th Navajo Nation Council that has not fully ended. He announced his reelection bid on April 6 in a video carrying the slogan “Keep Moving Forward.” The 2026 presidential primary is set for July 21. Candidate filing closed April 22. Speaker Crystalyne Curley, who introduced legislation to remove him from office last year, announced her own run for president on April 23.
Nygren, the youngest person ever elected to the Navajo Nation presidency, was sworn in on Jan. 10, 2023. He defeated incumbent Jonathan Nez, becoming only the 10th president in the Nation’s history. He came to the office without a political pedigree – he grew up in the Utah Navajo area without electricity or running water, raised by a single mother, and earned a doctorate in organizational change and leadership from the University of Southern California in 2021, and worked in construction and project management before becoming chief commercial officer of the Navajo Engineering and Construction Authority. He also ran as Joe Shirley Jr.’s running mate in the 2018 general election and lost.
What he had in 2022 was a specific, public list of commitments – campaign cards handed out at rallies – detailing precisely what he intended to do. He told voters to hold onto them.
“You keep these campaign cards,” he told supporters the night he became president-elect. “These are the priorities. This is what we’re going to work on. I want you to judge me on a lot of these categories.”
To read the full article, please see the April 30, 2026, edition of the Navajo Times.
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