Dr. Andy Nez is an incumbent on the 25th Navajo Nation Council, a member of the Health, Education & Human Services Committee, and a former classroom teacher, representing Fort Defiance, Sawmill, Crystal, and Red Lake. His interview with Cal Nez was detailed and policy-heavy. Below are the main topics from the interview — the key question Cal asked on each, short summaries of Nez's answers in our own words, and follow-ups a voter might still want answered.
Watch or read the full interview, and see the scorecard, on Dr. Andy Nez’s profile. This page is a nonpartisan summary; the Diné Civic Center does not endorse any candidate.
An incumbent on the 25th Council (HEHSC member, former classroom teacher) representing Fort Defiance, Sawmill, Crystal, and Red Lake, Nez runs on six priorities: recycling initiatives, “villages”/housing, urban development, amending the education code (Title 10), protecting natural resources, and community-based projects.
Nez wants to build “villages” — small communities where seniors, people in substance-abuse recovery, veterans, and disabled relatives can receive a continuum of care — funded in part by the roughly $14 million in delegate region funds from the $293 million line-item-veto package.
He'd expand the Nation into Albuquerque, Phoenix, and other urban spaces with “embassy-like” venues using the land-acquisition fund — places to grow businesses, expand Diné College, and reinvest the dollars Navajo citizens already spend off-reservation.
A former teacher, Nez is working to amend Title 10, the 2005 Navajo Nation Education Code, arguing education has changed dramatically in 20 years and the code needs to keep pace.
Nez wants the Office of Government Development to move faster — established 34-plus years ago and still unfinished — and revealed he pulled its funding over carryovers; he notes some delegates defunded it to protect their power. On the law requiring the president to appear before council, he frames it as ensuring accountability (division directors act for the president) and says missed State of the Nation addresses invited the Title II amendments.
On HEHSC, Nez supports 638 self-determination — noting 638 facilities like Tséhootsooí Medical Center weathered federal funding cuts far better than IHS — but takes a “short pause” on too much autonomy, which can invite embezzlement, nepotism, and board misspending. He says the Nation isn't yet ready to run its own multi-million-dollar health system and the U.S. still owes its 1868 treaty duty.
Topics a voter in this district might still want to hear about:
Not a judgment of this candidate — just what a specific, substantive answer includes, so you can weigh any candidate’s response: