A former Navajo Nation vice presidential candidate announced Monday that he is seeking the tribal president’s post.
The announcement from Buu Van Nygren, 35, comes a month before the deadline for candidates to file. He’s the first to publicly announce his candidacy.
The primary election is August 2. The top two vote-getters move on to the November general election.
More than a dozen people typically run for president of the Navajo Nation, which has the largest land mass of any Native American tribe in the U.S. and is second in population with about 400,000 tribal members.
Current Navajo President Jonathan Nez has not said whether he’ll seek reelection.
Nygren and his wife, Arizona state Rep. Jasmine Blackwater-Nygren, rode on horseback into Window Rock where he told a small crowd about his plans to improve the Navajo Nation.
Nygren’s first language is Navajo, and he’s from the Utah portion of the reservation. His father was Vietnamese.
Nygren recently resigned as the chief commercial officer at the Navajo Engineering and Construction Authority to run for tribal president.
Nygren was former Navajo President Joe Shirley’s running mate in the 2018 election. The two lost to Nez and current Vice President Myron Lizer, who now is seeking the Republican nomination for Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District.
Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
