Jonathan Nez, Buu Nygren advance for Navajo presidency

By FELICIA FONSECA
Associated Press

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Voters from the Navajo Nation will see familiar faces in the tribe’s general election: their current president and the 2018 vice presidential candidate. President Jonathan Nez and former vice presidential candidate Buu Nygren garnered the most votes in Tuesday’s primary among a field of 15. Whoever wins will oversee the largest Native American reservation in the U.S., and the second-highest tribal population. They two differ on their approaches to the coronavirus pandemic. The Navajo Nation once had one of the highest infection rates in the United States. Nez’s administration enacted some of the strictest measures in the country and some are still in place. Nygren contends that Navajo businesses are hurting because of those restrictions.